Currently at the Residential College Art Gallery
Play is Work
Curated by Ray Wetzel & John DeHoog
September 5 - October 14, 2023
Katie Hudnall - katiehudnall.com
Ellie Richards - ellie-richards.com
Toomas Toomepuu - toomastoomepuu.com
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Work is play.
Creativity is a process. Not a task. Process through practice pursues a multitude of possible outcomes with less than certain outcomes. The creative process is continuous, branching, converging, delivering new connections and creative expressions, conceptual and formal. The point of process is play.
Play allows humans to delve into uncertainty without fear of failure. Understanding process and engaging practice is how we manifest something new, original, and personally meaningful. It is a continuation of the human experience, various and wonderous.
Machine learning programs (AI) search databases for the most fitting data that can be accessed for the assigned task. The genii released from the bottle. A wish, a task fulfilled without the need for connection to the physical world of human imagination, sensory input, dreams, and the infinite number of uncertain ways a connection can be made. A task is a task.
These 3 artists all have found a way to transform the medium they work in through the application of their practice as a continuing process of play as work. Play is hard work.
Sometimes it’s the careful analysis of the position of colors and shapes on a surface that moves and transforms as it changes the shape, form, and function of an object.
Sometimes it’s the remarkable concatenation of shapes and objects, recognizable yet seemingly so haphazardly assembled that it transforms the narrative for each individual who sees it.
Sometimes it’s the sublime variations in form, shape, and colors that recombine over and over in related yet impossibly different ways.
Sometimes…
Come see for yourself as the work of Ellie Richards, Katie Hudnall and Toomas Toomepuu is presented at the Residential College Art Gallery this fall.
The artists will be present on October 11 for a presentation and Q & A at Eastern Michigan University. Come meet them and join the discussion as they discuss the relevance of creative play and process in their work.
The gallery is open from 10am to 5pm Monday - Friday.
Visit the Art Gallery
Open Hours: The RC Art Gallery is open Monday-Friday from 10:00 am-5:00 pm.
Visitor Access: Access the gallery from the door located near the northwest corner of East Quadrangle on East University just across from Weiser Plaza. The door is open to patrons, students and faculty during the gallery open hours.
Contact the Gallery: Email us at rc.artgallery@umich.edu
Excerpts from Recent Exhibitions
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Sense of Self: The Islamic Contemporary
Curated by Sascha Crasnow
February 17 - March 31, 2023
Despite recent panels and scholarship aiming to dispel the notion, there is a conception that contemporary art and religion are incompatible. When paired with the Islamophobic sentiment that Islam is destructive, rather than constructive like artistic practices, and that it even forbids many forms of artistic production, there is a presumption that contemporary art that engages with Islam as religion and faith (rather than simply as identity) cannot exist. There is an additional assumption that those who identify as women, queer, trans, and non-binary are unlikely to engage with Islam in their work outside of critique, because of the belief that Islam is inherently (and uniquely) oppressive of and therefore contradictory to individuals who identify as such. In an attempt to disabuse viewers of these notions, as well as give a space of exploration to these often overlooked or excluded voices, this exhibition brings together women, queer, trans, and non-binary Muslim artists who explore their connection to religion, their other identities (be those related to their race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or status as artists), and their practices.
Featuring work by:
- Yasmine Diaz: http://www.yasminediaz.com/
- Yasmine Kasem: http://www.yasminekkasem.com/
- Nour Ballout: https://www.nourballout.com/bio
- Manal Shoukair: https://www.instagram.com/h2ocolors/?hl=en
- Saba Taj: https://www.itssabataj.com/
- Arshia Fatima Haq: https://arshiahaq.com/
The gallery is open from 10am to 5pm Monday - Friday.
Carl Wilson: PRINTWORK
Open for viewing at the Residential College Art Gallery!
January 6 - February 8, 2023
Carl Wilson is 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 nineteen forties and fifties has led him to experiment with minimalist animation and comic book illustration. He embraces the whimsy hidden in the darkness.
