KCC to unveil new Jaziel Pugh mural on campus Oct. 17

Artist Jaziel Pugh sits in front of his mural "Six Disciplines."

Kellogg Community College will unveil a new mural created by celebrated local artist and KCC student Jaziel Pugh next week on campus in Battle Creek.

The mural will be unveiled during a Davidson Building Mural Reception running from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, at the Davidson Visual and Performing Arts Center on campus at 450 North Ave. The event is free and open to the public and will include remarks from the artist and Justin Andert, who organizes the annual Color the Creek street art festival in Battle Creek.

Color the Creek worked with the KCC Foundation and the College’s Arts and Communication Department to facilitate the creation of the mural. The work, titled “Six Disciplines” consists of six panels, each approximately seven feet high and eight feet long, painted to represent the programs offered at the Davidson Center: art, communication, graphic design, music, photography/multimedia and theatre.

The panels were created by Schweitzer, Inc., of Battle Creek, which also provided the space for Pugh to paint for the duration of the work.

In his artist statement, Pugh, a 2013 graduate of Battle Creek Central High School, said he used pieces of different artistic styles to create “a rhythmic movement of butterflies and figures.”

“The mural portrays enough realism to let you know what the subject is and enough abstraction to make you feel something,” Pugh said.

Pugh has painted several public murals in the Battle Creek area, including two for past Color the Creek events, and has worked with KCC on a number of artistic endeavors over the past few years. “Six Disciplines” will be installed on the south exterior wall of the Davidson Visual and Performing Arts Center prior to the mural reception.

Reception attendees will also have the opportunity to view KCC’s current art exhibit, “Album Cover Art: A Window on World Cultures and Art History,” which is on display through Nov. 1 in the Davidson Center’s Eleanor R. and Robert A. DeVries Gallery. The exhibit features a collection of Golden Age music album cover art curated by Douglas P. Sjoquist.

Sjoquist is a retired Lansing Community College professor and currently is a visiting faculty member in the Department of Religious Studies at Michigan State University, where he’s taught part time since 2008.

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