Art Students Submit Winning Entries for John Lennon Mural

Two freshmen art students from Marywood University, Krista Perdomo, art therapy, and Leagen Wallace, arts administration, have submitted the winning entries for a tribute to John Lennon that is installed on the wall at 518 Lackawanna Avenue in Scranton, Pa. Both Krista’s and Leagen’s renditions of the word “Imagine”, including several creative images of Lennon’s face, will be installed on a poster below the mural. Each of the students have been granted a $500 scholarship.

Frank Dubas, organizer of the Lennon Tribute, took his love for John Lennon and decided to have a mural painted on the side of one of his buildings. He invited art students, staff, and faculty from Marywood University to come up with original portraits of the rock and roll legend to be used as input for the mural.

Mr. Dubas said, “Ever since I was young, I’ve always enjoyed the Beatles, and John Lennon was my favorite Beatle, and it was almost 40 years ago that he was tragically killed outside the Dakota in New York City.”

Krista Perdomo’s rendition of Lennon’s face is the focal point of the mural.

“I just feel absolutely excited. I also know one thing about Lennon is that when he said something, it always made people think, and I think the same applies to artwork,” said Perdomo.

The mural has been painted by artists Ryan Hnat and Eric Bussart.

Mr. Hnat said, “All John Lennon wanted to do was bring peace to the community or peace to the world, and this is a very poignant mural at this time when peace needs to happen again.”

In addition to Krista and Leagen, Mr. Dubas recognized and thanked students Adrianna Cragle and Elizabeth Berwind, both illustration majors, for their wonderful submissions.

“If you could summarize John Lennon in one word ‘imagine,’ and he used that word and he challenged the world to imagine, and, even if we look at our local area, you could look around and imagine what can be accomplished,” Mr. Dubas said.

Poster-size renditions of all the student artists’ works will be displayed in the plaza, along with short bios and credits to each artist, which will be displayed in the area of the John Lennon Mural.