Carl is the recipient of a 2013 Kresge Artist Fellowship and is an alumnus of the historic Yaddo Artists’ Community. During his residency there he carved the prints for, and wrote the book, Her Purse Smelled like JuicyFruit, a recollection of his mother’s life. Carl was named the 2014 guest curator of Detroit’s Carr Center. Also in 2014 Complex Online Magazine named him one of Twenty Detroit Artists You Should Know. He was featured in Essay'd, a monthly publication about Detroit artists. In 2017 Carl's work was a part of Detroit's contribution to The Saint-Etienne Design Biennale in France. 2017 also saw the release of a comic book, the first installment of his graphic novel, Dead & Lost in Detroit. The spring of 2018 saw Carl complete a residency at MacDowell in New Hampshire. While there he finished the writing and illustration of his graphic novel and currently the book is in negotiation for publication. The year has also seen the completion of a ten-print collection based on James Weldon Johnson's Prodigal Son poetry. It was commissioned by Calvin College and Dr. Larry Gerbens.
Learn more about Carl's work: https://www.carlwilsonart.com
The gallery is open from 10am to 5pm Monday - Friday.
Video sourced from: https://www.carlwilsonart.com/media
Fall 22’ Student Art Show
December 2022
Works of art are on display from the Studio Arts and the Arts and the Humanities classes ending this term. Work from ceramics, photography, printmaking, and sculpture courses are represented.
The opening on December 2, 2022, featured music from Residential College music ensembles directed by Katri Ervamaa. The artwork selection includes a broad selection of materials and techniques. From screen printing to film photography, to cold casting and ceramic sculpture there is something for everyone to see.
The gallery is open from 10am to 5pm Monday - Friday.
Kristina Sheufelt: Here Nor There
September 9 - October 14, 2022
Here Nor There is a new solo exhibition by multidisciplinary artist and environmentalist Kristina Sheufelt. Sheufelt is based in Detroit, Michigan, and recently received her MFA from the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design. In Here Nor There, Sheufelt uses a variety of media to blur the lines between land and body.
For the past several years, Sheufelt has spent her summers living in remote backcountry locations throughout the United States working on research projects ranging from self-directed study of emotional psychology in the wilderness to monitoring marine wildlife populations. In Here Nor There, Sheufelt processes the emotional and ecological implications of returning to life in the city between reunions with the wild.
Kristina Sheufelt received her BFA from the College for Creative Studies in 2013 and her MFA from the University of Michigan in 2022.
Her recent thesis exhibition, titled A Wind From Noplace, received the Jean Paul Slusser 'best in show' award and an International Sculpture Center Outstanding Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture award.
Winter 22’ Student Art Show
Open for viewing at the Residential College Art Gallery!
Now through April 22, 2022
Works of art are on display from the Studio Arts and the Arts and the Humanities classes ending this term. Work from ceramics, photography, printmaking, and sculpture courses are represented as well as work from the How to Think About : Humanities (CE) Art course program.
The opening on April 8, 2022, featured music from Residential College music ensembles directed by Katri Ervamaa. The artwork selection includes a broad selection of materials and techniques. From screen printing to film photography, to cold casting and ceramic sculpture there is something for everyone to see.
The gallery is open from 10am to 5pm Monday - Friday.
View photos of the exhibit opening below:
Mending
An exhibition of selected works by Jeanne Bieri.
January 21 - March 18, 2022
Inspired by women who worked with and communicated in quilts, Mending is an exhibit that blends the deeply personal stories of our lives as individuals with the universal language of quilts and blankets. Mending is an ode to the art of the hand stitch; as Bieri’s work brings layers and patterns to army blankets and recycled materials, she is creating a story of making, restructuring, and mending. Through meticulous hand work and circulating patterns, Jeanne joins together the disparate elements of her work. The process of restoring and saving discarded elements and preserving the unique histories of the materials found in the tactile surfaces remain an inspiration in her daily work practice.
Communicating a sense of unity, sturdiness, and fusion through its manipulation of textiles and hand stitching, Mending can be viewed in the RC Art Gallery in East Quad from January 21 through March 18, 2022.
Jeanne earned her MFA in Painting from Wayne State University and later taught at U-M Dearborn. Her work has been exhibited throughout Michigan and the Midwest with career highlights including a Kresge Fellowship in 2017 and a Michigan Council for the Arts Grant in 2019.
A reception will be held on February 11, 4-6 pm EST. All are welcome!
Animal/Vegetable/Mineral Art Exhibit
Works by Susan Crowell, RC and Stamps faculty member in Ceramics
October 1 - November 12, 2021
In this RC Art Gallery exhibit, Residential College and Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design Professor of Art Susan Crowell presents, among other works, a series of wall plaques depicting endangered species.
In Professor Crowell's effort to, "...question our interactions with the animal world and our impact upon it," she has installed images of elephants and donkeys as protagonists and antagonists in political struggle, and polar bears as victims of global warming.
