It was only the second week of school, and freshman health sciences major Audra Mansager wanted to let out some steam after getting in an argument with a friend.
The argument concerned trying new things, her friend saying that he enjoyed “sticking with what he knew.” Mansager had just come over from Italy and, having lived in several other European countries during her years as an army brat, felt insulted. She went to the fifth-floor staircase of the second tower of ASU downtown’s Taylor Place dormitories to vent by creating a work of art.
“I was so insulted, because that was going against my whole lifestyle,” Mansager said. “I just went up and painted because I was frustrated and it represented what I felt.”
The product of her frustration was a large mural, appearing to show a nude body trapped inside of a large red box, with the words “Stick With What You Know.”
It would be the first of three total murals that she would paint around the fifth-floor stairway. All three were done with mostly black and red acrylic paint, and featured nude figures accompanied by text.
Although what she did was against Taylor Place rules, Mansager said she was not attempting to be malicious. She said she made it to express herself, as well as to give students something to look at when they walk through the stairwell instead of a blank wall.
When the community assistant of her floor told her she had to attend a meeting in the dean’s office about the paintings, she became very worried.
“I was thinking the worst, that I’m going to be kicked out of Taylor Place,” she said.
She said she was pleasantly surprised to find that the dean’s office was instead very supportive of her artistic ventures. While they did tell her that she needed to stop painting in the stairwell, they gave her information on getting involved in the local art scene, including information on First Friday, nearby art vendors where she could sell her work and studio time in Tempe.
“I think he appreciated my art and knew I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone or vandalize,” Mansager said. “He knew that I was just trying to do my thing. So I got really lucky that ASU was so supportive of that.”
Mansager was still fined around $50, which was charged to her ASU account, for the cost of having to repaint the wall.
Since the incident, the walls have been repainted their usual gray, and the paintings now only survive in photographs taken by Mansager and other Taylor Place residents.
She said although she is very grateful to ASU for encouraging her interest and not penalizing her too harshly, Mansager still believes that they should have kept her paintings up.
“A: It’s not hurting anyone, and B: That is artwork they just erased,” Mansager said. “Honestly, I’m in the wrong here because I went on their school property and did that, but I feel like once it’s already up, you might as well keep it up.”
Others ardently disagree, including Kevin Schaudt, the director of operations at Taylor Place.
Schaudt said he believes the art was obvious vandalism on private property, and that allowing people to paint without permission could lead to further conflict.
“Who decides what’s appropriate and not appropriate?” Schaudt asked. “If it is done without permission from the building or the university, then it isn’t allowed. When someone tags with spray paint, isn’t it the same?”
Schaudt said while a program allowing artists to paint in the stairway was not in Taylor Place’s future plans, it was a conversation worth having.
“We never got the chance to have that conversation though,” Schaudt said.
Some take the middle ground, like Sarah Lili Harrington, an exercise and wellness freshman who lived close to the mural. Both her mother and sister are heavily involved in art.
“Art expression would be cool in the building,” Harrington said. “But since she didn’t have permission, it’s kind of a touchy decision, because while it is her expressing her individuality and I think it’s cool for the building, she didn’t have permission and it wasn’t her property.”
She however, did express interest in having a program where artists could sign up to paint around the staircase.
“The staircases are really bleak, so art would be cool,” Harrington said.
Contact the reporter at djmarino@asu.edu
