Emporia State University art students have collaborated with the Emporia Police Department to create a mural for the police department as part of a two-week summer course designed specifically for this project.
“We decided this way would be a really good
opportunity for students to get credit hours and also get a hands-on experience
doing a mural project,” Associate Professor Derek Wilkinson, who led the
class, said. “We wouldn’t have had time to add this project onto the semester
schedule.”
The class began with a visit from representatives of the police department, who offered inspiration for the mural. The first half of the two-week course, which met from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., was designing the mural concept, a collaborative effort between the students. The second week saw the class complete the mural, using a grid to transfer the design from sketches to the police department wall before painting.
“They used the terms ‘love,’ ‘serve,’ ‘protect’ and ‘respect,’” Wilkinson said. “Terms that describe police officers’ roles in the community and how they should act in the community. [Police Chief Scott Cronk] added to that ‘see no color’ and asked to just emphasize how they should treat everyone equally regardless of race and represent the LGBTQ community.”
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