Public Art & Engagement Fellowship

The Public Art and Engagement Fellowship was one of the most rewarding and inspiring experiences I have had at U-M so far. I was able to be part of a very diverse and welcoming community of colleagues across different schools and learn about the important work we are all doing with relation to public art, history and memory with emphasis on community building and process.

What did you work on? What did you learn? How was it working with Monument Lab and the Arts Initiative?

I worked on a prototype of a project that I am developing to think about participatory ways of using technology and AR for collective memory. Some of the most important things I learned are the different projects affiliated with Monument Lab and the ways they collaborate to interrogate monuments, the stories and memories they elevate, and the absences that are also felt in public space and public art.

Anything else you’d like me to know about your work with the arts initiative? Anything that’s different, transformative from other fellowships you’ve participated in?

10/2/23 Ceramic Workshop at AA District Library.

10/2/23 Ceramic Workshop at AA District Library.

What was your experience of the Public Art & Engagement Fellowship like?

Jennifer Junkermeier-Khan, Outreach and Public Engagement Coordinator at Stamps Gallery said:

It was an experience of a lifetime! It provided space and time to connect with colleagues at U-M that I hadn’t had the opportunity to connect with previously while introducing me to new and innovative ways of working collectively on urgent topics of our time around memory, remembrance, history and the critical role of public art and engagement on campus and beyond.

What did you work on? What did you learn? How was it working with Monument Lab and the Arts Initiative?

Through the fellowship I learned methods for organizing public engagement programs and how to bring different groups of people together to have conversations around memory, art, and history. Working with Monument Lab and learning from them about how they think about and do the work they do was transformative. They are a uniquely generous organization that thinks deeply about “how” they do the work they do, not just what work they do.  Through the fellowship I was able to reflect on my work as curator and public programmer and began framing what I am currently calling Radical Public Engagements that utilize the working modalities of collaboration, inclusion, transparency, and accountability in the development, execution and evaluation of public programs. Pottery as Poetry, a collaborative public program series that took place throughout the Fall 2023 semester in conjunction with the Hear Me Now exhibition at UMMA, is an example, that was developed in partnership with fellow Public Art & Engagement cohort members Emilia Yang and Jason Young along with Lisa Borgsdorf and Ebitenyefa Baralaye.  Please see the attached document (that I created for the Memory and Monuments Open House) for more information about Radical Public Engagements and Pottery as Poetry.

10/20/2023 The Stamps School held a ceramic workshop and glazing session for students and guests.