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The Grand View University Student Center is home to the newly created “Linear Construction” mural, a generous donation from Ben Schuh, Dennis Kaven and former art faculty members from GV. The mural is a chronology of GV’s history. The far left of the mural displays the first building ever built on GV’s campus, and as it continues to the right, the mural reveals historical moments from GV’s past and present. The mural is painted with acrylic and house mediums.  The mural fits well in the Student Center because it is a high-traffic area. 

“There’s a whole group of people that might otherwise not interact with artwork that now have an opportunity to do so,” Schuh said.  

Kaven had a huge role in building and creating the art department. When Kaven started his career at GV, he was part-time teaching a few classes and managing fine art commissions for clients and galleries. Kaven decided he wanted to teach graphic design because it was relevant to his own career as a graphic designer and freelance artist. He decided to become a full-time professor in the two-person art department. It was challenging at times because it was so small and inaccessible.  Today, the art department at GV is one of the largest small school art departments in the Midwest. Kaven taught for a total of 42 years and made an impression on 5,000 students in the process.  

Schuh was a former art student of Kaven, whose art was influenced heavily by him. He originally was taking engineering classes at DMACC. After he started taking part-time art classes at GV and spoke with his brother, he made the switch to the arts. Schuh transferred to GV as a full-time student his sophomore year of college. He attended from August 2002-December 2004, majoring in graphic design and visual arts. By the time that Schuh went into the art department it was being run by Kaven.  

This is not the first mural that they have done together. Schuh is as full-time artist, constantly working on new projects and traveling. Schuh does a lot of traditional style paintings that are around the size of 20×20 or 48×48. Schuh has traveled across the country doing murals, paintings and art festivals while also getting commissioned artwork contracts regularly. 

The mural is a unique way to visually celebrate GV’s 125th year. This mural can inspire others to look at their own creativity or check out a class in the art department, all while gaining a deeper insight on GV’s history.