"Animal/Vegetable/Mineral presents an occasion to speak about my most compelling interests—plants and animals—within the mineral rubrics of clay," she says.
This event is free and open to the public. Masks are required for all attendees. Vaccination is not required but highly encouraged. All attendees must complete a short questionnaire at https://responsiblue.umich.edu/sign-in before entering East Quadrangle.
Images of Incarceration
February 21 - April 9, 2020
The exhibition features the work of two artists addressing the issues that surround the prison industrial complex.
Steph Foster is an interdisciplinary artist specializing in photography, with interests in video, installations, music, digital fabrication, sculpture and performance. Steph recently received his MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. His recent work combines sounds and music with visual media to tell stories of mass incarceration and reconciliation within urban communities.
Ashley Hunt is an artist and activist who uses video, photography, mapping and writing to engage social movements, modes of learning and public discourse. Among his interests are structures that allow people to accumulate power and those which keep others from getting power, while learning from the ways that people come to know, respond to and conceive of themselves within these structures. Rather than seeing art and activism as two exclusive spheres of practice, he approaches them as complimentary, drawing upon the ideas of social movements and cultural theory alike — the theories and practices of each informing the other and pushing their limitations.
Jan 2020: The Indexical Print, Andrew Thompson, Lecturer at Stamps School of Art & Design, curates the exhibition The Indexical Print, and includes artists Cathryn Amidei, Jason Ferguson, Jay Fox, Ruth Koelewyn, Jeffrey Lancaster, Lee Marchalonis and Ellen Rutt. This multimedia exhibition of contemporary art references art critic Rosalind Krauss’s 1977 essay “Notes on the Index” with a focus on printmaking and other methods of image replication and reproduction that follow printmaking’s lead. Read the artist statement and biography information about the curator and artists here.
December 2019:
If we were ___________, this would be ________________.
a student exhibition brought to you by rcarts
Opens on December 6 with a reception serving local baked goods and snacks from 4:30-6pm.
On display until Dec. 17. Gallery hours 10-5pm, Monday through Friday.
Students can pick up work Dec. 19 & 20.
Nov 2019: Blood Underwater, a process and exhibition led by Elshafei Dafalla, is a collaborative work, which encourages deep thinking and creative expression. It provides a voice for community members and activists, especially from political, national, racial, religious and other minorities, to express their concerns about global suffering through art. You can learn more about this exhibit and residency here.
This visiting artist residency was made possible with support from Arts at Michigan.
Oct 2019: The Studio Art Program welcomes Fulgencio Lazo as a visiting artist. Read more about his visit here. Lazo is a Zapotec/Mixtec artist who works predominantly with acrylics on canvas in his studios in Seattle and in his hometown of Oaxaca, Mexico. For more than 26 years he has been working with museums, art centers and community groups to create “tapetes" or carpets of colored sand for Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations. These installations are collaboratively designed and installed with community members over the course of several days.
Sept 2019: Cynthia Sowers, Retired Residential College Arts and Ideas in the Humanities Faculty Member Show
Daughters of Memory: Paintings and Poems on the Nine Muses
September 2 - 27, 2019
Reception for the artist September 6, ~4:30pm
Read the artist statement for this exhibition.
Read the artist's reflections and notes on the exhibition.
Listen to Cindy on #theRCPodcast here.
Feb 2019: John DeHoog: Householdments - Furniture and Design
February 21 through April 4
Reception for the artist Thursday, February 21, 4-6pm
Gallery talk 4:30pm February 21
Read the artist's statement
Read the artist's Q&A about this exhibition
Read the artist's curriculum vitae
Jan 2019: Elizabeth Youngblood, Mixed-media artist
January 10 through February 14
Reception for the artist Wednesday, January 16, 4-6 pm
Gallery talk 4:30 pm January 16. Refreshments will be served.
Q & A with the artist can be found here.
About the Art Gallery
The Residential College Art Gallery serves the broader mission of engaged and interdisciplinary learning common to other programs in the Residential College. The gallery seeks to provide aesthetically compelling exhibitions that actively engage the community in questions of cultural, artistic, and social relevance.
Each semester the gallery holds two professional art exhibitions of four to six weeks duration, along with one show of student artwork from within the Residential College. The gallery primarily supports the Residential College Studio Arts Program through exhibitions of contemporary art in a range of disciplines that reflect the diversity of the program.
The recently renovated 500 square foot gallery is suitable for both traditional exhibitions and alternative site-specific installations. For more information or to explore the possibility of exhibiting your work, please contact the Residential College.
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