MCC math mural shows off student artistry

To commemorate the history of mathematics from 30,000 B.C.E. through today, three McHenry County College students, under the guidance of painting instructor and fine arts department Chairman Mark Arctander, created "A Visual History of Mathematics," a mural timeline.

The mural is now hanging in Building A, outside room A206.

The long, narrow brown and yellow mural depicts a scroll of centuries-old parchment paper, and took more than three months to complete. The mural includes a pictorial story of the development of mathematics, and features portraits of famous mathematicians including Pythagoras, whose namesake theorem has been a foundation in geometry.

Also pictured are Leonardo DaVinci, Albert Einstein and the first two black women who received Ph.D. degrees in mathematics.

These portraits are intertwined with a Rubik's cube, computer language, fractions and the largest Mersenne prime number in the world.

There is a quote from Plato, "To know math is a privilege." Also on the mural is the fundamental theorem of calculus, which was discovered in math's "Century of Enlightenment," from 1600-1700 C.E.

"The students can get a feel that math has played a major part in the development of humanity," said Donna Davis, an adjunct math instructor, who also tutors math in the Sage Learning Center at MCC. Pictured on the mural is Einstein, whose E = mc² equation led to the understanding that energy and mass are connected."

"I think it is the most beautiful mural I have ever seen. The artists did an outstanding job. It is amazing," Davis said.

Student artists include Jennifer Robison of Richmond, and Richard Neubauer and Danny Volpe, both of McHenry.

The group worked several days a week for 14 weeks during last fall's semester. Davis supplied a vast amount of information to be considered in the creation of the mural.

"The only thing we knew going into it was that it was a timeline. We didn't have a plan; we just drew it out. The best thing about it was working together and appreciating each other's work," said Neubauer,

"Each student worked on all portions of the mural to ensure the finished work would look unified visually," Arctander said.

This is the third student mural -- and the second at MCC -- completed under Arctander's guidance.

A similar project, The "Pathways to History" mural outside of the A240 lecture hall, includes historical icons from McHenry County and was completed in 2006.

Arctander and the group of student artists who completed the "Pathways to History" piece were subsequently commissioned to paint a mural last year that is now displayed at the McHenry County Courthouse.