Art in Public Call for Art: Liberty Plaza
2024-10-19 11:59 - 2024-12-01 23:59 (America/Detroit) | MI
The City of Ann Arbor Parks and Recreation and the Ann Arbor's DDA seek an artist or artist team to design and paint colorful, fun, and non-representational art on the concrete walls in Liberty Plaza in Downtown Ann Arbor.

BUDGET: $35,000DEADLINE: Dec. 1, 2024, at 11:59pm EST

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS CALL

Winter Art Camps Sneak Peek
2024-10-25 08:00 | MI
Get the scoop on this year's Winter Art Camps, taking place in Downtown Ann Arbor Monday, December 30-Tuesday, December 31.

Choose from our 2-Day Creativity Camp for children ages 5-9, or our 2-Day Handbuilding Clay Camp for children ages 9-12.

Registration for Winter Break Youth Art Camp opens on Friday, November 1 at 7:00am

*You must be the parent or guardian to register a child for camp.

Trick or Treat Halloween Coloring Contest
2024-10-27 11:30 - 15:00 | A2AC Gallery, 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Stop by the A2AC with the kiddos and enter our special Halloween Coloring Contest with complimentary colored pencils and coloring sheets by artist Annika Smits. This event is a part of MSAA's Trick or Treat Parade event.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ANNIKA

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PARADE

Winter Workshops Open for Registration
2024-11-01 07:00 | MI
Brush off the chill with crafty winter thrills with a Winter Workshop from the A2AC in Downtown Ann Arbor. Winter Workshops are a great, small commitment way to warm up your creative spirit. Bring a friend to a date night workshop or your household at a Family Friday, or just take a break from the world and give yourself something fun to focus on.

Note: there is no early bird member registration for Workshop launches.

SEE ALL CURRENT CLASSES

A2AC Winter Art Camps Open for Registration
2024-11-01 07:00 | MI
Kids aged 5-12 will ring in the year at our special NYE-edition Winter Art Camps, running Monday, Dec. 30 through Tuesday, Dec. 31.

Choose from our 2-Day Creativity Camp for children ages 5-9 or our 2-Day Handbuilding Clay Camp for children ages 9-12.

Mad Conductors Participatory Performance & Crip/Mad Archive Dances Screening - Moved to Riverside Arts Center
2024-11-02 11:00 - 13:00 | Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron Street, Ypsilanti, Michigan, 48197, United States
This event has been moved to Riverside Arts Center and will now occur from 11am-1pm.

This is part of the 2024 Disability Arts & Culture Gathering, a weekend of disability culture arts-based research and community building centered on twin inquiries of environmental and interspecies gentleness, mad memory, and archival intermedial/technological play.

From the organizer: We are happy to welcome people joining from elsewhere. All Gathering events unspool in crip time, with rest and relaxation practices built in, from fireside hang-outs to watercolor/drawing playtime.

ABOUT THE DISABILITY ARTS AND CULTURE GATHERING

Featuring:

Opening Poem by Nazifa Islam

Mad Conductors Participatory Performance with Stephanie Heit, Alexis Riley,

Visual Art Slide by Jennifer Lickers

Crip/Mad Archive Dances Screening

with Petra Kuppers and many more

Mad Conductors Participatory Performance

with Stephanie Heit and Alexis Riley

Join us for a participatory performance that explores memory, remembering, and forgetting. How can we hold memory as a community? How can we hold the gaps? We'll explore improvisational scores that invite us to investigate and play through writing, movement, doodling, sound, and other mediums we invent. You are welcome to witness and/or to participate to whatever level you wish. We will work together to create a supportive space to tend ourselves and each other while we imagine and experiment with new openings, pathways, and futures of care.

