Alexandria Wingate, a junior fine arts major, will design a mural to be featured in the highly anticipated remodeling of the Thurgood Marshall Apartment Complex, which is set to be unveiled in August 2022. 

Her mural, which will span a three-story wall, will be inspired by notable quotes and pictures of the late Thurgood Marshall. Wingate said her mural will be a balanced combination of a portrait and a narrative.

“This is a project I wanted to be successful,” said Visual Arts Professor Blaise DePaolo. “Alexandria is in that one percent of art majors who I feel whether she was in school or not she would be practicing art.” 

Wingate, who is the oldest of six siblings, was originally drawn to Morgan because it’s a Historically Black College and University (HBCU).

“I wanted to be around the sense of community,” Wingate said.

Wingate said her inspiration for the design of the mural came from wanting students to use her artwork as motivation to continue their studies. 

Along with DePaolo, Fine Arts Professor Eric Briscoe will also be part of the design team to help Wingate bring her idea to life.

Briscoe is set to work directly with Wingate to help her with the project’s colorization and to keep the mural’s theme focused.

Briscoe, who first met Wingate at Baltimore Design School in Baltimore City, said she is a determined and model student.

“She is skilled, she has an interest, she’s there, she shows up when she’s supposed to show up and she communicates really well,” he said.

Wingate is one semester into a two-semester project and without the help of Kim McCalla, the associate vice president of facilities design and construction, DePaolo said the endeavor wouldn’t be possible.

“We just felt it important to use one of our students, so I contacted Professor DePaolo to see if she had a shining star of an art student and she put forth Alexandria,” McCalla said.

Wingate said she does not know where her skill will take her, but she wants to go to graduate school for fine arts and continue to work on her craft.

“As long as I just stick to my skill and work on being the best that I can be, especially as an artist, I think there’s going to be more open doors and more opportunities as I evolve as an artist,” she said.