A conversation with Megan Day after she finishes her fifth mural on Drury University’s campus

For 4 days students in Lay hall had to shimmy past a young lady on her hands and knees as she turned the dingy gray wall into a bright pink masterpiece to get to class. That young lady is Drury Senior, Megan Day. Over the past couple of years Megan has been adding color to Drury’s campus with her murals, the one in Lay Hall is her fifth on campus. 

“I find art really helpful to process things, I communicate better visually than verbally,” Megan said. 

Megan’s draw towards art started when she was a child, inheriting that love from her mother and the love growing when she went to school. Megan said “I remember always loving art class, I remember everyone loving recess the best, but I always loved art class.” 

Her talent reaches beyond murals: she designs logos, dabbles in photography, also taking commissions drawing family portraits. “I did this whole thing for pet portraits, that was really fun,”said Megan. One of her favorite personal projects is illustrating scenes from Oscar nominated films only using colored lines. “I love movies so I love being able to admire a cinematographer’s work in this way” said Megan. While Megan has a love for murals now, her love for painting started when she started at Drury. “I would say between personal interest illustration and murals, those are my two go-to’s.” 

But it all began at Drury when she was walking to her weaving class, and it was “a sad dark hallway.” She went to Rebecca Miller, the head of the art and art history department if she could liven it up in the hallway in Lydy Hall. 

For her newest mural in Lay Hall, she starts with a pink background with brightly colored people standing with the words “Together we’re better” above the people surrounded by stars. Without a creative brief from the education department, Megan was able to design whatever she wanted. She designed three different sketches and Natalie Precise, dean of the Education department, gave the final say. 

Megan said wanted the design to portray the “important aspects of the modern day classroom, diversity and unity.” 

The mural spans 11 feet wide and about 8 feet tall, making Megan very thankful for the help from Olivia Borham and Kylee Compton for helping paint. “Painting itself is very physically draining, so it’s nice to have some extra hands,” said Megan. She worked continuously for four days before it was complete. 

I asked what she thinks her murals do for the Drury community, she said that “there’s lots of opportunities, it was never something I considered until I just asked. And then all these things have happened!” She thinks it adds inspiration for incoming students because that could be them some day. “College is way more than just class, it’s also the connections you make outside of the classroom,” she said. 

After graduation, Megan plans to go back home to Kansas City saying “I’m sure there’s lots of blank walls in Kansas City I can paint too.” But before she leaves, she left her mark on Drury’s community–literally. 

Photos by Gisele Ortega

Article by Rebecca Dixon