Art and Design Events and News

Beyond the Surface: BAA & BFA Spring 2025 Exhibition

The exhibition features works by 9 graduating seniors in studio art: Shy Barteck. Alex Daniels, Tena Gilbreath, Blue Grant, Amy Henry, Jenn Holscher, Kaitlyn Lipscomb, Riley Robinson, and Taylor Williams. The exhibition fulfills part of the requirements for their degree and capstone class, taught by Anne Gochenour, Director of the University Art Gallery.

Exhibition Dates: April 26 - May 9, 2025

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 26 from 2:30 - 4 pm

Collateral: Mass Influence and the Design of Persuasion Graphic Design 2025 Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition

The exhibition is part of a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design and the capstone class taught by Clark Most. The exhibition features collaborative installation work by candidates for the BFA in Graphic Design: Amy Adams, Alexandria Chingman, Jaiden Cregger, Joe Ebbs, Bryce Hurd, Ugo Ike, Josiah Kimbler, Victoria Knieper, Isa Kuri, Skky Lawrence, Tegan Perry, Stephanie Phung, Sydney Roesler, Brittany Stevens, and Alexandra Tucker.

Exhibition Dates: April 5 - 19, 2025

Reception: Saturday, April 5 from 2 - 4 pm

2025 Annual Juried CMU Student Art Exhibition

The exhibition features 69 works by 53 CMU student artists. The Juror, Trevor Grabill selected the works from 176 entries by 83 artists. Works include sculpture, animation, drawing, printmaking, painting, fibers, and ceramics. An award ceremony will start at 2:30 during the reception for the artists on Saturday. The public is invited to vote for the public choice award through March 21.

Exhibition Dates: March 1 - 7, 2025 (Closed for Spring Break) March 17 - 29, 2025

Reception and Award Ceremony: Saturday, March 1 from 2 - 4 pm

Searing: Works by the Women's Environmental Photography Collective

From the Collective “In Spring 2020, the Environmental Photography Collective was born out of a desire to create a more inclusive space in the historically androcentric fields of landscape and environmental photography. As artists with a long history as educators, our members have diverse yet overlapping interests that include environmental science, land use, biology, geology, cultural studies, and social justice. The breadth of our interests helps to build connections between cultural producers, community leaders, emerging artists, and scientific researchers, creating new production methods and ways to disseminate our work.”

Members in the exhibition are Marion Belanger, Dana Fritz, Margaret LeJeune, Judy Natal, Martina Shenal, and Terri Warpinski. Martha Willette Lewis is a guest artist with collaborative works with Marion Belanger.

Exhibition Dates: January 17 - February 15, 2025

Opening reception: Thursday, January 16 from 4 - 6 pm

Between Two Worlds: BAA & BFA Fall 2024 Exhibition

Bachelor of Applied Arts (BAA) and Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art (BFA), Fall 2024 Exhibition" features the works of graduating student/artists Mercedes Pomeranky and Connor Hanna.

Exhibition Dates: November 22 - December 14, 2024

Opening reception:  Saturday, November 23 from 1:30 - 3 pm. 

Artist's talk: BFA Artist Talk TBA

FRAGILE MOMENTS: Barstow Artist-in-Residence Katie Mongoven

Works by Barstow Artist-in-Residence Katie Mongoven

Exhibition Dates: November 22 - December 14, 2024

Opening reception:  Saturday, November 23 from 1:30 - 3 pm. 

Pushing Fiber

This exhibition features works by artists who are pushing the parameters of art making. The variety of forms, processes, and ideas demonstrate the profound importance of fiber in contemporary art. The artists featured are Denise Whitebread Fanning, Mimi Holmes, Ann Kowaleski, Tom Lundberg, Joey Quiñones and Sally Rose. 

Exhibition Dates: October 18– November 16, 2024

Opening reception: Reception October 17, 4-6 pm

Artists’ talks: November 7, 5 pm at the University Art Gallery

Department of Art and Design Faculty Exhibition 2024

Members of the Department of Art & Design faculty & staff exhibit their current work. The exhibition features works by Rose Brauner, Israel Davis, Brian Elder, Ryan Flesher, Katie Mongoven, Kris Sanford, and David Stairs in painting,  photography, drawing, graphic design, fiber,  sculpture, and ceramics. 

Exhibition Dates: September 6 – October 5, 2024

Opening reception: Thursday, September 5, 2024, 4-6 pm

CMU Animation: Spring 2024 Senior Gallery & Showcase

Senior Gallery Event Dates: April 22 - April 30, 2024
Gallery Location: 3rd Floor Gallery Space, Park Library (during normal Library hours) 

Spring Showcase Date: Tuesday, April 30 @ 5:30 p.m., Reception following
Showcase Location: Staples Auditorium (Music Building next to Library)

Echoes: Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Applied Arts in Art, Spring 2024 Exhibition

Location: University Art Gallery

Dates:  April 19 – May 4, 2024

Opening Reception: April 20 from 2-4 p.m., artist talk at 1:30 p.m.  

