A&D NEWS

June 2, 2011

Best of the BFA at Site:Lab

Site:Lab has teamed up with the University of Michigan School of Art & Design to convert the former Junior Achievement Building at the corner of Fulton and Division in downtown Grand Rapids into a temporary gallery and exhibition space for a series of shows throughout 2011.

From Friday, June 3rd through Sunday, June 5th, the collaboration is hosting “The Best of the BFA.”  This exhibition is scheduled to coincide with Grand Rapids’ annual Festival of the Arts and will consist of works selected by the faculty of colleges throughout Michigan from the BFA shows of their graduating seniors.  Participating schools include Kendall College of Art & Design, The University of Michigan School of Art & Design, Grand Valley State University and Calvin College.  Exhibiting students are listed below.

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SCHOOL OF ART & DESIGN
Maggie Baczewski
Erika Cross
Lucy Engelman
Autumn Fawn Hernandez
Shannon Kohlitz
Jason Mahakian
Rachel Michelle McGuffin
Amariah Stepter
Mike Syron
Audrey Trent
Angela Wang

CALVIN COLLEGE

Hannah Abma

Meredith Donnelly

Aletheia Shin

Sean VandenBrink



GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY

Megan Oswalt

Julia Victor



KENDALL COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN

Amy Bailey

Churu
Leigh
Ann Cobb

Amanda Coe 

Alex Gifford

Ben Groggel

Blair Jeffers

Myra Maness

Kari Thurman

Katherine Zychowski

Site:Lab is a non-profit that organizes temporary art exhibitions in commercial and industrial buildings in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Exhibitions provide college art students with opportunities and experience in showing their work in a non-commercial setting. By moving from location to location, each project takes on a unique identity, dictated by the structure and history of its site.

“Site:Lab is the perfect fit with Festival,” said co-chair Alex Castro. “It’s forward-thinking and presents local artists who haven’t traditionally been a part of Festival.”

“Site:Lab allows Festival to provide a wonderful opportunity for college-age artists to exhibit their works,” adds Joanne Bailey-Boorsma, Festival co-chair.

“The JA Building has been stripped down to its concrete columns and peeling paint, so it’s a visually stunning and flexible space for a series of creative projects,” said Paul Amenta, Site:Lab curator.  “And we think featuring work from college students will allow us to welcome visitors with a show that’s wonderfully different from other Festival exhibits.”

Site:Lab will be open during the hours of Festival:
Friday, June 3: Noon-10pm
Saturday, June 4: 10am-10pm
Sunday, June 5: 10am-7pm

Festival of the Arts takes place June 3, 4 and 5 in downtown Grand Rapids. The event features six performance stages, art activities for children and adults, a juried art show in the Grand Rapids Art Museum, art for sale by local artists, and food booths operated by area nonprofit organizations.

Information about Site:Lab: http://www.site-lab.org.
Information about Festival: http://www.festivalgr.org.

Festival is nationally recognized as the largest all-volunteer arts event in the country. The event was selected by U.S. Representative Vern Ehlers for inclusion in the U.S. Library of Congress’ Local Legacies collection, for being the area’s finest contribution to the community. In 2005, Festival received the Governor’s Arts Award for Best Cultural Organization.

May 2, 2011

Fall 2011 Roman J. Witt Residency

What if we have to accept a higher level of risk in order to benefit from technology? When the unexpected does happen, what will it look like and how will communities respond? How will we live well in a world that is increasingly complex and interconnected?

The Witt Resident:  James King

Speculative designer James King collaborates with scientists to design potential applications for their research, imagining the possible outcomes if technologies developed in the lab were adopted by people in their everyday lives. The results are objects, films and images intended to spark debate on the desirable and undesirable qualities of future technology. 

For King, the most rewarding aspect of these collaborations has been the opportunity, not just to interpret scientific research, but also to contribute to it. “The design process is an implicit but unrecognized aspect of the biological sciences. Through further collaborations and projects my aim is to build an explicit role for design as part of scientific practice.”

The Project:  A World of Surprises

King’s project during his Witt Residency is a design and science collaboration imagining what it will be like to live with the risks created by developing technologies. Working with University of Michigan students and faculty, and the Ann Arbor community, King will stage a series of temporary installations and happenings in and around Ann Arbor that tell the story of a fictional technological accident and its ramifications.

The project will be documented as a film, and the film will be shown in as part of a seminar held at the end of the project bringing together experts to discuss the intersection between risk, science and art / design.

E. chromi: A project James worked on in collaboration with fellow designer Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and Cambridge University’s iGem team, exploring the wider implications of the work that the team are doing in the lab. This project is documented on its own website at http://www.echromi.com.

