{"id":27203,"date":"2026-02-24T12:10:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T17:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&p=27203"},"modified":"2026-02-27T11:56:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T16:56:22","slug":"skye-donaldson-26-mat-27-paints-mural-in-goddard-library-to-inspire-students","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2026\/02\/24\/skye-donaldson-26-mat-27-paints-mural-in-goddard-library-to-inspire-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Skye Donaldson \u201926, MAT \u201927, paints mural in Goddard Library to inspire students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

\u2018More than anything, I want to see art around campus\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSmall progress is still PROGRESS. Keep going one step at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This motivational quote now hangs permanently in the Goddard Library, encouraging students as they pass by. The quote is part of a mural painted by Skye Donaldson \u201926, MAT \u201927, who received a 2025 Sara Bickman Music and Arts Summer Internship Award<\/a>, which supports projects by students majoring in the Visual and Performing Arts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donaldson, a studio art<\/a> major, called her project \u201cMurals for Motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to have art in a lot of spaces. More than anything, I want to see art around campus,\u201d says Donaldson, who created similar uplifting art as a high schooler. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to see how one of the smallest things can inspire others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"mural
Photo by Ismael De La Cruz \u201927<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"mural
Photo by Ismael De La Cruz \u201927<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Donaldson\u2019s mural, on the second floor of the library near the Help Desk, depicts a Black student writing in a green notebook and wearing green headphones. There are splashes of vibrant colors in various rectangular shapes and a flurry of music symbols. It was important to her to paint something personal and deliberate. \u201cI want other people who look like me to see a character in a painting who looks like them,\u201d says Donaldson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donaldson is pursuing a Masters of Art in Teaching<\/a> in the 4+1 Advanced Degree program and hopes to be a high school art teacher. “I am excited to foster safe spaces for the youth to feel empowered by exploring their identity and expressing themselves through creating art,” she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donaldson has always been moved by the power of art throughout millennia, learning in history classes about cave paintings that comprise some of the earliest visual references of humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"student
Skye Donaldson ’26 in 2024, being inducted into the Clark University chapter of the Kappa Pi Art Honors Society.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cArt represents empowerment for me. It\u2019s been a part of human life for ages,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s an important way to express yourself, and movements of the past have been propelled through art. I see art as activism, as self-expression, as an emotional outlet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donaldson also works with ceramics and film photography. At Clark, she has most enjoyed her capstone<\/a> class with Studio Art Professor Toby Sisson<\/a> and Senior Thesis with Photography Professor Stephen DiRado because the courses have encouraged students to reflect on the questions \u201cWhat does art mean to you?\u201d and \u201cWhat do you create art about?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMentors are the most important thing,\u201d says Donaldson, who acknowledges that Sisson and DiRado have helped her explore more about herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"student
Photo by Ismael De La Cruz \u201927<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"student
Photo by Ismael De La Cruz \u201927<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"paintings
Photo by Ismael De La Cruz \u201927<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“More than anything, I want to see art around campus,\u201d says Donaldson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":27220,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"var(--clarku-color-orange)","story_headerImg":27220,"section_label":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[225,223],"displayed_author":[539],"featured":[493],"topic":[249,250,253,326,201,121],"class_list":["post-27203","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-humanities","category-clark-community","displayed_author-rukhshona-marufova-29","featured-primary","topic-art-and-art-history","topic-arts","topic-campus","topic-goddard-library","topic-major-in-studio-art","topic-undergraduate-students"],"yoast_head":"\nSkye Donaldson \u201926, MAT \u201927, paints mural in Goddard Library to inspire students | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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