This art exhibition showcases the work by CMU Department of Art & Design candidates for the Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Applied Arts, Studio Art: Madeline Bancroft, Melissa Navarre, Amber Schelling, and Kenna VanAbel. The exhibition fulfills part of the requirements for their degree and capstone class taught by Anne Gochenour, Director of University Art Gallery.

walking with lit candles

Works by Margaret LeJeune, Barstow Artist-in-Residence

Location: University Art Gallery

Dates:  April 19 – May 4, 2024

Opening Reception: April 20 from 2:00-4pm

Margaret LeJeune is the 2023-2024 Barstow Artist-in-Residence. She is an image-maker, curator, and educator originally from Rochester, New York. Anchored in photography, her creative practice marries art, science, and environmental history. Often inspired by a place-based approach, her work focuses on the climate crisis through investigations of wetlands, habitat loss, and the current mass extinction event. She has exhibited her work internationally, including exhibitions in the United States, South Africa, and South Korea. LeJeune has participated in numerous artist residencies and was recently named the 2023 Woman Science Photographer of the Year by the Royal Photographic Society. View her work here: https://www.margaretlejeune.com/

Parallels of the Unknown: 2024 Graphic Design Exhibition

Location: University Art Gallery

Dates:  March 23  - April 13, 2024 

Opening Reception: Saturday, March 23rd, 2:00 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Included Artists:  

Parallels of the Unknown is an exhibition dedicated to the darkest and deepest enigmas facing humanity to date. Ranging from our own selves to nature and beyond. Come explore with us these mysteries and discover for yourself how little we actually know about the world we live in and how much there is yet to discover. 

The Graphic Designers in the exhibition are: Donovan Andrews, Emily Bredin, Katelyn Buerkel, Alison Burch, Erin Dougherty, Madelyn Kerbyson, Samuel Kroll, Emily Lage, Amy Mitton, Samuel Ondrias, Nathan Reihl, Jade Riehl, Riley Robinson, Rachel Showers, Dominique Toth, Kaily Wasielewski, Kendyl Wilson. The exhibition opens this Saturday, March 23 with a reception at 2:00 p.m. to 4 p.m.

2024 Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition

Juror: Teresa Dunn www.teresa-dunn.com

Location: University Art Gallery

Dates: Feb. 16 – March and March 12-15, (closed for Spring Break). 

Opening Reception: Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024, 2-4 pm

Included Artists:  Court Annuschat, Emily Bober, Cheyanne Barteck, Skip Bleecker, Jessie Chen, Alaina Daniels, Alexandra Daniels, Ellie DeBoer, Isaac Dunham, Jo Esch, Alondra Garcia, Tena Gilbreath, Brooke Gledhill, Blue Grant, Brea Hoffman, Jennifer Holscher, Sammie Hutter, Alec Johnson, Carly Judit, Victoria Knieper, Dan Marvin, Nico Mendoza, Melissa Navarre, Brad Nelson, Taylor Propp, Jade Riehl, Michael Ritchings, Riley Robinson, Shannon Scharba, Amber Schelling, Helena Schneider, Douglas Sias, Rachel Smith, Cora Wallen, Claudia Waske, Caroline Westfall, Robin White, Taylor Williams, Christina Wollenhaupt, Hannah L. Wormsley.

Margaret LeJeune - 2023-2024 Barstow Artist-in-Residence

Artist Talk: Thursday, Jan. 18 @ 5pm

Wightman Hall 142 - ART 096 Approved

Margaret LeJeune is the 2023-2024 Barstow Artist-in-Residence. She is an image-maker, curator, and educator originally from Rochester, New York. Anchored in photography, her creative practice marries art, science, and environmental history. Often inspired by a place-based approach, her work focuses on the climate crisis through investigations of wetlands, habitat loss, and the current mass extinction event. She has exhibited her work internationally, including exhibitions in the United States, South Africa, and South Korea. LeJeune has participated in numerous artist residencies and was recently named the 2023 Woman Science Photographer of the Year by the Royal Photographic Society. View her work here: https://www.margaretlejeune.com/

Shirley Brauker: Heritage and Legacy

Exhibition: Jan. 12 — Feb. 3, 2024
Reception:  Jan. 20, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. with a curator talk by Stephanie Jackson at 2:30 p.m.

Shirley Brauker was an artist who told stories from her life and her indigenous heritage.  She was a member of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and a Central Michigan University alumnus.  She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Art, a Masters degree in Art, and in 2015 she was the featured commencement speaker and was awarded an honorary PhD from CMU. She also did post-baccalaureate work at IAIA – Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe. In Spring 2013 she was The Olga J. and G. Roland Denison Visiting Professorship of Native American Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

Shirley worked in several media: ceramics, beadwork, and drawing.  She stated “I have spent my entire life learning about art and my Native American heritage.  I have combined these two interests into my own unique style of art.  I use images from my cultural background as well as my imagination to create pieces that reflect the way I see the world around me.  Some ideas come from textbooks, others come from stories passed down by my mother, while others are born from my own personal experiences.”