April 29, 2011

Detroit Connections Receives Grant to Expand its Programs

The School of Art & Design’s outreach initiative, Detroit Connections, has received a $100,000 grant from the Fridolin Charitable Trust to support expanding its In the Classroom program to reach more under-resourced Detroit elementary schools.

For over 10 years, the Detroit Connections In the Classroom program, created by A&D Associate Professor Janie Paul, has been teaching School of Art & Design students to lead classroom-based high quality arts programming in underserved Detroit elementary schools. During that time, a total of 360 college students have led weekly art workshops for approximately 600 elementary-age children at Harms Elementary in southwest Detroit, Greenfield Union in north central Detroit, and Marcus Garvey in southwest Detroit.

The program and its faculty have been recognized with inclusion on President Coleman’s Honor Roll for Community Service, the Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award, the Outstanding Faculty Member award, the Ginsberg Center Award for Community Service & Social Action, Michigan Campus Compact Faculty Award for outstanding contributions in community service, a Humanity in the Arts Award; and grants from Arts at Michigan, the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching Grant, and a CityYear Grant.

The Fridolin Charitable Trust funds ideas, projects and organizations in education, the arts, public policy, civil liberties, human rights, medical research and health care.  Its primary focus is in support of those underlying values and attitudes that enable educational endeavors that challenge students to think and act creatively or in an unorthodox manner, unimpeded by common thought or convention —projects which encourage one to “Think Outside The Box.”

A&D Dean Bryan Rogers notes that the School’s engagement with the Fridolin Charitable Trust was made possible through the diligence and enthusiasm of A&D Dean’s Advisory Council members Susan and Eric Wahl.

Learn more about Detroit Connections: http://www.detroitconnections.org/

March 30, 2011

Festifools Parade

Now in its 5th smash year, FestiFools brings 50 plus giant figure heads and their accompanying societies to Main Street for one of the most surprising visual spectacles in the region on the first Sunday in April.  In the traditions of carnival from Bolivia to Venice, from Mardi Grads in New Orleans to Basel’s Fastnacht, Festifools is a spectacular inversion of everyday hierarchy and order, featuring the puppet-figure heads of temporary societies atop 10 foot masts.  Join thousands of fans as they cheer the entry of first year A&D students in Rebekah Modrak’s ADP II: Society course as their giant creations round Main Street.

FestiFools is a joint production of A&D, LS&A and hundreds of community members, volunteers and staff. Procession runs from 4-5 pm on Sunday, April 3 on Ann Arbor’s Main Street between W. Washington and W. William Streets.

For more info, visit: http://www.festifools.org

March 22, 2011

Sixteenth Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners

The Prison Creative Arts Project presents the Sixteenth Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners

March 22 - April 6, 2011

Duderstadt Center Gallery
University of Michigan North Campus
2281 Bonisteel Boulevard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Gallery Hours
Tuesday-Saturday 10am - 7pm
Sunday-Monday 12pm - 6pm

Exhibition opens at the Duderstadt center gallerywith a reception on March 22 from 5:30 - 8, and continues through April 6.  Events including readings, presentations, panel discussions, and screenings take place March 22 - April 6.

Schedule of Events

Exhibition hours are 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Tuesday - Saturday, and 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. Sunday - Monday.

Tuesday, March 22
Opening Reception
Join the Prison Creative Arts Project as we celebrate the opening of the 16th Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners. Formerly incarcerated artists, and Curators Buzz Alexander, Janie Paul, and Jason Wright, will address visitors to the gallery at 6:15 p.m. Free and open to the public.
5:30-8:00 PM, Duderstadt Center Gallery, 2281 Bonisteel Blvd., Ann Arbor MI

Thursday, March 24
Keynote Address- Kathy Boudin
7:30-9:00 PM, Vandenberg Room, Michigan League, 911 N. University, Ann Arbor, MI

Saturday, March 26
Film Screening: All-Day
3:00-5:00 PM, Room 3222 Angell Hall, 435 S. State Street, Ann Arbor MI
 
Sunday, March 27
Artist Panel
3:00-5:00 PM Duderstadt Center Gallery, 2281 Bonisteel Blvd., Ann Arbor MI

Tuesday, March 29
Michigan Forecast: The New State Regime
7:30-9:00 PM, Michigan Room, Michigan League, 911 N. University, Ann Arbor, MI

Thursday, March 31
Families of the Incarcerated Panel – What Family and Home Really Mean
7:30-9:00 PM, Vandenberg Room, Michigan League, 911 N. University, Ann Arbor, MI

