College is about finding yourself, creating a legacy, and leaving your mark which is exactly with Abbi Buster has done in her time at USAO. Buster is a Deaf Education major with concentrations in English and Art, in addition to a double minor in Liberal Arts and American Sign Language.

Buster works as a work-study employee for Deaf Education, which is where she was when she had the idea for her recently completed mural. She just put the finishing touches on her mural over fall break, which is located on the second floor of Canning Hall. The mural stretches from room 204 to 212 and alongside the second-floor elevator.

Buster began the approval process in the spring trimester of 2022, then began putting a brush to the walls of Canning Hall in May. She said she worked sporadically on the mural over the summer, but spent six hours every week on the piece in during this fall trimester. The finalize the mural, Buster spent 15 hours across two days over Fall break. Overall, Buster spent roughly 60 hours on her mural this trimester alone.

Buster chose a space theme for this mural, and throughout the piece are personal symbols, Oklahoma symbols, and different ASL signs. While working through the sketches, Buster talked with many other Deaf Education majors to find what signs they felt should be included and what the best way to draw and position different signs was.

Buster mentioned that a few of her favorite pieces included a rocket, because it was the symbol for rocket, and she painted it to resemble a rocket too. Another one of Buster’s favorites was the symbol for orbit because of the sign, but also because the sun in middle is representative of the Kyrgyzstan flag. Buster lived in Kyrgyzstan for three years.

 “It’s really small and I know it’s there, but it’s not like ‘Oh, a random different thing’,” said Buster about the personal details she included throughout the mural.

A few other personal details included is a rubber duck astronaut. Dr. Reynolds, Buster’s boss and an instructor for the Deaf Education program, suggested including Oklahoma symbols within the piece as well. Buster did this in two different ways: an astronaut bison and scissortail can be found on the walls, along with an Oklahoma flag painted by the second-floor elevator.

Human astronauts can also be found alongside different messages and signs, like create or learn. Most of these astronauts have an outline of Oklahoma on their shoulder instead of a NASA patch; however, between Dr. Reynolds’s and Dr. Hwang’s door there are two astronauts. One has the outline of Texas and the other of South Korea, which represents these two professors.

Buster has completed two other murals at her previous schools. A running inside joke is the mural she painted in her family’s small apartment in Kyrgyzstan is her first because she was homeschooled. This mural paints a picture of people going about their day, with images of a yurt, sheep being heard, mountains, horses, a table set with food, and the Kyrgyzstan sun.

The second mural Buster completed with at Hope Academy, where Buster attended high school. Buster and a friend were asked by a teacher to paint two different staircases. Sadly, the duo only finished half of the murals because of the Covid-19 pandemic and their graduation. The ladies painted one staircase with themes of geography and history; this included things like a globe, hot air balloons, paper airplanes, and stars. The other staircase was supposed to be a math and science theme.

She remains hopeful that she will paint more murals in the future, especially in a future school where she teaches. She said she has been painting her whole life, and her mother even has photos of her standing at a mini easel when she was two years old. Buster urged USAO students, faculty, and anyone else to go inside Canning Hall and see the mural, and chucking she even suggested signing up for an ASL minor while visitors were there.

 “I’m most proud of this one (the Canning Hall mural) just because of how large scale it is and the amount of time it took,” said Buster.

While Buster currently does not have plans for another mural, she said she has heard rumors of her painting again in Gary Hall. As Buster looks forward to graduation, she is unsure of any concrete plans. She did mention that her and her husband, Daniel, might move closer to OKC for a few years before moving overseas. After moving overseas, Buster said she could imagine herself having a mini school in her home where she teaches deaf students.

Emily Loughridge is a second-year Communication major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.