MASPAZ: WE ALL BELONG

We All Belong, 2025
by MasPaz

Coming to the Art and Design Building this Summer!

Murals at Mason is proud to commission a tapestry mural from School of Art alumnus (‘05), Federico “MasPaz” Frum that conveys interconnectedness and reciprocity between humans, animals, and the natural world. The group of people represent the global origins of the Mason student community. They are embracing each other and are surrounded by a variety of patterns that reference animals, plants, and symbols of learning and creativity.

  • Animal elements include: Dove, bear paw and human footprint, fox, snail, lion, turtle, hummingbird, butterfly, salmon.

  • Natural elements include: Sky, sun, moon, cloud, wind, sea, fire, rainbow, corn, Baobab tree. 

Artist Statement

Friends and neighbors. Together we all sit. Birds and bees. Trees and leaves. With smiles through the eyes from the heart, we feel safe. Como estar en la casa. Like being home. The world is our home. We talk story, as newborns talk to their families. 

Salmons swim, careful to not be caught by Fox Woman. Grandma walks home from the library, carrying her favorite books. She shares her stories with the community center for unhoused folks every Thursday. In the evenings she cares for her granddaughter, while the parents take night class and work cleaning offices from 5-11pm. It’s tiring work. Uncle sits under the red bud watching the colors of the sky painted with butterfly dust. Over the corn fields around the sun she flies. 

The kindest couple cradle their 6 month old son. They offer him abundant love and care. They adopted him from an orphanage called the House of the Mother. Beside their house grows the Baobab, one of the largest trees in the world.   


About the Artist

MasPaz (Federico Frum), an alumnus of Mason’s School of Art, is a Colombian-born multidisciplinary artist, based in Washington DC. He is known for his distinctive street murals that explore topics of earth preservation and indigenous peoples. He recently created the Art of the Skateboard, a series of stamps for the U.S. Postal Service. Mas Paz means 'more peace' in Spanish, a message he strives to embrace through art and philanthropy. 


He has been featured on ABC News, Telemundo and The Washington Post, among others. He has collaborated with brands such as Nike, National Geographic, Roots, Sierra Club, and Brooks Running, as well as institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery of Art, the New Museum, the Corcoran, the Freer and Sackler Gallery. He has also worked with numerous schools and education centers throughout the world. 

NADYA STEARE: ESTUARINE FOOD WEB OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY

Estuarine Food Web of the Chesapeake Bay
by Nadya Steare @beastearey

September 11, 2024

About the Artwork
The longevity of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems rely on the presence of a stable food web.  Each step of the food web is unique and important to the health of the ecosystem and those who depend on it for food, clean water, and recreation. Representing the Chesapeake Bay estuary, the rain barrel draws a correlation between the contents of stormwater runoff and the organisms it comes into contact with. This simplified diagram follows the possible transfer of carbon energy as native species interact across trophic levels. 

Species included: Mallard, Osprey, Great blue heron, Red drum, Atlantic croaker, Menhaden, Atlantic silverside, Maryland blue crab, Eastern Oyster, Zooplankton, Eelgrass.  

About the Project
George Mason Facilities & Campus Operations donated a rainwater barrel to the School of Art for installation at the Sculpture Yard to raise awareness about stormwater management using public art. Murals at Mason commissioned a mural by Nadya Steare that encompasses the estuarine food web of the Chesapeake Bay.

An event was organized by Mason Exhibitions on Wednesday, September 11, 2024 for the Mason community to participate in painting and decorating the rainwater barrel according to Steare’s design.

About the Artist
Nadya Steare received her BFA from the George Mason School of Art and works as a biomedical illustrator and exhibiting artist. She was a 2020 recipient of the Virginia Museum of Fine Art Fellowship and 2023 OSCAR Research Excellence Award. Solo exhibition venues include “Re_Source Art’ at Delaplaine Arts Center (Frederick, MD) and ‘Middle Ground’ at Deiglan Gilfélagið (Akureyri, Iceland). Group exhibition venues include Washington County Museum of Fine Art, McLean Project for the Arts and the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art. Visit her Instagram to view her ongoing work engaging with the natural world @beastearey.

