In Michigan’s Thumb, Detroiters turn decades-old barns into art

“Some would argue that I operate more like an artist, but architecture is my medium. At the same time, I’m a licensed architect that tends to work a little more artfully,” says Catie Newell, Associate Professor of Architecture at the U-M Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. “Honestly, I’m just always chasing the effects of light and darkness. I’ve found that architecture allows me to put all of those things together all the time.” Newell’s “Secret Sky” recontextualizes an 100-year-old barn as an art-architecture project in Port Austin near the tip of Michigan’s Thumb. Read the full article in the Detroit Free Press.

Temple graffiti reveals stories from ancient Sudan

“There were a number of temples and other sacred sites in Kush. And, as our ongoing research in El-Kurru has documented, visitors to these sites had one particular religious ritual that may strike some as strange: they carved graffiti in important and sacred places.” Suzanne Davis, associate curator of conservation at the U-M Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, and Geoff Emberling, associate research scientist in archaeology at U-M, wrote an article in The Conversation about a new exhibition they co-curated that highlights this recent discovery. It is now on view at the U-M Kelsey Museum of Archaeology.

Dreams Are for Real: Spotlight on Aaron Dworkin

“What’s the secret sauce that gives talents like Lin-Manuel Miranda and Wynton Marsalis such staying power? That’s what creative entrepreneur and educator Aaron Dworkin set out to uncover in The Entrepreneurial Artist, which looks at artists who harnessed their vision into a successful brand.” Dworkin, professor of arts leadership and entrepreneurship at the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance, recently talked to Publishers Weekly about his latest book.

In Response to Water Crisis, Brightmoor Students Build Filtration System

In order to provide free, clean drinking water to members of their community impacted by shutoffs, lead, and other issues, students from Detroit Community High School in Detroit’s Brightmoor neighborhood created a rain filtration system at a neighborhood church. The project, which was created in connection with the Brightmoor Makerspace (co-founded by Stamps professor Nick Tobier) received assistance from the U-M Stamps School of Art and Design and the U-M Ross School of Business. WDET interviewed students that worked on the project.

A Small City Famous for Architecture Rolls Out the Welcome Mat

“Maybe the sweetest design in the whole [Exhibit Columbus] festival belongs to Sean Ahlquist, an associate professor of architecture at U-M. Playscape is a funky assemblage on Washington Street near an indoor playpen (designed by César Pelli—it’s a seriously cool playground). While Ahlquist’s project is mindful of Pelli’s exposed structural details, Playscape also looks across the street to an autism clinic for inspiration. His team’s playground piece draws on pediatric research about engaging neurodiverse children.” —CityLab

New CD Features World Premiere Recording Of Critical Edition Of Gershwin’s ‘American In Paris’

“A new CD featuring the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under music director Louis Langrée  “Transatlantic,” showcases American composer George Gershwin’s take on bustling Paris, French composer Edgar Varèse’s take on New York’s soundscape, and Igor Stravinsky composing his Symphony in C across two continents. The album includes the highly anticipated world premiere recording of the critical edition of George Gershwin’s An American in Paris, prepared by the U-M Gershwin Initiative.” Forbes quoted Mark Clague, U-M associate professor of music and editor-in-chief of the Gershwin Edition, in a recent article about the release.

Statewide organ donor registration drive started at U-M Library celebrates 10 years

“The response we’ve received has been just amazing. So far, we’ve got over 100 libraries of all sorts on board this year. And since we started, we’ve gotten about 4,000 people to sign up as donors,” says Kate Saylor, a U-M librarian and Michigan Libraries for Life organizer. Learn more about the award-winning organ, eye, and tissue donor registration program that Saylor started at the U-M Library 10 years ago in this article from Concentrate.

Adjusting the pitch: Canadian Opera Company grapples with interpreting Turandot for today

“Love, jealousy, patriotism and love of country, a sense of wanting to do what’s right … these are issues that will always be important and these are the crux of what opera is,” says Naomi André, a musicology scholar, U-M professor and consultant to the Seattle Opera on matters of race, gender and representation. While some might suggest it’s time to drop problematic operas entirely, André told the CBC that she believes the dialogue that’s now happening around them is helping to push opera culture forward.

Jessye Norman, Regal American Soprano, Is Dead at 74

“Jessye Norman, the majestic American soprano who brought a sumptuous, shimmering voice to a broad range of roles at the Metropolitan Opera and houses around the world, died on Monday in New York. She was 74.” Norman was a U-M alumna and honorary degree recipient. Read her full obituary in the New York Times.

 

In University of Michigan’s New Sciences Building, Visitors Will Find Labs and Dinosaur Fossils

“After much anticipation, this spring much of the University of Michigan’s science community relocated to a brand-new complex, and the dinosaur skeletons now displayed in the sunny twin atria weren’t the only things that were rearranged. The opening of the $261 million Biological Sciences Building also brought with it an overhaul of the way scientific work is communicated to the public, merging practitioners and novices under one dynamic, collaborative roof.” Read the full feature article on the new Biological Sciences Building—the new home of the U-M Museum of Natural History—in Metropolis Magazine.