The EDvolution Center at Southeast Missouri State University has been emboldened with a new look to reflect the importance of art in education. Student members of the recently founded Southeast chapter of the National Art Educators Association (NAEA) Preservice chapter recently finished a mural highlighting the Centers integration of the arts and technology in education.

The 19-by-9-foot mural, located along the Centers north wall, was an opportunity to recognize the skills and talent of Southeasts art education majors while showcasing the Center, said Heath Hase, EDvolution Center coordinator.

The EDvolution Center is a space for all our students to use and grow their craft. This was a perfect opportunity for our art education students to leave their creative mark in this beautiful and unique illustration of the EDvolution story, he said.

Caitlin Koch, a senior art education major from Fairview Heights, Illinois, and president of NAEA, led seven students in designing and painting the mural for the Center.

This was a great opportunity to represent art education and the integration of art and technology in the EDvolution Center, Koch said. We are honored to have such a large section of wall devoted to the mural.

Southeast students who contributed to the project were Cailley Bausch of Pacific, Missouri; Olivia Capps of Farmington, Missouri; Haley Edington of Festus, Missouri; Madison Ellers of Crystal Lake, Illinois; Nick Jakubeck of Arnold, Missouri; Maddy McDuffy of Freeburg, Illinois;and Gabriella Yurevich of Springfield, Illinois.

The students incorporated various logos and elements of the Centers technology into the mural, as well as fundamentals of education such as critical thinking. The mural also features gears representing thinking and processing, and ribbon which represents 3D printer filament. One of the murals key features is human figures, which represent diversity in education.

Education doesnt depend on background. It is every gender, every race. It is for everyone, said Koch.