Youssef Asar, the 1998 and 1999 George Washington Carver Artist-in-Residence and visiting professor in the College of Art and Design at Iowa State, celebrated the beginning of his third mural of George Washington Carver on Wednesday.

Asar, an Egyptian native, has taught art and art history since 1962 in Egypt, Germany, Australia, India, the Netherlands and the United States.

Currently, Asar is painting his murals from a studio in the basement of Curtiss Hall. His works of Carver will be displayed in the Food Science Building upon completion.

“I decided to paint [Carver] because I read three books about him,” Asar said. “He is a very interesting man. I was most fascinated by him. I asked [David] Topel [dean of the College of Agriculture], and he was most fascinated by the idea.”

Asar said Carver brought many new ideas to farmers who needed help. Many of Asar’s paintings depict symbols of knowledge and wisdom that Carver brought to struggling farmers.

“I would like everyone to come see my art and learn about the man,” he said.

Asar hopes to complete the portrait of Carver and the last mural by December. It takes him around six months to finish each mural.

He uses many symbols of Egyptian gods in his murals that bring out his Egyptian culture.

“Egypt taught humanity farming, faith and art,” he said. “There is no civilization besides Egypt in the world that used the huge murals of art.”

Asar’s murals represent Carver from the time he was a slave to the day he became free. Peanuts and sweet potatoes are represented in the paintings as a salute to Carver’s inventions.

“We are continuing Carver’s work,” said Daniel Burden, head of communications for the Center for Crop Utilization Research. “In a symbolic way, the murals connect what we are doing now to the past. They also represent the multicultural heritage [of ISU] not just in the past, but even now.”

As a visiting professor, Asar taught a painting course last semester. However, he will not be teaching in the fall in order to focus on his paintings.

In addition to his Carver works, Asar will be working on many Iowa landscapes.

Asar came to ISU in September and has painted numerous works for buildings since his arrival. Several of his campus landscapes are displayed in Kildee Hall.

“I still cannot believe the beauty of our campus,” he said. “We are very lucky to have such a magnificent campus.”

Dave William, one of the top five genetic scientists in the nation, is the subject of one of Asar’s murals hanging in Kildee Hall. William recently died of cancer.

Asar puts geographical shapes in most of his landscape paintings which resemble stained glass.

“My work is layer upon layers,” he said.

Asar’s idea of using layers came to him while traveling on an airplane and taking note of the interesting geometric shapes that the landmasses form.

“What I saw in the sky, I put on the ground,” he said. “It makes it more interesting to me and for the observer. I use the brightest colors to get the full effect. I want as many people as I can to see it.”

Next year his landscapes will be touring Iowa. Asar’s work can be seen in the Food Science Building, Curtiss Hall and Kildee Hall.