A collaborative university effort to express creativity across generations is now on display at the Butler Institute of American Art.
 
 
Alongside Youngstown State University’s Success Over 60 program, the Cliff College of Creative Arts has produced a mural that professors say built "a profound sense of connection and shared humanity.”
 
16 students within YSU's Mural and Site-Specific Painting course worked with seniors from Ohio Living, students from Sokolov Honors College and participants from Ohio Living Hospice and Home Care to create the mural. The project began with an "empathy-mapping session" which allowed participants to reflect on their own intergenerational experiences through past memories, emotions and actions.
 
After several more reflection and design stages, students created a complex color-by-number system which allowed members of the community to easily join in on the painting sessions.
 
The project was led by YSU professors Dan Van Dussen in the department of social work and Dragana Crnjak of the art department. In total, the mural brought together over 50 participants from the university, Ohio Living and the local community.