Rooster’s Coffeehouse recently unveiled a new mural in the café designed and painted by a Carleton University student just in time for the start of the new school year.
Raneem Abouseta*, a third-year computer systems engineering student at Carleton, was the artist chosen to take on this project. After seeing Rooster’s call for artist applications in July, the frequent Rooster’s customer applied.
“I was really keen on putting my art on the wall in one of my favourite restaurants,” she said.
The mural features a black-and-white coffee cup, which, according to Abouseta, gives the mural a more “modern, grungy look.” Signature menu items and objects from Rooster’s, such as a bagelwich, iced coffee, tea and a spatula, are pouring out of the coffee cup. Abouseta said she designed the mural with input from Rooster’s staff.
“If you’re a common Rooster’s visitor, you would most likely see things that you’ve ordered before on that mural,” she said. “I made sure that the items that I drew were in line with the restaurant and what they served.”
Abouseta said she considers herself a self-taught artist, whose passion for art “escalated when COVID-19 came about.” She added this was the first time she has designed and painted a mural.
Abouseta used acrylic paint and spent nearly 40 hours on the piece, which included layering and waiting for the paint to dry.
The mural is the second graffiti-style piece added to the walls of Rooster’s. In 2017, the coffeehouse teamed up with local artist duo Dems and Doll, who spray-painted a multi-coloured rooster for the café’s first mural.
Rooster’s manager, Ron Barrette, said the decision to create the additional graffiti-style mural came from meetings with CUSA’s strategic planning department, who wanted to “liven up the space” with more colour while maintaining the café’s industrial look.
When it came to the artist application process, Barrette said Rooster’s had a preference for a Carleton student to design and paint the mural to involve students’ talent and perspectives.
“The Carleton community is quite big and talented, so it’d be nice to pull from that talent,” he said.
Barrette also hopes the new mural will be an “Instagrammable” space for students and will help draw more people in, especially those who have not yet visited.
Maryann Emms, assistant manager at Rooster’s, said the new mural is a great addition to the café’s new branding, which will be launched this year. Recently, they showcased a refurbished logo on their social media.
“[The mural] is really going to emphasize our new logo, and it’ll encourage students to come in, sit in the space and see the new colours,” Emms said. “[There are] a lot of our fair trade products in the mural itself, and [it] just really shows what Rooster’s is all about.”
With the mural finished, Abouseta said she is thankful for the support she received from Rooster’s staff while working on the project.
“It was a really nice atmosphere to work with them, and I really felt a warm welcome all the time, so that was something that I really appreciated,” she said.
*Raneem Abouseta has contributed to the Charlatan.
Featured image by Audrey Pridham.
