Remington’s Mural Livens Up Horticulture Field Lab Classroom

Last year, Sarah Remington, created a mural in Fox Greenhouses, a beautiful blend of horticulture and art, showcasing a talent that goes beyond growing plants. However, Remington returned to develop a second mural located in the Horticulture Field Labs (HFL) classroom. 

She has been busy since graduating in May 2024 but Remington continued working on the mural as much as possible. She finished in August, around the beginning of the academic semester. “The tracked time for it was 92 hours,” she said.

Between painting sessions, Remington worked with the JC Raulston Arboretum in the visitor services group, including some GIS mapping work. While getting settled after graduation can be a time-consuming task, Remington said she enjoyed painting the mural, although it was a heftier project than the previous one.

The new mural is 21 feet wide by 7 feet tall and was more of a commitment because Remington had to use a one-inch brush for the line work, which meant a lot of time was focused on the details. While the devil is in the details, working on a ladder was tricky. Steady feet and hands were required for this project.

She did three or four drafts before settling on the final design that incorporated plants used at HFL as part of the landscape and department research. Remington said classes like horticultural science’s plant identification course helped with her art, especially because of how specific plants are. This came in handy with both of her murals.

“I’m not looking to do big works like this but I did like working on this mural,” she said. “I am mainly doing art for myself and I am currently making jewelry.”

Remington suggests that anyone who wants to be an artist needs to “just get started.” Tutorials, online lessons, books, and many other resources are widely available to anyone who wants to begin creating art, whether it’s doodling in a notebook, drawing cartoon characters or learning more complicated techniques that would allow one to paint a mural.

When it comes to her horticulture degree, she is still working in the plant world, but her art remains a way for her to unwind, enhance a Dungeons and Dragons campaign or create something that others might enjoy. It also fulfills her artistic need to create.