Mad Conductors is a collaborative performance project directed by Stephanie Heit and Alexis Riley that arises out of a desire to transmute and transform personal experiences of electroshocks and psychiatric medication brain zaps. It is an exploration of electricity, shock, connection, memory (loss), and collective mad ways of being. What happens when energy is transferred? Who or what conducts the ensemble? What resources do mad ancestors and archives offer?

followed by:

Crip/Mad Archive Dances Screening

with Petra Kuppers (and many others)

A screening of an experimental documentary. 35 mins, dir. Petra Kuppers, 2024. How do disabled and mad people survive, dance, insert their differences in a world full of stigma? How do we live through bodymindspirit experiences of alienation and pain? This experimental documentary charts disability culture archives and embodied gestures of survival and creative expression. It draws on community with human and non-human others: media clips as performance gifts, archival footage from dance archives, environmental embedment and grounding in trees, water, desert and lakes. Together, we dance, and spring our binds. Please note: This experimental documentary shares instances of medical incarceration including insulin violence. It offers survivor testimonies of artful and agency-full reclamation. The film is fully subtitled in English. A full audio-description track is available on SoundCloud. The documentary uses “crip,” and “mad” as in-group signifiers, aware of stigma and histories.

Stephanie Heit (she/her)

Stephanie is a queer disabled poet, dancer, teacher, and codirector of Turtle Disco, a somatic writing space on Anishinaabe territory in Ypsilanti, Michigan. She is a shock/psych system survivor, bipolar, and a member of the Olimpias, an international disability performance collective. Her award-winning book of hybrid memoir poems, PSYCH MURDERS (Wayne State University Press, 2022), invites readers inside psychiatric wards and shock treatments toward new futures of care. Website: https://stephanie-heit.com

Alexis Riley (she/they)

Alexis is a white disabled psychiatric survivor and interdisciplinary artist-scholar from Shawnee and Osage Land (colonial West Virginia). Grounded in disability culture and rooted in feminist praxis, their work blends practice as research and applied theatre methods to center mad bodies as sources of pleasure, connection, and care. Her current performance series, The Mad Memory Project, applies this focus to the archives and spaces of medical incarceration. Recent writing and creative projects have been featured in Theatre Topics (2019), QT Voices (2022), Liminalities (2024). Alexis is currently a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow/Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan.

Petra Kuppers (she/her)

Petra is German queer cis disability culture activist and a community performance artist. She grounds herself in disability culture methods, and uses somatics, performance, media work, and speculative writing to engage audiences toward more socially just and enjoyable futures. Her latest academic study is Eco Soma: Pain and Joy in Speculative Performance Encounters (2022, open access, winner of the ATHE 2024 book prize with distinction for Innovative Achievement). She teaches at the University of Michigan, was a 2022 Dance/USA Fellow, a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow, and is a current Just Tech Fellow, with her Planting Disabled Futures virtual reality project. www.petrakuppers.com

"dancing st. elizabeth's" Workshop - Moved to Riverside Arts Center
2024-11-03 11:00 - 12:30 | Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron Street, Ypsilanti, Michigan, 48197, United States
This event has been moved to Riverside Arts Center.

This is part of the 2024 Disability Arts & Culture Gathering, a weekend of disability culture arts-based research and community building centered on twin inquiries of environmental and interspecies gentleness, mad memory, and archival intermedial/technological play.

From the organizer: We are happy to welcome people joining from elsewhere. All Gathering events unspool in crip time, with rest and relaxation practices built in, from fireside hang-outs to watercolor/drawing playtime.

ABOUT THE DISABILITY ARTS AND CULTURE GATHERING

"dancing st. elizabeth's" Workshop

with Alexis Riley and Ali Pappa

Come immerse yourself in the archives of disability art! Together, we’ll explore “The Rorschach Ballet,” a dance piece created by disabled people held at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in 1957. After witnessing a video of the dance, we will then work together to create an improvised performance of our own, using our bodies and movements to play with projections of shadow and light. We’ll conclude with some time for quiet writing, doodling, and shared reflection. This workshop is open to all. No previous experience or skill required.

Alexis Riley (she/they)

Alexis is a white disabled psychiatric survivor and interdisciplinary artist-scholar from Shawnee and Osage Land (colonial West Virginia). Grounded in disability culture and rooted in feminist praxis, their work blends practice as research and applied theatre methods to center mad bodies as sources of pleasure, connection, and care. Her current performance series, The Mad Memory Project, applies this focus to the archives and spaces of medical incarceration. Recent writing and creative projects have been featured in Theatre Topics (2019), QT Voices (2022), Liminalities (2024). Alexis is currently a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow/Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan.

