A new club on campus hopes to inspire others to be creative in their art and to see the world differently through that art. The Murals and Painting Society, or Maps club, started this semester in the hopes of adding university-related art to buildings across campus in order to make Iowa State more beautiful.

“The purpose of Maps is to inspire people to see the wonder and adventure of our world through art,” said Josh Mandich, a graduate student in business administration and senior in electrical engineering and president of the club.

“We hope to instill an appreciation and greater care for the well-being of the campus through our murals, and we believe that though we are only students, we still have the power to create amazing change,” Mandich said.

Mandich and his sister, Grace, a freshman in kinesiology and health, started the club in order to make a change on Iowa State’s campus. The goal is to inspire others through art and creativity by creating murals throughout campus.

Mandich cited a town in Mexico that had very high crime rates as his inspiration for this club. A new mayor was elected in the town, which was filthy at the time, and one of the first things he did was order murals to be painted in buildings all over town.

“Over the course of the next two years, the crime rate dropped dramatically and the city became substantially cleaner,” Mandich said.

“The murals instilled in the people a greater pride for their city, and they started taking care of it better. I believe that Maps has the ability to make our campus a more beautiful place and help instill in our students a greater pride for our campus.”

Many members of the club were drawn in both by Mandich’s contagious passion for art and creativity as well as the lack of restriction of creative ideas.

“Any design can be submitted to the cabinet for consideration and no submitted designs will be rejected without full consideration from all cabinet members,” said Lauren Lee, treasurer of the club.

“It is a club designed to allow its participants to have fun and be creative while producing lasting art for others to enjoy now and in the future. It is for this reason primarily that I would recommend other students to join or participate in the club.”

Lee also said that Maps is different from other clubs because the lack of rules, regulations and time commitment that offer a pressure-free environment for students to explore their artistic talents and tap into their creative side. Participation is entirely voluntary, and participants will be able to gain the satisfaction of seeing their work publicly displayed.

“I would recommend this club to anyone and everyone who wants an extracurricular activity that will allow them to legally leave their own permanent mark at Iowa State,” Grace Mandich said.

“They don’t have to be good at painting to join, and we welcome anyone who wants to try it and help out.”

Those who would like to see some of the work of Maps can go to the basement of Buchanan Hall, where their first mural can be viewed.