"Discover your Library" mural unveiled at WKCTC's Matheson Library

Published on Sep 30, 2025

Celebrating literacy and creativity, a new "Discover Your Library" mural was unveiled on Monday, September 29, during a reception at Matheson Library on the West Kentucky Community and Technical College campus. Over 50 students, faculty, staff, and community members attended the event, including students who helped imagine and paint the work.

The concept for the mural was a project of the college's Student Art & Design Club. During a presentation before the visitors saw the mural, SADC co-advisors Tanya Neitzke and Emily Esau highlighted the mission of the club and explained how students played a critical role in the development of the painting now adorning the walls of the Research Room in the library. 

A plaque next to the painting documents the club’s logo and year created, designating this as a piece of college history. 

Neitzke, Program Coordinator of Associates of Fine Arts, and Associate Professor of Painting, explained the brainstorming behind the design and painting processes and how they used feedback from a student survey in early 2025 to bring those ideas to life. An obvious nature and animal theme emerged among comments about discovery, exploration, learning, and even technology. The artists combined painting and graphic design and illustrated a bright and colorful path to discovery up a large staircase, alongside bookshelves, with the college's “Pathfinder” fox mascot atop the artwork. 

Esau, Program Coordinator/Associate Professor, Visual Communication, pointed out the significance of the book titles painted on the shelves—all reflecting the works of Kentucky and regional authors, with some pertinent to WKCTC’s history and its authors: Janett Blythe, retired Director of Marketing and author of Upward Stride: A Pictorial History of West Kentucky Community & Technical College; In the Garden, by Herb Martin, former drafting, engineering, and design at West Kentucky Technical College and Paducah Community College; and all the One Book Read titles, including the 2025-2026  selection, In the Wild Light, by Jeff Zentner. 

A nod to the image of a mouse peering out in the mural,  John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men was included in the books featured in the mural.

Visitors are welcome to stop by Matheson to view the mural. Matheson Library is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and is located on the campus of WKCTC, 4810 Alben Barkley Drive.