Photo by Helen Dudley

Student ambassadors wanted to give the Hub an interior with student artwork.

707 Hub student ambassadors sought out Marquette student artwork to give a splash of color to the interior of the Hub.

It is evident that the gallery used to be a bank, as it is complete with crown molding, minimal decorative wallpaper and varying wall and floor stylings. However, there is plenty of bare space left within the student “makerspace,” so a collaboration of art work between Marquette students will be displayed in the 707 Hub at the beginning of the spring semester. 

“The 707 Hub had been considering ideas on how we could ‘leave our marq’ on the open canvases the walls provided,” wrote student ambassadors Nicolas Schmidt, senior in the College of Engineering and Kristen Sale, senior in the College of Business Administration, in a joint email statement.

A student told Schmidt and Sale that she wanted to utilize her talents to add art to the space.

The two ambassadors shared a “request for proposal” among the student body by word of mouth. They publicized the initiative through the Marquette Art Club, 707 Hub social media accounts and the Marquette News Briefs to find artists interested in installing their artwork on the Hub’s pitch stage pillar.

“Students were asked to submit an art proposal of any medium they felt could inspire student creativity through innovation and further the mission of the 707 Hub,” Schmidt and Sale said in a joint email statement.

Six proposals were received for the project, and they included murals, sculptures, mixed paint and sculpture, spray paint and photography.  

However, choosing just one project was a difficult decision for the student ambassadors due to the overwhelming response of talent. Two students, Margaret Cullinan, a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences and Olivia Menzia, a junior in the College of Communication, were picked to take the stage and collaborated together to create one mixed art installation.

“My portion of the design, the lady with the light bulb wires stemming from her right creative brain, shows how here at Marquette, your ideas can come to life with the resources we are given,” Menzia wrote in an email.  

Menzia said she is thankful that the 707 Hub’s space and technology resources help transform ideas. 

Before coming to Marquette, Menzia had a different opinion of technology, but college has changed her point of view.

“It’s funny because years ago, I did a sculpture piece with a similar concept only opposite, on how technology is destroying our brain,” she said. Menzia changed her major from entrepreneurship to advertising and graphic design and utilizes technology to her benefit.

Menzia is also accomplishing personal goals through art. This project is helping her make a dent on her Marquette bucket list.

“Painting a mural at Marquette was on my bucket list I created back when I was a freshman,” Menzia said. “And here I am, checking it off as a junior.”  

Cullinan said amidst the pressure of studying and working toward academic goals, there is a community of art that can be found.

 “I’d like people to recognize that the opportunity to be creative translates in so many ways,” Cullinan said.

Cullinan said she hopes visitors will challenge themselves to be creative.  

“In whatever way they do best, whether it’s painting, pottery, engineering design, dancing or the hundreds of other ways people find themselves being creative,” Cullinan said. “The point isn’t the display, but the encouragement.”

“I think that this for sure will inspire more students on campus to engage in new and exciting projects,” Menzia said.

The projects were started at the beginning of winter break.  Artwork installation is being completed now.