On a cool afternoon in April, about a dozen Girl Scouts in Troop 30418 are crossing the street toward the alley next to the Charles Street Parking Garage in downtown East Lansing, skipping and laughing as they go. When they enter the alley, a few of them stop. Others put their hands to their mouths, eyes open wide, as they begin inspecting a new mural that is nearly finished — one that they helped design.

Collaborating with undergraduates from Michigan State University’s art and design fraternity Gamma Epsilon Tau and the city of East Lansing, the troop helped brainstorm ideas and drew doodles that MSU students then transformed into a piece of public art. And in April, Gamma Epsilon Tau members installed the mural, named “The Critter Corner,” across multiple walls of the parking garage, painting the space with blue bees, pink cows, orange squirrels and more. Then, the Girl Scouts came to put some finishing touches on the mural and sign their names.

“It was so cool,” says Nia Kalinovic, a recent Spartan graduate and member of the fraternity who helped lead the mural project with Troop 30418. “The Girl Scouts would come to us with their ideas and their drawings, and we would try to bring them to life. They were just so excited.”

A few blocks away, an additional artwork by Kalinovic and classmate Mackenzie Huber, “Get a Move On,” was mounted on a wall last year in the alley behind Target on Grand River Avenue. “Better ToGETher" by Senior Tate Rudisill, another member of Gamma Epsilon Tau, was placed just a few steps down the alley in early May.

These works are a few of many collaborations between MSU students, faculty and the city of East Lansing — a growing partnership that’s transforming public spaces across the community.

Faculty-led art courses at MSU have created and installed works across town, and they will be adding more pieces this summer and fall. Public art brings people together, and for MSU and East Lansing, these works represent an ideal partnership. As Wendy Sylvester-Rowan, the arts programming and placemaking specialist for the city of East Lansing, says, “Nothing is better than an ongoing exchange of ideas and creativity.”

A shared canvas

Public art is a defining part of Michigan State’s campus and culture. Across its 5,200-acre campus, more than 150 works — from sculptures to installations — reflect the creativity of artists from around the world, including MSU students, faculty and alumni.

That creative energy extends beyond campus into East Lansing, where student-driven projects are helping shape the look and feel of downtown.

“The partnership between MSU and the city of East Lansing facilitates creative exchange between the campus and our community and creates new opportunities for art to become part of our public spaces,” Sylvester-Rowan says. “Students collaborate, experiment and get valuable hands-on experience while the community benefits from innovative work that reflects the energy and diversity of East Lansing. What makes it especially meaningful is the mix of perspectives involved — students, faculty and community members all contributing in different ways.”

Learning moments that leave an impression

In Barbara Pearsall’s integrative arts and humanities course, art doesn’t stop at discussion. This spring, MSU students brought their work into downtown East Lansing, creating a public installation at the Grove Street Garage.

As the weather turned springlike in April, Pearsall and the class produced an Arbor Day vinyl transparency project in the garage, which is made up of colorful, translucent film cutouts of squirrels, acorns, leaves and other shapes that adorn the windows lining the stairwells.

“It’s so fun to get the students out of the classroom and into the community,” says Pearsall, an assistant professor of foundations and sculpture in the College of Arts and Letters. She says the students learn about how art exists in the world and how accessible public art needs to be. “Downtown East Lansing is part of the students’ home, too, and they’re leaving a positive mark.”

Pearsall and her students have left their mark in other eye-catching spots throughout East Lansing. In November 2025, 18 students in her Color and Design course installed colored film strips on the windows of the skywalk along Albert Avenue that connects the Charles Street parking garage and the Marriott Hotel.

Then in December, students in an introductory sculpture course taught by Pearsall and Rafael Villares, an assistant professor and area head in sculpture, placed the Honeycomb Gallery in the alleyway beside (SCENE) Metrospace in downtown East Lansing (the work is currently being restored, but will return to the space in the future). It is one of three microgalleries designed by MSU students, with two more to be unveiled at the East Lansing Art Festival May 16 and 17.

Turn onto Albert Avenue on the north-facing wall of the Division Street Garage and you’ll find the “Life is a Groovy Opportunity” mural. Associate Professor Ben Duke out of MSU’s Department of Art, Art History and Design led a team of students, alumni and artists who painted the work, which spans multiple wall panels.

Expanding the vision

“Why is that cow’s head not attached to its body?” a Girl Scout asked Nia Kalinovic when she was showing the troop some samples of what “The Critter Corner” would look like before it was painted in East Lansing. “And why is that bee giving a bombastic side-eye?” another asked.

They were fair questions, Kalinovic laughs. And a reminder that public art invites curiosity as much as it creates beauty. The mural was meant to represent what the Girl Scouts saw in the land and sky surrounding East Lansing. With the sun, stars, birds, bees, squirrels and more represented, community members will get a taste of colorful, and bombastic, art every time they walk by.

And more projects are on the way. Pearsall and students are developing whimsical directional signage for William B. Sharp Park at the corner of Abbot and Albert, expected to be set up this summer. Future courses will continue building installations throughout the city.

If you look closely, art is all around you. And if you are in East Lansing or on MSU’s campus, there’s a good chance a Spartan had a hand in creating it.

Learn more about MSU and the arts with Arts MSU.