FINE-ARTS MAJOR RACHEL ROBBINS '06 COMBINES ART AND ACTIVISIM TO TRANSFORM WOMEN'S CENTER

By the time Rachel Robbins '06 completed her coursework for the A.B. last semester, she had left her mark on the campus in an unusually concrete way. Robbins, a fine-arts major, spearheaded a collaborative mural project that combined art with activism to transform the vacant Pagoda building into a vibrant space for a revitalized Bryn Mawr Women's Center. Robbins undertook the project as an independent study through Praxis, the College's community-based experiential learning program. Her fieldwork was supervised by Bryn Mawr alumna Deborah Masters '73, a visiting professor of fine arts at Haverford who has extensive experience creating public art, including "Walking New York," a 350-foot painted relief that lines the halls of the international terminal in JFK Airport.

Lecturer in Education Jody Cohen oversaw Robbins' research for the project, which included substantial reading in feminist art theory. Robbins worked closely with Elle Stacey '07, who simultaneously worked on her own Praxis independent study, focused on reorganizing the Women's Center and creating a strategic plan to ensure its long-term stability; Shayna Israel '08 and Mzimeli Morris '08, the co-directors of the Student Union Center on Feminism, were also important contributors, Robbins says. About 25 Bryn Mawr students helped paint the mural, under Robbins' direction, in early December. Other students also participated in discussions about the subject matter and themes of the painting.

"Community organizing was a vital part of the work," said Robbins. "Our goal was to generate community support for and interest in the Women's Center, and that organizing is part of what the mural embodies."

A community meeting, announced through flyers, broadcast e-mails and word of mouth, drew about 35 students. "It was an interesting mix of people who were attracted to the project for all kinds of reasons," Robbins says. "People showed up because they were interested in painting, or in public art, or in feminism, or in community organizing. The energy in the room was just amazing, and it was so important to the painting process."

Masters, Robbins' field superviser, was equally inspired by the meeting, which recalled her own undergraduate days at Bryn Mawr. "Every kind of person you can imagine was there," Masters says, "and they were all so open, so accepting, so willing to explore, so genuinely intellectual — they talked about things I'd never even thought about. It was the kind of experience that made me love Bryn Mawr as a student."

"I'm so impressed with the work Rachel has done on this project," Masters continues. "It's so complex — not just the organizing and securing the necessary permissions, but her artistic work in creating a design that reflected a community's concerns and aspirations. It's the first time she's done a complete thematic program for a mural, and it's a huge job. She must have done at least 50 drafts. But she's very mature in her use of color and in the methods she used to approach the design."

The mural depicts historical figures from feminist movements as well as several contemporary Bryn Mawr students, one of whom is shown blowing dandelion seeds in a gesture, Robbins says, that represents "how feminism fits into students' hopes for what Bryn Mawr will be."

Stacey and other student organizers hope to create a pan-campus alliance of feminist organizations that will adopt the center as an activity space. "We've had a great deal of support, both institutionally and from student organizations," Robbins said. "We hope that we'll be able to staff the center with interns by next semester."

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