As part of the Norman Hall Rehabilitation project, a portion of state-provided construction funds was set aside for the commissioning of original public art. After a rigorous selection process by the Art Selection Committee, following guidelines set forth by the Art in State Buildings program, a grand-scale muralist was chosen for the installation.
The artist, Don Rimx (aka David Sepulveda) now extends his classical art training into urban art with a community-centered philosophy. He has won awards and broad recognition for commissioned works around the world, including various cities in the US, Barcelona, Berlin, the West Bank and his native Puerto Rico. His work is installed or has been displayed in multiple places around Miami, his new hometown, including Wynwood Walls, Miami Auto Show and Art Basel Miami.
“When I met Don in an early phase of the selection process I and a few others from the college conveyed our convictions and commitments as a college to embrace the most intractable, pressing problems facing communities and schools through our research, teaching and outreach actions,” said Tom Dana, senior associate dean of academic affairs. “I conveyed our historical struggles with institutional and systemic injustices facing our university and broader communities and expressed our hope that his work could reflect our aspirations, especially situated in the historical context of 2020 when this mural is unfolding.
“In our conversations, Don heard about the ways our students – future educators, leaders, counselors and scholars – push us, challenge us and also make us proud as they take up the “good fight.” He heard about our history of foundational innovations focused on student success such as launching the middle school movement and creating the Florida community college system.”
In further conversations with the artist, Dana conveyed detailed information about the college’s array of academic programs with emphasis on our students who are being taught to dig in, disrupt our collective thinking and embrace challenging and sometimes uncomfortable work that is most relevant to the spaces they will influence.
