When Northwestern students toured the new Ryan Field last week, they were greeted outside by a sprawling mural that reflects the communities the new stadium is built to serve.
Anchored in shades of Northwestern Purple with yellow and teal accents, the artwork — at the southwest corner facing Central Street — depicts Evanston landmarks such as the Weber Arch, Kellogg Global Hub, Grosse Point Lighthouse and L train cars. As a key feature of the student plaza, the mural stands almost 15 feet tall and spans 80 feet wide.
The artwork was designed by junior Avni Palsamudram, who won the Ryan Field mural contest earlier this year. Palsamudram, originally from Bangalore, India, considers Evanston and Chicago her home away from home.
“I didn’t expect to assimilate as well as I did to Midwestern culture,” she said. “I really love it here and I think of it as my second home. So, this is sort of a tribute to some of my favorite things.”
While Palsamudram doesn’t have formal art training — she is studying economics and data science in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences — this is not her first competition. She said she turns to art in her free time as a way of expressing creativity and grounding herself in stressful times.
Last winter, all Northwestern students were invited by the Ryan Family to submit designs and leave their creative mark on the new stadium.
“This mural is so joyous,” said Lydia Ryan. “We loved the energy and Avni’s use of color.”
Ryan, who conceived of the feature long before construction crews ever put shovels in the ground, said she was inspired to lead the project by an Instagram wall in her own Chicago neighborhood.
“Ryan Field is a place for all Northwestern students, so we wanted a student to help make it beautiful,” she said during the mural’s unveiling. “The stadium should reflect the people it was built for. And a student’s artwork greeting everyone who walks up says that in a way nothing else could.”
Many details of the mural are symbols of deeper meaning — the rays of the sun, for example, as metaphorical pathways to and from Ryan Field. There are Easter eggs, too, for Palsamudram’s friends and family, including her parents, who traveled from India to Evanston for the unveiling. She wanted everyone in her life to know they’re represented in some way.
During the ceremony last week, she thanked several of her closest friends for always encouraging her, keeping her on task — even during spring break — and introducing her to many of the locations that ultimately made it into her final design.
Ryan Field officially opens Friday, Oct. 2, when the Northwestern Wildcats host Penn State for the first football game in the new stadium.
