Pale purple and white paint covered the ground next to Bracken Library, with dark purple and green sprinkled in, forming the image of a 20-by-20-foot dove holding an olive branch Thursday.
Beneath the dove is a banner that reads, "Ball State promotes nonviolence."
More than 450 students helped to paint the dove for Paint 4 Peace, a three-day community art event, which will continue around Muncie on Friday and Saturday with art projects at the Hillcroft VSA building and the VSA Caring Arts building.
"People at Ball State really wanted to promote nonviolence. This day just flew. It took a life of its own," Lawrence Gerstein, director of Ball State University's Center for Peace and Conflict Studies and co-coordinator of the event, said. "The creativity that people have expressed here in their words and their images is really remarkable."
Izzy Blake, a freshman fashion design major, said she wanted to paint during the event to support the peace movement. She painted a large peace sign at the end of the banner, as well as other messages.
"Everyone is writing great messages that not only have to do with peace, but love, caring and compassion," Blake said.
The white-haired and bearded world-renowned artist Robert Guilleman, also known as Sidewalk Sam, sat perched on the steps of Bracken Library, looking down at the students creating their works of art. Sidewalk Sam has been paralyzed since an accident in 1994 and travels around the United States using art to promote education about nonviolence.
He outlined the dove around 8 a.m. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. the Ball State community took part in painting the dove and surrounding it with their own personal notes of hope and love.
Sidewalk Sam said he had heard Ball State seems to be especially committed to educating students about social conditions.
"This design is an overflow of good spirits by people who have come out spontaneously and have joined in on creating an artwork as if they have been doing art their whole lives," he said. "Whenever it happens it is beautiful to behold ... it makes me fall in love with humanity every time I see it."
Sidewalk Sam said he has been doing art for nearly 40 years. He said that while his art was being exhibited in galleries and museums he felt art was becoming synonymous with money and power.
"One day I went out to the streets of Boston and I crouched down on the ground, and I swept aside cigarette butts and bubble gum, and I did a copy of the 'Mona Lisa,' which stands as a representative of all great art," he said.
Gerstein said messages had been written in several different languages, including Icelandic, French, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew and Tibetan.
Musical acts, including T.J. Fields, Ben Clark, Phil Johnson, the George Wolf Jazz Quartet and Jim Gedda stopped by throughout the afternoon, creating a laid-back atmosphere for the event. Once the painting was finished, a group of people began playing drums and other instruments.
Students from Burris Laboratory School and The Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics and Humanities also made their mark around the dove.
Hillary Tribbett, strategic event coordinator of Paint 4 Peace and senior public relations major, said she thought the high school students coming was good because it allows the event to extend across all grade levels.
The organizers of the event decided to hold Paint 4 Peace in April due to the violence that has historically occurred in April, especially in schools. The Virginia Tech massacre, Columbine High School shooting, Oklahoma City bombing, Waco Siege and assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. all occurred during April.
"Students aren't just coming up and saying can I paint for a few minutes, they actually want to put a message down and it's not just their name," Tribbett said. "They have been making their own art, it's been a great experience for students to come out and express themselves."
Sidewalk SamGÇó Holds bachelor's and master's degrees in fine arts from Boston University.GÇó Studied in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie de Grande Chaumi+â-¿re.GÇó Decided to take art outside in order to reach the public.GÇó First sidewalk painting was the "Mona Lisa."GÇó Has organized chalk-drawing festivals and public art events since the 1980s.GÇó Additional nicknames include "Pavement Picasso" and the "Johnny Appleseed of Art."GÇó Organized the Boston Artists' Summer Festival in 1990 and 1991.GÇó Has been featured on TV shows including the "Today" show, Evening Magazine and "Good Morning America," as well as in hundreds of newspaper articles.
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