Ali Pappa

Ali is an Austin-based musician, improviser, and arts administrator. They are a neurodivergent, disabled, trans non-binary person of color, and are naturally drawn to creating and performing works that reflect these lived experiences. These days, Ali leans into crip-time, focusing on his health, healing from burnout, and taking projects and collaborative experiences at a pace more in line with his values as a disabled anticapitalist. Their collaboration with Alexis Riley received a B. Iden Payne award for the University of Texas at Austin's kin song: ode to disability ancestors, a virtual performance ritual.

Election Day: Last Day to Check Out Obama: An Intimate Portrait
2024-11-05 10:00 - 19:00 | A2AC Gallery, 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Pete Souza's Obama: An Intimate Portrait has been extended through Election Day! Don't miss this exceptional collection of 50 of Souza's pictures taken during Obama's presidency.

Note: the A2AC Gallery will be hosting a few events over the Nov. 2 & 3 weekend, so be sure to check our events page if you plan to visit us on Saturday or Sunday.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Our Love Will Change the World Opening Reception
2024-11-22 06:00 | A2AC Gallery, 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Join us for a trip through three decades of music through the work of prolific SE Michigan photographer Doug Coombe.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Our Love Will Change the World Opening Reception
2024-11-22 06:00 - 20:00 | A2AC Gallery, 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Join us for a trip through three decades of music through the work of prolific SE Michigan photographer Doug Coombe.

ABOUT THIS EXHIBITION

Holiday Shop Opening Reception
2024-11-22 18:00 - 20:00 | A2AC (Ann Arbor Art Center), 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Get a kickstart on the holidays and celebrate the season with local art! We can't wait for you to see all of the new goods from our fabulous collection of area artists, sure to spark a gift idea or two!

This event is presented in conjunction with the opening of the A2AC Gallery's newest exhibition, Our Love Will Change the World - Photographs by Doug Coombe.

SHOP LOCAL TODAY

Small Business Saturday
2024-11-30 10:00 - 20:00 | A2AC (Ann Arbor Art Center), 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Ann Arbor, it’s time to support the Arts this Small Business Saturday! 🎉 Swing by the A2AC Holiday Shop to browse incredible work from Michigan artists—think jewelry, ceramics, glass, textiles, prints, paintings, and more! 🎨 With new artists joining this year, you’re sure to find something amazing. Let’s shop local and keep creativity thriving!"

VISIT THE ONLINE SHOP

Winter Art Classes Open for Members
2024-12-04 07:00 | MI
Winter Art Classes Open for A2AC Members on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 7am (for all on Friday, Dec. 6, at 7am). Thanks to our members, we can provide unique visual art experiences that benefit artists, students, art enthusiasts, and the community. It also gets you early access to class registration before the terms open to the general public, which is especially helpful for our ceramic classes. Become a member today and secure that class you have your eye on.

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY

A2AC Author Series: Our Love Will Change the World
2024-12-05 19:00 - 20:30 | A2AC Gallery, 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
The 2024 A2AC Author Series finalizes with our December 5th author reading featuring Cal Freeman, Scott Beal, Brittany Rogers, Rebecca Biber, Kelly Hoppenjans, and Monica Rico, funded in part by Michigan Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. This event is followed by a Q&A.

FEATURING

SCOTT BEAL

REBECCA BIBER

CAL FREEMAN

KELLY HOPPENJANS

MONICA RICO

BRITTANY ROGERS

The 2024 A2AC Author Series is proudly funded in part by Michigan Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This event is inspired by Doug Coombe's photography exhibition, Our Love Will Change the World, a retrospective of three decades in the SE Michigan music scene by its most prolific photojournalist.

ABOUT OUR LOVE WILL CHANGE THE WORLD

Winter Art Classes Open for Registration
2024-12-06 07:00 | MI
A2AC Winter Art Classes Open for Registration for ALL on Friday, December 6, at 7am, with A2AC Members getting early access on Wednesday, December 4, at 7am.

