Art lovers will once again fill the streets of Ann Arbor at the Ann Arbor Art Fair, which runs July 20–23, 2017. The University of Michigan welcomes one and all to its many museums, gallery exhibitions and tours on campus. All of the following activities and exhibitions are free and open to the public.

Museums

Museum of Art

The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), which will be open late for Fridays After 5 for Art Fair Visitors on July 21, is one of the oldest and largest university art museums in the country. Their collection comprises more than 21,000 works of art that span cultures, eras, and media, with works on view by world renowned artists like James McNeill Whistler, Helen Frankenthaler, Pablo Picasso, Joshua Reynolds, Kara Walker, Claude Monet, Frank Lloyd Wright and Andy Warhol, among many others. In addition to their permanent collection, UMMA hosts nearly 20 special exhibitions and over 100 events each year. Current exhibitions include:

• Victors for Art: Michigan’s Alumni Collectors—Part II: Abstraction commemorates the U-M 2017 Bicentennial by celebrating the deep impact of Michigan alumni in the global art world. Part II: Abstraction, on view in the A. Alfred Taubman Gallery, showcases modern and contemporary art by Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Louise Nevelson, Christo, Lorna Simpson, José Parlá, and Do Ho Su, among others.
• Picturing Buildings: Photographers and Architecture, 1855–1958 features a selection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century photographs from the Museum’s collection.
• Ernestine Ruben at Willow Run: Mobilizing Memory presents photos of the industrial complex Willow Run taken by artist Ernestine Ruben. Ruben, granddaughter of Detroit architect and designer of Willow Run Albert Kahn, overlaid interior views of the now-dormant factory with imagined glimpses into her body’s interior landscape.
• In Focus: Julian Schnabel features a screen print entitled Vote, which was recently donated to UMMA by Catherine Benkaim and Barbara Timmer.
• Cosmogonic Tattoos is composed of a series of public window installations by U-M art professor Jim Cogswell, created in celebration of the U-M Bicentennial. The installation features a procession of vivid images that are based on the holdings of UMMA and the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology.
  

  A procession of vivid images is adhered to the glass walls of UMMA.

• Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Wavefunction, Subsculpture 9 is a kinetic sculpture and interactive installation that plays on the world of mid-century American designers Charles and Ray Eames.
• Moving Image: Performance explores the relationship between the video camera and the action it records through four works by artists Kalliope Lemos, Roman Signer, Elena Kovylina and Universal Everything.

Location: UMMA is free and open to the public at 525 S. State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Hours: Tues.–Sat. 11 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sun. 12-5 p.m.; Closed Mondays & University holidays.

Kelsey Museum of Archaeology

The Kelsey Museum houses a collection of more than 100,000 ancient and medieval objects from the civilizations of the Mediterranean and the Near East. Among the objects on view is a colorfully painted Egyptian mummy coffin, magical amulets from the ancient Near East, an array of glass vessels, Greek pottery, a unique large-scale watercolor representation of the famous Villa of the Mysteries murals from ancient Pompeii, and more. View both the permanent galleries and the special exhibition Cosmogonic Tattoos.

Location: The Kelsey Museum is free and open to the public at 434 S. State St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Hours: Tues.–Fri. 9 a.m.–4 p.m.; Sat.–Sun. 1–4 p.m.; Closed Mondays & University holidays.

Museum of Natural History

The Museum of Natural History includes displays on prehistoric life (with the most extensive dinosaur exhibits in the state), Michigan wildlife, anthropology, geology and a digital planetarium. Explore both the permanent as well as the temporary exhibits including:

• The Bristle Mammoth: The mammoth remains found near Chelsea, Michigan, last fall will be on view through Dec. 31. The Bristle Mammoth (pronounced BRIS-lee) is named for James and Melody Bristle, the farming family who found the remains on their property and donated them to the University. Visitors will be able to touch one of the Bristle Mammoth’s bones, see some of the evidence for human activity at this site (such as the removal of edible tissues from parts of the carcass), and explore how the Bristle Mammoth’s bones, teeth and tusks will help scientists understand how these animals lived and why they went extinct.
• Museum on the Move: U-M’s Museum of Natural History will be moving into a new facility, opening in 2019. Come discover where we’ve come from and where we’re headed in this new exhibit about our past and future. View fascinating historic images and plans for the new museum, and revisit past exhibit favorites retrieved from our archives.

Location: The Museum of Natural History is free and open to the public at 1109 Geddes Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Hours: Mon.–Sun. 9 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sun., 12–5 p.m.; Closed on University holidays.

Matthaei Botanical Gardens

The Matthaei Botanical Gardens is a 350-acre site that offers an indoor plant conservatory and greenhouse, and outdoor sites for research, display gardens, native plant gardens, natural areas and ongoing ecological restoration.

