Student Pays off Fines By Painting Mural in Geology Department

When Kathleen Kennedy ’10 found herself having accumulated $1,000 in parking violation fines last spring, she came up with an unorthodox way of doing penance.

Kennedy, who is pursuing a BFA in painting, approached Public Safety Director Ron Stowe with a proposal. “I told him that I was a professional mural artist,” she says. “That’s what I did before I came to Guilford. I said, maybe I can paint a mural.”

Stowe was intrigued by the idea, and gave Kennedy a week to find an office or department on campus willing to host a wall-sized painting. And now, several months later, the Department of Geology has formally unveiled its new mural: a composite scene depicting the late Cretaceous Period in Frank Family Science Building Room 215.

In planning the mural, Kennedy worked with the department’s faculty. Dave Dobson, an associate professor of geology, says they considered a scene showing booming volcanoes or plate tectonics. “We decided that dinosaurs were more visually interesting,” he says.

The species and the landscapes depicted were selected for their visual and educational interest, so not all of the organisms in the mural would have been present in one place at the same time. Instead, the woodlands, plains and aquatic scenes and the several dinosaur species pictured offer a sampling of life in the late Cretaceous (145 to 66 million years ago).

Kennedy, who attended art school in Italy and operated a mural-painting business prior to enrolling at Guilford, says that she might have charged as much as $3,000 for the piece had it been done on a contract basis. But she didn’t approach the project with the attitude that it was merely a way to work of her fines.

“I didn’t want to paint something that was only worth $1,200,” the amount she owed, she says. “I wanted to paint something that would really add to the department.”

“She did a great job, and we’re very pleased with it,” says Angie Moore, assistant professor of geology. “It’s an amazing addition to our department.”

Stowe says that he would be open to allowing other students to exchange parking fines for service to the campus community in some circumstances. Kennedy’s case was unusual, he says, both because of her willingness to take responsibility for her actions and her ability to offer a quality project. “I wouldn’t be opposed to it, if someone had something similar to offer,” Stowe says.

Kennedy says she appreciates Stowe’s support throughout the process, and values her experience. “I guess it’s a good thing to learn how to approach people, especially authority figures, when you’ve done something wrong, and not throw a temper tantrum,” she says.

Nov. 13, 2008