A mural of Montpelier by Jennifer Bailey ('02) looms large in the student lounge in Warren Hall.

Staff at Taylor Down Under, an eatery and study lounge in Taylor Hall, held a contest to choose a student artist to create murals in both Warren and Taylor halls. Contestants were asked to create mural concepts depicting themes of the JMU student experience and Montpelier, the family home of James Madison. Judges reviewed a variety of entries and selected junior Jennifer Bailey of Maurertown, Va., to bring the JMU spirit to campus walls.

Bailey impressed the judges with a submission of photos of murals she had created in her high school. To obtain ideas for designs pertaining to the theme of Montpelier, Bailey visited James Madison's estate in Orange County, took photographs and bought note cards with pictures of different parts of the historic property. Last summer, she completed several murals in various locations in Taylor and Warren, including a sprawling mural of the Montpelier mansion in the loft of the JMU Campus Center. The style is reminiscent of the realist American artist Edward Hopper. Bailey's second mural in Warren is of the icehouse on the Montpelier estate.

In Taylor Down Under, Bailey's mural depicts students in a setting of a typical day at the eatery and study lounge. "The atmosphere in Taylor Down Under is laid back," says Bailey. "I tried to create that sense in the mural."

Bailey painted additional murals of Montpelier's formal gardens and entranceway in Taylor. Her favorite campus mural is a grandiose painting on the fourth floor of Taylor, next to a large window overlooking Warren. Bailey's inspiration for the design was drawn from tying together the themes of students and James Madison. She went through many sketches before finally deciding on a design that is full of symbolism. "I was thinking of how James Madison is the Father of our Constitution. The mural shows him as if he is holding a baby, yet it's the Constitution."

Denisse Paz ('03)