Location: Matthaei is free and open to the public at 1800 N. Dixboro Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48105. Hours: Conservatory is open daily, 10 a.m.–8 p.m., Trails open sunrise to sunset. Holiday Hours: Closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve, open New Year’s Day, 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Nichols Arboretum

The Nichols Arboretum—also referred to as “The Arb”—is a 123–acre site near Central Campus that provides a unique opportunity to explore the ongoing interaction of humans and the natural world. The Arb contains specialty gardens, historic and culturally significant collections, areas of native Michigan ecosystems, active areas of ecological restoration and access to the Huron River. Visitors can celebrate the U-M Bicentennial by going on The Grandmother Tree Walk—a self-guided tour of 12 historic trees in The Arb. Maps are available at the Arboretum visitor center, Matthaei Botanical Gardens and online.

Location: The Nichols Arboretum is free and open to the public at 1610 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Hours: The Arboretum is open 7 days a week, sunrise to sunset.

 

Galleries

With over 20 galleries on campus, various U-M departments and libraries are committed to exploring artistic expression through many different subjects outside of traditional museum spaces. From Humanities to Women’s Studies, and the School of Natural Resources—stop in to view the many exhibitions on view this month.

Stamps Gallery

Each year, the U-M Stamps School of Art & Design hosts a Juried Alumni exhibition that features work from across the country and internationally. This 2017 exhibition Ambiguities/Innuendoes? Go Fish. will be on view at the new Stamps Gallery through August 19, 2017. With 8,000 square feet of exhibition space, the Juried Alumni show is a great way to celebrate the U-M Bicentennial.

Location: The Stamps Gallery is free and open to the public at 201 S. Division St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Hours: Tues.–Sat., 12–7 p.m. Closed Sun.–Mon.

U-M Health System ‘Gifts of Art’ Galleries

Gifts of Art curates nine galleries of changing art exhibition throughout the U-M hospital, and organizes a weekly, public concert series in music, theatre and dance. During the art fair, check out a courtyard performance of circus aerial arts by Ringstar Studio on Thursday, July 20 at 12 p.m.

Location: Gifts of Art galleries and performances are free and open to the public at 1500 E. Medical Center Dr., Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Hours: Events and performance time varies, galleries are open during hospital visiting hours.

 

Libraries

The U-M Library system consists of 30 libraries that house a variety of collections and exhibitions—visit the libraries for a unique experience.

Hatcher Graduate Library, Audubon Room

The Audubon Room provides a dedicated space for the display of some of the greatest treasures from the Library’s collections. Storied Acquisitions: Highlights from the University of Michigan Library Collections showcases items from a variety of library collecting areas and explores the stories behind the development of some of U-M’s most distinctive collections.

Location: The Audubon Room is located in the Hatcher Graduate Library at 913 S. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Hours: Mon.–Fri., 8:30 a.m.–6 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Sun., 2–6 p.m.

Hatcher Graduate Library, Gallery

The Gallery is meant to be a gathering place for the enrichment of the intellectual, educational and cultural life of the U-M campus and the larger community. The exhibit Ira Deutchman: A commitment to Specialty Films examines Ira Deutchman’s five-decades long career as producer, marketer and distributor. This exhibit offers a behind the scenes look at how he went about finding audiences for some of the most important and influential independent specialty films of the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

Location: The Gallery is located on the first floor of the Hatcher Graduate Library at 913 S. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Hours: Mon.–Thu., 8–12 a.m.; Fri., 8 a.m–7 p.m; Sat., 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.–12 a.m.

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library

While not affiliated with the University of Michigan, the Ford Library is located in Ann Arbor, on our North Campus. The Library offers exhibits, special events, education partnerships and research assistance services. The current exhibit, Banner Moments: The National Anthem in American Life, illustrates through interpretive panels, historical documents and photographs, the cultural 200-year history of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Location: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library is free and open to the public at 1000 Beal Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Hours: Mon.–Fri., 8:45 a.m.–4:45 p.m.; closed all Federal holidays.

William L. Clements Library, Avenir Reading Room

The William L. Clements Library houses original resources for the study of American history and culture from the 15th through the 19th century. Both the library itself and the Avenir Reading Room house temporary and semi-permanent exhibitions including:

• Mapping in the Enlightenment: Science, Innovation, and the Public Sphere explores the act of creating, distributing and using maps during the 18th century. Enlightenment thinking generated a quest for increasing the accuracy of maps, the growth of map collecting and map use by a wide range of men and women in all social classes, and the expanding role of maps as administrative documents for government decision-making throughout Europe and her overseas colonies.
• Collecting the Clements Library, 1903–2016 tells the story of collecting at the Clements Library from Mr. Clements’ original efforts to the current day.

Location: Access to the Avenir Reading Room is through the south entrance of the Clements Library, located at 909 S University Ave, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Hours: Fridays from 10 a.m.–4 p.m., and by special arrangement.

 

The BioArtography Project Art Fair Booth

Faculty, staff and student volunteers from the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology will be at Booth 102 on East University Avenue selling artistic images of microscopic tissue. The images come from research laboratories throughout U-M, and include several examples of Regenerative Medicine in action (regeneration of optic nerves, programming of human embryonic stem cells). Proceeds support travel to national and international scientific meetings for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the biological sciences.

Location: Art Fair booth 102 on East University Avenue. Hours: Thurs.–Sat., 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Sun., 12–6 p.m.