MAULDIN MURAL PROJECT

In 2015, Mauldin High School senior, Celine Crum, painted this large mural on the Cultural Center building as her service project for Furman University’s Emerging Public Leaders program.

“An issue that I have noticed within the community of Mauldin is that we are lacking the display of student artwork. Along with attending Mauldin High School, I also attend the Fine Arts Center, so I am aware of the promising student artists in the community who would love to have their artwork displayed in Mauldin,” Crum said in her Artist Statement.

“When someone takes the initiative, especially when it’s a student, to engage in their community and offer a creative solution, we are all ears,” said George McLeer, who at the time was the administrator for the Office of Cultural Affairs. “The Mauldin Cultural Center is a place where the community can express themselves and this mural project was a perfect fit.”

The design, modeled after Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” is meant to highlight the creative nature of children and to encourage us all to embrace it. “I would like the mural to serve as a statement that creativity should be fostered during childhood, the most impressionable time of one’s life. Children are the most creative members of the community, and it is the adults’ job to encourage this creativity throughout their lives,” Crum says.

Crum also believes Mauldin is ready for an even stronger arts scene. “Beyond just children, the mural is intended to inspire the whole community of Mauldin to further delve into their creative sides and literally become a part of the arts. I would love to see an artistic movement in Mauldin, and I believe that it could start here.”

Erected 2015.