Wayne State physics student finds his calling through art

Roy Sproule is a physics major with a serious appreciation for the arts. Despite being a part of the street art scene for more than a decade, he's still perfecting his craft.

"I don't have artistic talent," Sproule says. "Talent implies I was born being able to do a certain thing. I was not. I started drawing stick figures like most other people and worked many years to be able to do what I now can."

This past fall, Sproule helped create a mural developed through a new partnership between Wayne State and Lyft. The mural was a class project and can be spotted at Woodward and Hancock - on the back of the Wayne State University Press building. The art identifies a designated drop-off and pick-up zone for the rideshare company. The zone is under the name "Woodward/Warren Park," and is accessible through the Lyft app.

Sproule believes his greatest artistic accomplishment is the first drawing he recalls making. He drew a portrait of Spock in elementary school and even though it was not a "marvelous drawing," he furiously defended as though it was the best thing in the world. "That's necessary to be an artist," he says. "It was a strong beginning."

Sproule first attended Wayne State in 1999. After taking classes on and off throughout the years, he graduated in May 2019 with a bachelor's degree in art. "My art career is very much in retrograde as I only make art that never sells or I pay others to do murals with."