Many know him as the campus wall painter. Others know him as “Razz,” but what most people may not know is that David Randazza is an artist.

   Randazza began work at the university in 1993 as the campus painter, but he is – and does – so much more.

   “I can do all kinds of things like ceilings and maintenance work, but I also like to do a lot of custom paintings on campus, too,” said Randazza.

   Randazza received his associate’s degree in commercial art from Luzerne County Community College and has been painting for over 40 years.

   “I’ve always been a sign painter, but I also do truck lettering, pin striping, and murals,” he said.

   Something that Mr. Randazza is very proud of are his wood burnings.

   “I like to do wildlife wood burnings. There are a lot of painters out there, there are a lot of drawers out there, but there are not a lot of wood burners,” Randazza said.

   Mr. Randazza has done a lot of custom paintings on campus. He hand-painted Misericordia’s cougar logo on all of the softball dugouts, he handmade the oak tabernacle found in Misericordia’s chapel, and recently is working on sprucing up the lower level of Mercy. Within the next two to three months, it should be finished.

   “We’re going to paint a whole mural on the wall there and jazz up the area so it looks more appealing. It’s like a dungeon down there now, so we’re going to have the mural on the wall with spotlights on it,” said Randazza. “That’s part of my job, making everything look nice and I really enjoy it.”

   Misericordia has gone from having seven buildings on campus to 28.

   “There’s so much more to paint. Me and my two helpers paint over 700 dorm rooms over the summer. It’s a real challenge lately because there used to be only a couple hundred of them so it keeps me busy in the summer. I start painting in May and usually don’t finish by the end of August,” said Randazza.

   Along with being an artist on campus, Mr. Randazza volunteers at the Catherine McAuley house.

   “I like to donate a lot of the work I do. I like making others happy,” said Randazza.

   One thing that I learned from Mr. Randazza was that finding time is key.

   “The problem artists run into is finding time, but you can’t wait for time, you have to make it,” said Randazza.