SEE ALL UPCOMING CLASSES

BECOME AN A2AC MEMBER

Midnight Madness
2024-12-06 10:00 - 23:00 | MI
Head out to the streets of Ann Arbor for the Main Street Area Association's annual Midnight Madness event, where you'll enjoy closed streets, holiday lights, musicians, and deals at some of your favorite retail locations around Main Street.

ABOUT MIDNIGHT MADNESS

Luminary Drop-In
2024-12-06 17:00 - 22:00 | A2AC Gallery, 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Bring the family to the A2AC and design your own paper luminary to bring home or place on Liberty St. during Midnight Madness. We provide the supplies–you provide the creativity!

While supplies last!

Presented in collaboration with

ABOUT MIDNIGHT MADNESS

Call for Varied Vessels Show | Spotlight Gallery
2025-01-01 08:00 - 2025-01-26 23:59 | MI
The A2AC Spotlight Gallery’s new call for submissions is for a multi-medium show titled The Varied Vessel: A Tribute to its many Forms and Mediums.

*All work must be for sale. The aim is for people to utilize a variety of artistic handmade objects in their daily lives. Work must not exceed a price point of 200 dollars. Works can encompass a wide variety of materials (ceramic, glass, metal, wood, etc.) and forms. Examples include: cups, vases, salt and pepper shakers, planters, bowls, etc..

DEADLINE:January 26th, 2025 at 11:59pm EST

The Anne & Howard Cooper Spotlight Gallery at the Ann Arbor Art Center (A2AC) is a flexible exhibition space on the 2nd floor in the heart of the art education area. The Spotlight Gallery showcases artists working in the context of contemporary craft as well as painting, printmaking, and illustration.

APPLY TO THE CALL

2025 Spring and Summer Art Camps Preview Begins
2025-01-10 00:00 - 23:59 | MI
Summer will be here before you know it, and so will our Summer Art Camps in Downtown Ann Arbor! Get a sneak peek at our 2025 Spring and Summer Art Camps on Friday, January 10, 2025. See what weeks may be a good fit for your creative ones, then be sure to put Friday, January 24, 2025, at 7am on your radar when registration opens.

Jim Rehlin Tribute Showcase
2025-01-13 10:00 - 2025-02-28 19:00 | A2AC Gallery, 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
The A2AC Shop's Tribute Showcase celebrates Jim Rehlin’s extraordinary body of work and honors his legacy as a beloved artist and longtime shop contributor. In recognition of Jim's enduring impact on our creative community, all sales from the showcase will directly support the A2AC's mission to foster and uplift artists within our community.

ABOUT JIM AND HIS WORK

SHOP JIM'S WORK HERE

A2AC Social 2025 Tickets On Sale for Members/Past Attendees
2025-01-15 07:00 | A2AC (Ann Arbor Art Center), 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Grab your friends and escape the cold at the Ann Arbor Art Center on Friday, March 14, 2025, for our third annual A2AC Social!

Four art experiences commissioned from local artists, custom cocktails, and delicious small plates come together for an immersive night out.

SESSIONS TIMES:

SESSION 1: 5 PM – 7:15 PM

SESSION 2: 8 PM – 10:15 PM

ON SALE STARTING:

Wednesday, January 15, for Members/Past Attendees

Friday, January 17, for ALL

(Yes, you CAN purchase a group of tickets, and we will keep your group together!)

BECOME A MEMBER

SEE PICS FROM A2AC SOCIAL 2024

Realty: New Work by Brian Spolans Opening Reception
2025-01-17 06:00 - 20:00 | A2AC (Ann Arbor Art Center), 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Join us for the Opening Reception of the Spotlight Gallery exhibition Realty: New Work by Brian Spolans. This thoughtful exhibition explores the relationship with our homes since the pandemic as we enter an affordable housing crisis as told through printmaking and mixed-media works by Southeast Michigan-based artist Brian Spolans.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

A2AC Social 2025 Tickets On Sale for ALL
2025-01-17 07:00 | A2AC (Ann Arbor Art Center), 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States

MLK Day Drop-In Event
2025-01-20 11:00 - 14:00 | A2AC Gallery, 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Drop into the A2AC Gallery on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, January 20, anytime from 11:00am - 2:00pm for a meaningful and creative art activity celebrating community and connection! Using a variety of materials, participants will have access to everything they need to design and create a quilt square that reflects what they love and value about community. Individual squares will be stitched together to form a collective quilt, symbolizing the harmony in diversity and the strength of communal spirit. The completed quilt will be displayed in the A2AC Gallery window on Liberty Street.

