At the Feb. 24 'paint-in,' 22 students worked on the five-panel project.

By Kelly Brooks-Staub
School of Nursing

A student-led effort at the School of Nursing is transforming a blank wall adjacent to the student lounge into a 150-square-foot "Faces of Nursing" mural. The project depicts the diversity of the nursing workforce and is the result of collaboration among a unique group of Johns Hopkins students, coordinated by Rayanne Harris from the SoN traditional class of 2006.

After the initial design was created by mural artist Frank Gallimore, a graduate student in the Writing Seminars, nursing student volunteers worked through the month of February to trace the mural's outline onto the wall. Twenty-two students attended a "paint-in" event on Feb. 24, covering most of the mural's surface with colorful paint. The final details, to be finished by May 1, will take considerable time and effort to complete: Each of the faces takes five to six hours of work.

The mural consists of five panels, about 5-and-a-half-feet wide, each of which shows a distinctly different "face" of the profession: a nurse listening to the heartbeat of a hospital patient; military nurses caring for a patient in a field tent; community health nurses visiting a family in a neighborhood of East Baltimore rowhouses; a nurse giving Reiki, a Japanese healing treatment, to a patient; and a nurse educator in front of a classroom.

"This vibrant mural will inspire students, staff and faculty alike," Harris says. "'Faces of Nursing' emphasizes that creativity and beauty are not lost elements of nursing. The mural's many layers of meaning remind students that though we have many choices in our professional paths, all of them carry common elements of compassion, knowledge and responsibility."

Working with Harris and Gallimore are team members Bhavini Mody '06, art director; faculty adviser Jo Walrath; and staff advisers Sandra Angell, associate dean for student affairs, and Nancy Rent, administrative assistant in the Office of Admissions and Student Services. Funding was provided through the JHU Alumni Association and donations from the classes of 2006 and 2007.

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