On April 23 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., the western wall of Marquette’s Lemonis Center for Student Success was lined with ten different pieces of student art. The pieces related to various themes regarding student success and experiences at Marquette for the annual Student Art Exhibition.
This year’s themes were “Culture & Career,” “Defining Success,” “Belonging at Marquette” and “Expanding Horizons.” The event was sponsored by the Career Center, the Division of Belonging and Student Affairs, the Lemonis Center, Raynor Library and Enterprise Mobility.
Courtney Hanson, the director of the Career Center, organized and hosted the event for the fourth year. The event also provided snacks and drinks to exhibition goers.
“The reason we started [the Student Art Exhibition] is because we wanted students to see themselves on campus,” Hanson said.
Applications to be a featured artist in this year’s exhibition were due on Feb. 20, and each artist was given a $500 stipend to create their piece.
Hanson said the sponsors of this event have expanded since last year, including Raynor Library and some of the student art will be displayed there permanently.
The student art ranged in topic depending on the theme the artist chose. Jessica Wrobel, a sophomore in the College of Nursing, chose the theme “Defining Success.”
Wrobel created “Reflections of the Girl Who Believed in Me,” a painting on a large canvas, which depicts the back side of a graduate donning their cap and gown, looking into the mirror at what appears to be her younger self.
“By making the child the focal point, [this piece] suggests that success is measured by the validation of our younger selves and becoming someone they would admire and feel proud of,” Wrobel wrote in a blurb about her work.
Another artist, Salo Aristizabal, a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences, chose to revolve her piece around the theme of Culture & Career.
Titled “Tierra Querida,” – meaning “dear land” in Spanish – Aristizabal used layered textures, including paint, beads and bright colors to portray her grandparents‘ house, two hours from Bogotá, Colombia. A rainbow shines above the house, and a leopard lies peacefully at the door.
“This piece acts as a portal connecting my culture and career, because I get to share my roots with my school and my future,” Aristizabal wrote in blurb about her piece. “In Columbia, we celebrate life by sharing what we love.”
Other pieces displayed images central to the Marquette experience, like the walk to Olin Engineering, or the St. Joan of Arc chapel.
These ten pieces will join the rest of the student art displayed around the Lemonis Center and in Raynor Library.
“We wanted students to feel like they belonged,” Hanson said. “I think the more art we get, the more that students can look around the Lemonis Center and see something that resonates with them, and it makes them feel like they belong here.”
This article was written by Annie Goode. She can be reached at [email protected].
