Past Grounds4Art Projects

Artist: Aya Tarek
Location: West side of the Humanities building (DHUM)
Unveiled: 2019

Sponsored by the community organization Art2Action, Egyptian artist Aya Tarek’s mural is the second public art project to be completed at the Dale Mabry Campus. Over the course of two weeks, Tarek—a prolific artist who has created large-scale murals in Cairo, Berlin, São Paolo and Portland, among others—worked on campus with HCC students and community members to fabricate the mural.

As whole, the project Painting Ourselves Visible sought to celebrate and increase the visibility of Arab, Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) and Muslim communities in the Tampa area. In service of that goal, Tarek’s mural contains elements reminiscent of multiple artistic traditions, such as portraiture inspired by Fayum mummy portraits and iconographical elements drawn from Christian artwork made during the Byzantine and Roman Empires. The project culminated in a three-day celebration of MENA culture, including an official mural unveiling, a screening of the 2010 independent film Microphone featuring Tarek, and workshops led by Art2Action founder Andrea Assaf, Syrian stage director Kholoud Sawaf and visual artist Ameena Khan. Programming also included a panel on creative placemaking featuring Neil Gobioff, President of the Gobioff Foundation, Ashley Walden Davis, Managing Director of Alternate ROOTS, and Robin Nigh, Manager of Arts & Cultural Affairs for the City of Tampa.

This project was made possible with the support of the Gobioff Foundation Treasure Tampa Grant.

This project was developed and supported by the following community organizations: Art2Action, Alternate ROOTS, City of Tampa, Arts & Cultural Affairs, Hillsborough Community College.

Artist: Michael Parker
Location: Learning Resources Center (DLRC)
Unveiled: 2019

In honor of HCC’s 50th Anniversary, Grounds4Art commissioned Florida-based artist Michael Parker to complete the campus’ inaugural public art project. The result of Parker’s vision, which included a collaboration with the HCC community that empowered students to assist in conceptualizing and fabricating the mural, was a 67-foot-long mural titled Infinite Transitions.

Meant to honor the college’s unique history along with icons representing the campus itself, the mural features layered images that reflect upon the educational journey taken by HCC’s students. Embedded in the complex composition, one will find images such as the Social Sciences building (an homage to the first building constructed on the Dale Mabry Campus), aerial maps that recognize diversity of campus programs and infrastructure, campus pride reflected through two centrally located hawks, DNA strands noting the strength of the campus’ science and health programs, and portraits at either end of the mural noting the foundational and inspirational role of our students. The mural’s fabrication culminated in a public celebration in April of 2019 that brought together diverse student groups, including performances by Spoken Word and Hip-Hop Expression and documentation by the Film Club.

Outstanding Contributors: Gobioff Foundation, HCC Dale Mabry Student Government Association, Stanton Storer Embrace the Arts Foundation, Division of Associate in Science

Major Contributors: George Anderton, Anonymous Donation in Honor of Katherine Gibson, The Dr. Lydia R. Daniel Honors Program, Deborah Leighty, Yann and Susana Weymouth

Contributors: Cecilia Carr, Herding Squirrels Writing Group, Debra Heysek, Joann Kakascik-Dye, Susann Kirchner, Karen Marra Nelson, Gayle Peterson-Palmberg, Connie and Jim Reed, Gina Ricard, Kathryn Smith, Dana Warner, Ann Menchen, Paula Porter-Smith, Gwendolyn Suarez, Beth Wyckoff