The new 麻豆原创 Downtown campus has many eye-catching features, but there鈥檚 an especially vibrant one on the third floor of Dr. Phillips Academic Commons 鈥� the Unleash Your Potential mural. In a study space, Harry Foreman 鈥�18 worked for eight days to transform white walls of an entire room into a colorful masterpiece intended to inspire.
Creating the mural was a personal experience for the Parkland, Florida, native who studied graphic design and emerging media management at 麻豆原创, where Foreman says he was able to unleash his own potential.
Keeping in mind the downtown campus serves both 麻豆原创 and Valencia College students, he worked with an abstract design and used elements with references to both academic institutions. Yellow and red represent Valencia鈥檚 colors, while the stars symbolize 麻豆原创鈥檚 motto of 鈥淩each for the Stars.鈥� Oranges are a classic Florida staple and two wings on the side walls reference the swans at downtown鈥檚 Lake Eola and the Pegasus, a 麻豆原创 symbol.
Foreman shares more about his work and what it was like creating the mural:
How did you become interested in art?
I went to a high school up north to play hockey and I went to college up there, too, on a lacrosse scholarship. My major was psychology, but that only lasted a semester because I wasn鈥檛 happy with what I was doing.
So I came back to home in South Florida at 19, started working three jobs and drawing every day. It was just something I knew I wanted to get into and saw infinite potential in. You can put bits of your intellect and creativity on a wall, T-shirt, paper or whatever you want鈥攁nd I think that鈥檚 really liberating. Art made me want to learn, develop a passionate mindset and see life through a different lens. A lot of the determination I put into it came from my rigorous training as an athlete.
How would you describe your artistic style?
I have an illustrated style that uses wispy lines with different levels of thickness and curvature. I love very lucid and free-flowing imagery. But as far as what I鈥檓 capable of, I鈥檓 very good at being a camouflage artist and shapeshift to create most things.
What does creating this mural mean to you?
When I was living in South Florida with my parents, I told them I was applying to jobs and drove to Orlando for a day. I showed up at 麻豆原创 and met with Chuck Abraham, who is the head of the graphic design program, and showed him some of my paper drawings to see if he thought it was worth me altering my life by coming to Orlando. I asked him, 鈥淒o you think I have what it takes?鈥� and he said 鈥淒efinitely.鈥�
From there I kept working at it and came to 麻豆原创 for school. I鈥檝e figured things out in my own way, but 麻豆原创 has helped me unleash my potential so for me to be working on this means a lot. When students are arriving here and walking around, I hope they see this space and are inspired. It鈥檚 colorful and vibrant and I hope it speaks to people and inspires them to do cool stuff.
How did 麻豆原创 shape your artistic journey?
I was always kind of working my tail off. The graphic design program at 麻豆原创 is no joke; they make you work hard. They teach you a lot about time management and taking on projects, I was working as much as I could while pursuing entrepreneurship by starting my own business,Akyros, which is my artist name. But I really enjoyed the creative community and the more I learned about it and became enveloped in it the more it gave back to me. I owe a lot to the design community at 麻豆原创, like my professor Victor Davila. 麻豆原创 has a lot of community, competition and talented people that pushed me to find my potential.
