Contact: Christie McNeal
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擳wo fine arts students left a lasting mark at Mississippi State after taking on an extra project in their final year of study.
Senior Chloe V. Ruggiero of Covington, Louisiana, and spring 2024 graduate Abbey R. Temple of Ridgeland recently completed a mural project for the university鈥檚 Department of Agricultural Science and Plant Protection. Located on the first floor of the Hill Agriculture Science Building, the 32-foot-long mural depicts select Mississippi crops鈥攕uch as corn and rice鈥攁nd the diseases that plague them. The pair was given a reference book of crops and met with faculty and others in the department to discuss what the mural should depict.
鈥淲e took their pictures and examples and turned them into something of our own stylistically,鈥 Temple said.
鈥淲e sort of picked the prettiest ones,鈥 Ruggiero added. 鈥淚f you can believe it, plant sickness isn鈥檛 always beautiful.鈥
Faculty wanted the crops and diseases to be recognizable, so Ruggiero said they put extra effort into making that happen. After discussions and research, the next step in the mural process involved sketching and getting feedback and approvals.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to get a sketch that鈥檚 the size of our iPad to reflect properly how it will look on a large wall,鈥 Ruggiero said. 鈥淚n the beginning, we did a lot of one-to-one, sketch to wall. It ended up being a puzzle almost, with sections moving around until we found the best placement.鈥
Temple was more involved in the beginning stages鈥攖he sketching and planning鈥攚hile Ruggiero took on more of the color and texture choices later in the project.
鈥淚 love the rice and the corn on the far left of the mural,鈥 Ruggiero said. 鈥淚 also like the color palette; I鈥檓 a very warm-toned person; yellow is my favorite color.鈥
Both students, who are oil painters by trade, said they enjoyed the challenge, as neither have ever painted such a large piece.
鈥淚t was also a fun medium switch-up,鈥 Ruggiero said.
聽黑料社 Department of Art Professor Soon Ee Ngoh, who has championed the work of numerous student murals on campus, guided the entire process.
鈥淪he was such a crusader for us during the whole process, and I truly could not have picked a better professor to lead and help us through that,鈥 Ruggiero said.
黑料社鈥檚 College of Architecture, Art and Design and Department of Art are available online at聽 and .
黑料社 is taking care of what matters. Learn more at聽.