A collaboration between Humber College students and Toronto artist André Kan has resulted in an injection of colour at Lakeshore Campus through a series of murals added to F Cottage.

About 45 students from Humber’s Advertising – Art Direction and Advertising and Graphic Design programs worked with Kan to come up with ideas for the mural designs as well as typography for Faculty of Media and Creative Arts course codes that were included in the murals. They’re calling the project Patternized and it's the latest addition to Humber Galleries' Campus as a Canvas Mural Series.

In total, nine different murals covering sections of all three floors in F Cottage were installed as was a small display of the student work and designs that look at the collaboration process and how it connected to the student’s class work.  

Natalie Grakovski is an Advertising and Graphic Design student at Humber who was part of the project and helped with the murals and typography. Grakovski served as a student coordinator, acting as a go-between for Kan and the students.

“Andre gave me a lot of freedom, which was very validating, and it was really nice to be able to work closely with him,” said Grakovski.

Grakovski developed skills through her participation including project management, but the most important takeaway was how to successfully collaborate with an artist to ensure a project fit their style and vision. The fact that her work will live on at Lakeshore is also greatly appealing to Grakovski.

“We have this beautiful project that’s now part of my portfolio, but I can go and see it in person, which is so fantastic. Humber does a wonderful job of providing students with real-world experience and this is a great example of that.”

The artwork for the murals were designed digitally before being printed on vinyl and installed.  

Kyla Ross, project manager for the Centre for Creative Business Innovation (CCBI) and Humber Galleries, said the murals were a way to inject some colour and vibrancy to F Cottage, which is home to the Social and Media Communications program cluster. Ross said it was an opportunity for the students to see their efforts reflected in the art as they were given an assignment to come up with the typography.

“This was a perfect fit for both sides really and André told us he was learning from the students as they were learning from him,” said Casey Norris, project lead, Humber Galleries and CCBI. “This was a different opportunity for our students to change the space they learn in.”

The murals showcase Kan’s signature style that focuses on structures and interconnectivity. Icons and geometric shapes travel through Kan’s visual notion of space and time, creating a playful dynamic representing creativity and interactivity in a digital age.