Artist Louise Jones, aka Ouizi (pronounced wee-zeh), painted two new murals on the Iowa State University campus in the Anderson Sculpture Garden this past week. 

Commissioned by University Museums and funded by the Neva M. Peterson Endowment for art acquisitions for Art on Campus Collection, Jones’ artwork highlights flowers and plants specific to Iowa and Iowa State’s campus. The first mural is located on the east side of the Hub in the Anderson Sculpture Garden, and the second can be found inside Morrill Hall on the west side of the building.   

“We actually worked really hard on picking all the flowers,” Jones said. “From the Anderson Sculpture Garden day, I went on countless tours picking different species.” 

Some of those included are peonies, black-eyed Susans and the “Unicorn” Buck rose. This mural serves as a reminder of Iowa State’s origins as a land grant institution. 

Since the new mural will be part of the University Museums Art on Campus Collection, a committee of students, faculty and staff from the Herbarium, Reiman Gardens, University Museums Advisory Committee and Extension and ISU Dining will ensure that the mural will be relevant to the area and be used in curricula at Iowa State. 

On Thursday, ISU Dining hosted a Garden Party at the site of the mural, Anderson Sculpture Park, to celebrate Jones’ contributions to the garden. Food was inspired by the mural, including, but not limited to, potstickers, tortellini, puff pastry and hibiscus lemonade which was garnished with an edible flower. 

According to the assistant director of ISU Catering, Cheryl Lounsberry, “Each item has a garden feeling with vibrant colors, a wonderful combination of flavors for all palates to enjoy.”

Hailing from Los Angeles and a graduate of UC Santa Cruz, Jones has traveled nationwide over the past five years to spread her creative vision. Jones specializes in large-scale floral murals that depict plants and animals specific to the installation sites. 

The garden party event was sponsored by ISU Dining, Kathy and John Howell Art Enrichment Program and University Museums Membership.