Five people paint colorful streaks of green, yellow, teal, and red on a large mural panel mounted on an outdoor wall. In the foreground, four sheep graze on a grassy lawn while a student walks by, slightly blurred, holding a coffee. Shrubs line the base of the wall, and campus buildings are visible in the background.

Sheep Shift - A Mural Celebrating UC Davis Sustainability

Submit Your Mural Concept — We'll Bring It to Life

UC Davis students, faculty, staff and alumni are invited to submit a design inspired by campus sustainability efforts. A muralist will adapt the winning concept for a community paint-by-numbers event this fall.

What happens when you combine paint, poetry, campus sheepmowers, and our groundbreaking decarbonization effort? A mural contest like no other.

Sheep Shift – a Mural Celebrating UC Davis Sustainability is a creative public art and education project supported by a grant from the Associated Students of UC Davis (ASUCD) Arts Committee. This three-phase community engagement project blends environmental awareness, poetic expression, and collaborative mural-making.

Now, we invite undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff and alumni to submit proposals for Sheep Shift — a large-scale, climate-themed mural that celebrates innovation, sustainability, and the creative spirit of our campus community. Inspired by our eco-friendly Sheepmowers and the Big Shift — a transformative energy infrastructure project decarbonizing campus operations — this public art installation will spotlight UC Davis’ leadership in climate action through a bold, student-led design.

Contest Overview

Update: Deadline changed to September 1
Mural proposals will be accepted between July 1 - September 1, 2025. The winning and runner-up proposals will be announced on September 16, 2025. The winning design will be featured on a 975 square foot mural located on a temporary utility structure located on California Avenue and N. Quad, west of Wickson Hall and across the street from California Hall. See a photo of the building on which the mural will be painted. (The full-size panels are each 8 feet wide by 5 feet high.) 

Please note: 
  • Painting the mural is not required. The winning design will be laid out by a professional muralist, then painted with help from the UC Davis community during a public “paint-by-numbers” event.
  • The winning concept will require approval by the UC Davis Public Art Advisory Committee. 

Mural Contest Timeline

  • Contest Launch: July 1, 2025
  • Proposals Due: August 1, 2025 September 1, 2025
  • Winners Announced: August 16, 2025 September 16, 2025
  • Mural Painting Event(s): Fall Quarter 2025 (Date TBA)

Awards

Be sure to review all submission requirements before submitting

CLICK HERE to Submit your Proposal by September 1

Submission Requirements & Judging Criteria

Each submission must include:

  • Name(s) and email(s) of contributor(s)
  • Title of the proposal
  • Brief description (max 200 words)
  • Final design

Designs should:

  • Address a climate-related theme, preferably tied to UC Davis’ Sheepmowers and the Big Shift.
  • Incorporate at least one phrase from the Sheep Shift Climate Poetry event. (It is not necessary to include the full poem.) See poetry submissions.
  • Be original artwork (digital or hand-drawn).
  • Be landscape-oriented and proportioned to fit the location where the mural will be painted. See photo of building on which the mural will be painted. The full-size panels are each 8 feet wide by 5 feet high. The mural should fit in an area that is approximately 15' H x 64' W.
  • Be submitted as a high-res JPG (300 DPI, max file size 10MB).

Judging Criteria

Proposals will be reviewed by a jury of artists, designers, and faculty based on:

  • Accessibility: Can a general audience understand the message?
  • Feasibility: Can the design be scaled to the wall?
  • Connectivity: Does it relate to the Sheepmowers, the Big Shift, and sustainability UC Davis?
  • Creativity & Defensibility: Is the message both compelling and thoughtful?
  • Community Engagement: Will it inspire climate awareness and action? 

Eligibility & Regulations

  • Open to all UC Davis undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff and alumni.
  • By submitting, you agree to allow UC Davis and its partners to reproduce, adapt, and publicly display your design for non-commercial, educational, or promotional purposes related to the project.
  • Participants may enter solo or as teams. If submitting as a team, make sure all team members are aware of and agree to the submission terms. One person should be designated as the main contact.
  • Multiple entries allowed.
  • All content must be original and free of copyright infringement.
  • Finalists may be asked to submit high-res versions of artwork for mural scaling.
  • Finalists will be contacted via email. By entering, you agree to be reasonably responsive to communications if selected, especially if your design is chosen for scaling and painting.
  • The winning concept will need to be approved by our campus Public Art Advisory Committee. Designs must be appropriate for public viewing and aligned with UC Davis Principles of Community. Submissions containing discriminatory, violent, or offensive content will be disqualified.
  • All entrants — even if your design isn’t selected — are welcome to help paint the mural during fall 2025! It's a community effort, and we’d love for you to be part of it.
  • Some elements of the final mural may be adapted for scale, color, materials, safety, or painting constraints. We’ll do our best to stay true to your vision

Project Phases

Spring 2024: Climate Poetry with Sheepmowers 

UC Davis’ Sheepmowers — our sustainable lawn care team — grazed around the future mural site wearing stenciled climate-related words. Observers turned these shifting word combinations into original poems. Read the poems here.

Summer 2025: Mural Design

Student, faculty, staff and alumni artists are invited to design a mural inspired by the submitted poetry and UC Davis’ Big Shift — our ambitious campus decarbonization project. Submit your entry by August September 1, 2025! (See below.)

Fall 2025: Community Mural Painting

The winning design will be transformed into a large-scale mural by the UC Davis community during a public paint-by-numbers event. 

Four people use paint rollers to apply bright green, yellow, and red swaths of color to a large outdoor mural on a utility structure. Sheep graze on the lawn in the foreground, and a student walks by holding a drink. The scene is set on the UC Davis campus, with trees and buildings in the background under a clear blue sky.

Download the Sheep Shift Mural Flyer

Want to share information about this mural contest? We've created a flyer for posting in your department or attaching to an email.

Have any questions?

If you have any questions regarding the Sheep Shift mural proposal, reach out via email to Haven Kiers, associate professor, Landscape Architecture + Environmental Design at ahkiers@ucdavis.edu.