Monday, April 4
Anthology of Creative Writing by Michigan Prisoners Release Celebration
7-9 pm, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Helmut Stern Auditorium, 525 South State Street Ann Arbor, MI

Wednesday, April 6
Closing Reception
5:30 – 8:00 PM, Duderstadt Center Gallery, 2281 Bonisteel Blvd., Ann Arbor MI

For further information, call 734-647-7673 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
For full schedule and info, visit: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/english/pcap/pages/news.asp

May 3, 2010

William Dennisuk Installation on North Campus Is Complete

We’re pleased to announce the installation in the Lurie Reflecting Pool of Phase One of the Vessels Project, a temporary bronze sculpture by environmental installation artist and School of Art & Design Witt Residency Fellow William Dennisuk. 

This is a beautiful installation and should offer a great photo spot for graduating students!

The work will be in place through the summer and fall and will be removed late October/early November.

Follow this link for more information on the residency: http://art-design.umich.edu/witt/

Vessels is a public art initiative drawing attention to our relationship with water and, by extension, the larger environment. The central motif of the project, a vessel-like form – evocative of figure and container – appears suspended on the water’s surface. This, together with the open mesh of the sculptural forms, suggests how subtle, delicate – and at present how strained – is the balance between ourselves and the environment.

March 15, 2010

Susan Skarsgard Speaks at Celebrate Michigan Design

AIGA Detroit Presents Celebrate Michigan Design on March 25 at the Crofoot Ballroom, Pontiac, Michigan. An exciting night of informative presentations and informal festivities, featuring A&D alum Susan Skarsgard, Julie Lang, and Jody Levy.

They say that Michigan was down for the count. What did they know? Michigan is coming back with a full tank of moxy. Now more than ever, we should celebrate design as a vital engine in our state’s on-going recovery.

That’s what we’ll be doing on March 25th at the Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac. We hope that you will join AIGA Detroit for Celebrate Michigan Design, an exciting night of informative presentations and informal festivities. This is a unique opportunity not only to look back at our history for inspiration but also to toast Michigan design as the magnificent force of innovation it continues to be.

Featuring lectures from local designers: Julie Lang, Jody Levy and Susan Skarsgard. Music by DJ Jimmy Edgar and motion graphics by Scott Waraniak and Stephen Panicara, Silkscreening demo by Progress of Design, Gallery show by the Silent Giants, Michigan themed merchandise by Handmade Detroit and Angela Duncan. Hors d’ourves and cash bar immediately following presentations.

AIGA’s mission is to advance design as a professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force. Through events, programs and initiatives, AIGA Detroit is
demonstrating the value of design to businesses and the power of design in our culture. The Detroit Chapter is committed to the
continued growth of an already vibrant, creative community and a rich design history here in Michigan.

For more information regarding this event, please visit http://detroit.aiga.org/events/2010/03/39131054

November 16, 2009

Exhibition: Faces

Exhibition: Faces
11.20- 1.12      
Dexter District Library, Dexter, Michigan

Reception on November 20, 2009, 6:30 p.m.- 8:00 p.m.  Open to the public

The face that launched a thousand ships. The face on the barroom floor. Face the Nation. And perhaps, a face that only a mother could love. Twelve artists from the region including A&D emeritus faculty Ted Ramsay, and A&D alums Marcia Polenberg (MFA ‘88), and John Copley (BFA ‘69)  interpret the theme faces in a range of media.

The exhibition was organized by A&D alumna Joy Naylor (MA ‘88) and Diane Bennett, art consultants of Distinct Designs, Inc. “It’s intriguing to see the way these artists have turned their uncommonly creative eyes to re-imagine some things we think we know all too well—noses, chins, lips, eyes and ears,” said Naylor.  “Most all faces are about emotion, outer reflections of what is going on inside, “ Bennett said.

Distinct Designs, Inc. specializes in placing art in business and public environments with services that include commissioned works, permanent installations and rotating art exhibits with a special focus on promoting and exhibiting the works of artists from the region.

September 11, 2009

Open Drawing Class

Everyone is invited to join A&D’s open drawing class.  Open to the public, the class takes place Saturdays from 2 - 5 pm this fall.

Drawing Class (with model)
Open to the Community
Saturdays in the Fall
Sept 19-Dec 12
2-5 p.m.
Room 2062, A&A Building

No class October 31 and Nov 28

September 24, 2006

Shelter: CAID

Shelter
Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit
Exhibition runs: Sept 23—Nov 5, 2006

Featuring work by MFA student Assistant Professor Tirtza Even and Sarah Buckius.