This event is free and open to all ages and skill levels. All children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult. This activity is first-come, first-serve, while supplies last.

Select materials for the event were generously provided by

2025 Spring and Summer Art Camps Registration Opens
2025-01-24 07:00 | MI
Warm and sunny days are coming soon, as are the A2AC Spring and Summer Art Camps! Put Friday, January 24, 2025, at 7am on your calendar because you do not want to miss out on registration opening up for our Spring and Summer Art Camps in Downtown Ann Arbor. To prep you for everything you need to know about the camps, we're opening up a Preview on Friday, January 10, 2025.

PREVIEW OUR CAMPS TODAY

Mas y Mas Opening Reception
2025-02-07 18:00 - 20:00 | A2AC (Ann Arbor Art Center), 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Join us for the Opening Reception of the next Spotlight Gallery exhibition, Mas y Mas.

Mas y Mas by Kimberly LaVonne is a vibrant celebration of heritage, memory, and identity. Drawing from her Panamanian roots and childhood in Ciudad del Saber, LaVonne crafts hand-built ceramic forms inspired by Pre-Columbian Coclé pottery. Through intricate sgraffito carvings, she layers imagery of Molas, folklore, and personal memories, infusing each piece with the lively spirit of Panama’s culture and environment. Bold patterns, rich symbolism, and a striking palette reflect her ongoing journey to stay connected to her heritage while addressing themes of activism and belonging.

ABOUT THIS EXHIBITION

Galentine's Day: Make a Bookmark Drop-In
2025-02-08 13:00 - 17:00 | A2AC Gallery, 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
The Ann Arbor Art Center is excited to welcome folks into our A2AC Gallery for Main Street Ann Arbor's annual Galentine's Day 2025!

This year, the A2AC is partnering with the Ann Arbor District Library to bring you a bookish drop-in event on this joyous occasion. Stop into the A2AC Gallery on Saturday, February 8th, anytime from 1:00-5:00 pm and make a one-of-a-kind bookmark—the perfect Valentine's gift for the book lover in your life. Using various materials, participants will have access to everything they need to design and create a unique bookmark to keep or give away as a thoughtful gift.

This event is free and open to all ages and skill levels. All children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult. This activity is first-come, first-serve, while supplies last.

In addition to our drop-in event, the A2AC Shop will be open with plenty of additional gifts for all your loved ones! On February 8th, 2025, all jewelry will be 10% off to celebrate Galentine's Day.

In partnership with

LEARN MORE ABOUT GALENTINE'S DAY 2025

Spring Art Classes Open for Members
2025-02-12 07:00 | MI
🌸🎨 Embrace Your Creativity this Spring! 🎨🌸

Whether you're a budding artist or looking to brush up on your skills, join us for an inspiring journey through colors, techniques, and expression with our Spring Art Classes.

Open for Members on February 12, at 7am.

Open for ALL on Friday, February 14, at 7am.

BECOME A MEMBER HERE

SEE ALL UPCOMING CLASSES

Spring Art Classes Open for ALL
2025-02-14 07:00 | MI
🌸🎨 Embrace Your Creativity this Spring! 🎨🌸

Whether you're a budding artist or looking to brush up on your skills, join us for an inspiring journey through colors, techniques, and expression with our Spring Art Classes.

Open for ALL on Friday, February 14, at 7am.

SEE ALL UPCOMING CLASSES

Valentine's Day Card Drop-in
2025-02-14 12:00 - 15:00 | A2AC Gallery, 117 W Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Dive into the spirit of love and creativity as you design your very own heartfelt cards using a variety of provided materials at our free Valentine's Day Card Drop-In this Friday from 12-3pm in the A2AC Gallery. Whether you want to express your affection to a partner, a friend, or a family member, this is the perfect opportunity to let your artistic side shine!

Please note that all children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult.
