March is shaping up to be a good time to see some great artwork and collections around campus. U-M welcomes students, staff, faculty and our greater community to visit our many galleries and museums with exhibitions that are currently on view.

 

Embody: 2018 MFA Thesis Exhibition

Thesis exhibitions by four Stamps second-year MFA is art graduate students are on view at the new Stamps Gallery in downtown Ann Arbor from Friday, March 9–Sunday, April 1, 2018.

Embody will feature work by 2018 MFA in Art candidates Stephanie Brown, Robert J. Fitzgerald, Brynn Higgins-Stirrup, and Brenna K. Murphy.

A public open house and exhibition reception will take place on Friday, March 9, 6-8 p.m. The exhibition reception includes two performances:

• Brenna K. Murphy, Crossing, 6–6:45 p.m.
• Robert Fitzgerald, / offscreen / , 7:15–7:30 p.m.

An additional performance will take place on Saturday, March 31, 2018:

• Brenna K. Murphy, Crossing, 11:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Viewers are welcome to stay for the entire duration of this five hour performance or come and go as they please—attendance from start to finish is not required.

The Stamps Gallery is the U-M Stamps School of Art & Design’s new exhibition space in downtown Ann Arbor, located at 201 S. Division Street on the first floor of the McKinley Towne Centre (between Liberty and Washington). The Stamps Gallery is free and open to the public Tues.–Sat., 12–7 p.m.; Closed Sun.–Mon.

 

Interior Streets

Interior Streets features the work of Detroit artist Carl Wilson, known for his stark black and white linocut prints. The self-taught artist sees himself as a documentarian of lives easily ignored in a world obsessed with materialism and celebrity. His work frequently highlights not only the strength found in conquering the everyday and mundane, but also the pain and defeat of those not able to rise to the occasion. His love of film noir and pulp fiction novels from the 1940s and ’50s has led him to experiment with minimalist animation and comic book illustration. He embraces the whimsy hidden in the darkness.

Visit the Institute for the Humanities Gallery on Friday, March 9 at 3 p.m. for a reception, and a conversation with Carl Wilson and Institute for the Humanities curator Amanda Krugliak. Interior Streets will be on view through April 25, 2018. The Humanities Gallery is free and open to the public at 202 S. Thayer Street Mon.–Fri., 9 a.m.–5 p.m.; Closed Sat., Sun. and University holidays.

 

Play Structure

Visiting artist Yiu Keung Lee was born in Hong Kong and came to the United States in 1988 to pursue his BFA at Eastern Michigan University. Lee then graduated with an MFA from the U-M in 1995. Play Structure features sculptural works that were created when Lee tried to organize and reconstruct memorable moments. This body of work intends to compose a conglomerate of forms that are playful and remind Keung of some of his most treasured memories.

Visit the Residential College (RC) Art Gallery on Friday, March 9 at 4 p.m. for an exhibition reception.The RC Gallery is located in the East Quad Residence Hall at 701 University Ave. Mon.–Fri., 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Closed Sat.–Sun., University holidays & summer break.

 

Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection

A new exhibition highlighting the influential role Gertrude Kasle, founder of the Gertrude Kasle Gallery, played in Detroit’s contemporary art scene in the 1960s and ’70s opens Saturday, March 10 at the U-M Museum of Art (UMMA). Many of the works in the exhibition were gifted to UMMA as part of Kasle’s bequest, which also includes several loans from Kasle’s children.

Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection will be on view March 10–July 22, 2018. A number of events related to the exhibition will be taking place, including:

• March 14: SMTD@UMMA Performance: Exercising the Ear: Music and Conversation with Augusta Read Thomas
• April 7: Family Art Studio: Mixed Media
• April 20: Building Contemporaries: Art and Economies in Detroit, a conversation about what current initiatives and leaders are contributing to the artistic ecosystem in Detroit today
• March 25, April 22, May 13, Jne 10, July 1: Exhibition tours with assistant curator of photography Jennifer Friess
• July 8: In Conversation: Gertrude’s Eye: An Intimate Look at the Gertrude Kasle Collection: Join Assistant Curator Jennifer Friess for a conversation and tour about the exhibition Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection, which focuses on Gertrude Kasle’s pioneering role as a contemporary art gallerist and collector in Detroit.

UMMA, one of the oldest and largest university art museums in the country, is free and open to the public at 525 S. State St., Tues.–Sat., 11 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sun. 12–5 p.m.; Closed Mondays & University holidays. There are currently six special exhibitions on view, in addition to their permanent collections galleries.

 

Prosfuge: Between Worlds of Appearance and Disappearance

Work by Stamps Associate Professor Robert Platt is featured in the solo exhibition Prosfuge: Between Worlds of Appearance and Disappearance, on view in the School for Environment and Sustainability’s Art & Environment Gallery, open through Summer 2018. According to Platt, Prosfuge is a blended word referencing the notion of “Prospect-refuge theory,” a concept developed by English geographer Jay Appleton in his 1975 book, The Experience of Landscape. His theory suggests that spaces we find most acceptable to be in present us with great opportunity while simultaneously fulfilling the desire to retreat into a protected realm.

The Art & Environment Gallery is located in the School for Environment and Sustainability’s Dana Building at 440 Church St., Mon.–Fri., 7am–7pm; Closed Sat.–Sun. & University holidays.

 

Gifts of Art

One of the first and most comprehensive healthcare arts programs nationwide, Gifts of Art brings the world of art and music to the Michigan Medicine. Eight new exhibitions will open on March 19, including Mary Brodbeck’s woodblock prints, Tina West’s photographs, John Dempsey’s large-scale acrylic paintings, Aimee Lee’s Korean paper sculptures, ceramics by Washtenaw Community College faculty, and more. Check out a list of Gifts of Art exhibitions opening this month.

Gifts of Art Galleries are open during  University Hospital visiting hours, 8 a.m.–8 p.m. at 1500 E. Medical Center. Dr.