A large painting recently installed front and center in the Office of Undergraduate Education captures the office鈥檚 emphasis on fostering community and building partnerships across the university.
The artist, DaMont谩 Madden, assistant director of out-of-state recruitment in the Office of Admissions, created Galaxy Picnic with encouragement from OUE leadership, including Scarlett Pont贸n de Dutton, director of campus advising initiatives and strategy; Shelly Bacon, associate vice provost for advising and exploratory studies; and Daryl Maeda, dean and vice provost of undergraduate education.
In support of his development as an artist, the colleagues invited Madden to create a painting that would, as Madden says, 鈥渃ultivate a feeling of newness, transition, reflection and growth.鈥 The painting is 鈥渁 garden in the sky鈥 that reflects Madden鈥檚 notion 鈥渢hat all lives are ephemeral.
鈥淕alaxy Picnic is my ode to self-reflection, self-love and self-accountability, and the antiquated roots that extend to and through this evolution of never-ending, ephemeral life鈥攅verlasting community,鈥 Madden said.
The painting, an inch short of 8 feet tall, contains acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel and听 23-karat gold leaf (on the metal cables).
鈥淏uilding a sense of community while deepening individual relationships is the flow that we want to be centered on here in the Office of Undergraduate Education,鈥 Maeda said. 鈥淲e are honored to have this original work in our suite and invite everyone to stop by to take a look and say hello.鈥
Office of Undergraduate Education
The Office of Undergraduate Education oversees the academic undergraduate experience at 兔子先生传媒文化作品, provides extraordinary educational experiences, serves exploring students and collaborates with a variety of units to ensure that students have access to the resources they need to succeed.