University of Rhode Island to uncover murals and add context
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The University of Rhode Island has announced plans to pre- serve two 1950s murals by Arthur Sherman in the Memorial Union that were covered last year.
The university will add language to explain how the murals reflect a past era where school enroll- ment was predominantly male and white, the Providence Journal report- ed.
Sherman, a 1950 uni- versity graduate, went to the school on the GI Bill after serving as a combat medic in World War II. The murals were complet- ed in 1954 and were drawn from Sherman’s memories of campus life.
According to
Wednesday’s announce- ment, the university plans to commission new art- work to be displayed alongside the current murals to depict the
campus life looks like now.
When the murals were covered in September, fol- lowing questions about
the lack of diversity depicted, the university said that they would not be a part of upcoming renovations to the student center.
According to the announcement, the univer- sity’s senior leadership team unanimously accept- ed the recommendation of an advisory committee. The recommendation includes uncovering, clean- ing and preserving the existing murals; adding context about Sherman’s service to the country,
the university and the community; adding lan- guage explaining the
intent of the murals; and commissioning a work of art of similar size “to depict diverse university life as it is today.”