About Murals at Mason
Mason Exhibitions, through its Murals at Mason program, produces public art projects to create a sense of place and community on campus and in surrounding public areas. Murals at Mason offers mentorship to student, local, and emerging artists on mural-making for on- and off-campus clients. We also work in collaboration with University partners to commission large-scale public art on campus. Follow Mason Exhibitions and Murals at Mason on Instagram and Facebook @masonexhibitions @muralsatmason.

Special Thanks to Project Sponsors
George Mason Facilities and Campus Operations: Land Development team
The Patriot Green Fund (PGF), financed by George Mason Facilities and managed by the University Sustainability team
Mason Exhibitions
Murals at Mason
University Life 

Special Thanks to Project Collaborators
Brenda Claudio Cruz, Ben Ashworth, Ben Auger, Jenn Ashworth, Yassmin Salem, Zhongyan Xu

GIRASOL O'NEILL: FINDING OUR RHYTHM

Finding Our Rhythm, 2024

Girasol O’Neill @solmakesstuff

The Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution commissioned a participatory public sculpture workshop by School of Art alumni Girasol O’Neill during their Summer 2024 Conflict Resolution Youth Summit. High school students participating in the Summit worked together to assemble two human-sized figures out of wood, one representing the Sun and one representing the Moon. After assembling, the students wrote and drew messages of hope, power, and humor on the figures and attached them to the back of a turtle, which is the base of the sculpture.

The figures standing on the back of a turtle references the Indigenous Turtle Island Story

The figures were embellished with a variety of "jingles" made out of found objects and recycled materials, inspired by Indigenous Jingle Dress Dancers that originated in the early 1900s as a symbol of dreams, visions, healing, and hope.


Special Thanks to Project Sponsors
The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution
Facilities and Campus Operations: Waste Recycling Team, Paint Shop, University Sustainability
Mason Exhibitions
Murals at Mason
School of Art

Special Thanks to Project Collaborators
Ben Aswhorth, Kevin Brim, Brian Davis, Isaac Jasper, Jerry “Jay” Lang, Carmelo O’Neill, Matthew O’Neill, Yassmin Salem, Jose Vasquez


NICK ZIMBRO: THE WILDS

The Wilds, 2022

Nicholas Zimbro, @mr.zimbro

In Summer 2022, Murals at Mason was hired by The Flats on University to commission a mural facing the courtyard pool area. Out of many incredibly talented muralists, Woodbridge artist Nicholas Zimbro was selected to paint ‘The Wilds’.

Special thanks to Megan Dubois, The Flats on University, Nick Zimbro, and Shepherd Norman.

Photos by Sierra Guard / GMU Creative Services

ALECSIS PILLAR: CORNER POCKET

Murals at Mason was commissioned by the Corner Pocket for a mural that captures the various games they have available. This mural was designed and painted by illustration major, Alecsis (Lecsi) Pillar, during the spring semester of 2022.

Thank you to Corner Pocket staff, Jack Kenny and Kelly Reid, for choosing Murals at Mason to facilitate this project!

Read this article by Madison Rudolf to learn more about Lecsi’s inspiration and the design-selection process:
https://www.gmu.edu/news/2022-02/mason-art-student-showcases-corner-pocket-new-mural

KHOI LE: HONORING ROY ROSENZWEIG

Murals at Mason was commissioned by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media to design and paint a mural to honor the legacy of Roy Rosenzweig. This mural was painted by NVCC student, Khoi Le, during the summer of 2021.

Thank you to Mills Kelly for choosing us as facilitators and allowing Khoi to explore mural-making with such an important project.

PLANETARY HALL

Murals at Mason was commissioned by the Physics and Astronomy Department to design and paint a mural that relates to physics and astronomy. This mural was designed by Raquel Bumgarner (Class of 2022) and painted by a number of volunteers in 2020.

Thank you to Dr. Paul So for offering this opportunity to us!