Ruby Seiler, artist
By Emma Castleberry
Ruby Seiler, a junior at University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), has completed a 10- by 15-foot mural at Mountain Peak Athletic Center for Training (MPAC) 360, an athletic sports training center in the Asheville Mall.
The owners of the gym, Roderick Simmons and John Jastrzebski, initially contacted Seiler’s art teacher, Jenny Kiehn, about the project. “We wanted one wall hand-painted by a local artist to help showcase their talents,” says Jastrzebski, “because at MPAC 360 we are trying to impact as many people in our community as we can.”
Kiehn was too busy to take the commission, but saw it as a perfect opportunity for her student. “Having some real-world experience would give her some perspective,” says Kiehn. “It would also help give her confidence that she can make a living as a professional artist.”
The process was involved—Seiler estimates she worked for about 90 hours, in addition to 60 hours of support donated by family and friends. Seiler spent a long time familiarizing herself with the business’s values and ideals, and did several sketches before landing on a final design. She even watched videos of athletes training on the center’s website so she could better understand the sport. “We gave Ruby the idea of incorporating boxing and wrestling and let her run with the rest of it,” says Jastrzebski. “It was her piece so we wanted to let her fully express it.”
Once she’d landed on a visual design, she had to face a personal challenge as an artist: incorporating words into her art. “I had reservations about incorporating words into my art,” she says, “because I think that art should be able to emotionally speak to somebody without words. I realized the potential for words when I looked to Marvel comics. In departing the gentle, soft world of my usual subject, nature, I entered a world jam-packed with action, just like boxing and wrestling. I felt on fire, unstoppable, like I had super powers to use such vibrant colors, explosive shapes and bold words.”
Once the design was finalized, the sketching and painting of the mural presented its own challenges. The 16-year-old artist had never worked on anything larger than about 2 feet. “The mural was 115 times larger than the plan,” says Seiler.
The design was projected onto the wall, but Seiler found she had to make many corrections to her lines and learn new brushwork to be effective at such a large scale. “Though it presented technical challenges,” says Seiler, “the scale of the wall made the mural feel dramatic and larger than life.”
She’s grateful for the learning experience and proud of the final product. “I felt honored and humbled that I could express something to so many people,” she says. “I hope that it can inspire and help the athletes there find strength within themselves.”
See the mural at MPAC 360 in The Asheville Mall, 3 South Tunnel Road.
