Earlier this month 1,396 Marquette University students, faculty and staff members voted online for one of three proposals submitted by local artists for a new mural to be installed on the north-facing facade of the Varsity Theater/Holthusen Hall building. Artist Mauricio Ramirez's proposal Our Roots Say That We're Sisters--having received 63% of the votes--was selected by the Marquette community and will be installed during the month of October.
On Friday, September 25 Jacki Black, Associate Director for Hispanic Initiatives in Marquette's Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, will moderate three online conversations during which Marquette community members may speak with Mauricio Ramirez about the mural. Feedback shared during these sessions will inform the final mural design and related programs. The schedule and session topics are:
- 10:00 a.m. - Community Engagement/Programming/Paint Day
- 11:30 a.m. - Oral History Project Focusing on Marquette BIPOC Women Alumni
- 1:00 pm - General Discussion and Feedback
Advance registration is required, and participants may sign up for one, two, or all three sessions. In the interest of facilitating meaningful dialogue, each session will be limited to twenty participants. An extra session will be added if needed. A link to the Microsoft Teams online discussion will be sent to registered participants in advance of the sessions.
The many thoughtful comments submitted during the online voting process were shared (anonymously) with each artist, including Mauricio Ramirez. It is the Mural Committee's hope and intention that this campus project is the first of several that will engage Marquette community members in meaningful dialogue through engagement with works of public art.
About this project:
A Mural Committee comprised of representatives from Marquette's MUSG, the Executive Leadership Team, the Cultural Audit sub-group of the Equity and Inclusion Committee, the Haggerty Museum of Art, and University Advancement invited seven local Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) male and female artists to submit proposals. After careful review, proposals by three artists were submitted for consideration to the Marquette community. All Marquette University students, faculty, and staff were invited to vote for one of the three artist proposals. The mural will be installed in October, and the campus community will be invited to participate in several subsequent virtual programs with the artist and Haggerty Museum of Art staff.