Sharing her art and heritage was important to Shirley and she was constantly teaching workshops and mentoring young artists.  The exhibition will include works by two of the artists she mentored: Stephanie Jackson (who is also the co-curator of this exhibition) and Aryl Ruffino (her granddaughter).

Diverse Duo: Bachelor of Applied Arts in Art, Fall 2023 Exhibition

Event Dates: Dec. 1st-16th
Reception: Dec. 8th 4-6pm
Free and Open to the Public - Approved for ART 096
University Art Gallery

This art exhibition showcases the work by CMU Department of Art & Design candidates for the BAA in Art degree.  BAA candidates are Andrew Thomas and Mariah Wilson. The exhibition fulfills part of the requirements for their degree and capstone class taught by Anne Gochenour, Director of the University Art Gallery.

30^th Anniversary Barstow Artist-in-Residence Exhibition

Event Dates: Dec. 1st-16th, 2023
Reception: Dec. 8th 4-6pm
Free and Open to the Public - Approved for ART 096
University Art Gallery

 The Barstow Artist-in-Residence Program is 30 years old! This program was made possible by the generous gift of the late Stephen Lawrence Barstow.  Barstow was a prominent architect and civic leader in Midland who believed in the value of art and art education.  His endowment allows the Department of Art and Design to bring in a visiting artist every year. The artists live in the beautiful Barstow designed house on the banks of the Chippewa River.  The gift also provides scholarships for students and funding for the Barstow Speakers Series. The Department of Art & Design has been bringing in Barstow Artists-in-Residence since 1992 and most of them gifted a piece of their art to the Central Michigan University Art Collection. These works will be featured in this exhibition.

Artist Talk: Elise Engler

Event Dates: Thursday, Nov. 2nd, Reception 4-6pm, Artist Talk @ 5pm
Free and Open to the Public - Approved for ART 096
University Art Gallery

NYC Artist and author of A Diary of the Plague Year, an Illustrated Chronicle of 2020. One of the featured artist in the current exhibition in the University Art Gallery entitled The Artist as Witness. This exhibition features work with a laser focus on conflict and suffering, injustice, and social change. This exhibition comprises works by skilled artists including those trained in the Community Partners in Action Prison Arts Program in Connecticut.

Exhibition: Artist as Witness

Event Dates: Oct. 13 - Nov. 11, 2023
Free and Open to the Public - Approved for ART 096
University Art Gallery

The Artist as Witness features work with a laser focus on conflict and suffering, injustice, and social change. This exhibition comprises works by skilled artists including those trained in the Community Partners in Action Prison Arts Program in Connecticut. Their witness is rendered in meticulous figuration, with raw emotions of empathy, compassion, and outrage. Included Artists: Elise Engler, Michael Caron, Ryan Carpenter, Nancy Chunn, Sue Coe, Lee Jupina Sr., Käthe Kollwitz, & Michael Reddick.

This exhibition was curated by Julia Wintner, Coordinator of Gallery and Museum Services at Eastern Connecticut State University.

BARSTOW LECTURE Jeffrey Greene - Artists in Prison 

Event Dates: Tuesday, Oct. 10 @ 5pm
Free and Open to the Public - Approved for ART 096
Wightman Hall 142

Jeffrey Greene is the Program Manager of the Community Partners in Action Prison Art Program in Connecticut. He has spent the past 32 years establishing and fostering art collectives in Connecticut's prisons, encouraging art-making as a way not only to change artist's lives but also to change the environment in which they live. He asks artists to undertake rigorous endeavors and create work "that only exists because they exist," that transcends typical "prison art," that is not "of the prison," and that helps the artists, themselves, transcend their incarceration.

Department of Art and Design: Faculty Exhibition 2023

Event Dates: Ends this week on Saturday, Sept. 30th
Opening Reception: Sept. 7th @ 4pm-6pm
University Art Gallery

The exhibition features sculpture by Jeremy Davis, prints by Johanna Paas, painting and ceramics by Hannah Duggan, an installation piece by Anne Gochenour, mixed media and glass by Lavanna Shurtliff and animation and Zoetrope by Steve Leeper.

PARDON THE INTERRUPTION: Spring 2023 Bachelor of Fine Arts & Bachelor of Applied Arts in Studio Arts Exhibition

Event Dates: April 21 - May 6, 2023
Opening Reception: April 22 from 2-4pm, BFA Artist's talks @ 1pm
University Art Gallery

BFA: Madeline Devantier, Maddie Graham, Chloeana Merchant, Dez Pruiett, & Lindsay Robertson
BAA: Sasha Clemons, Nico Lenz, Aniela Ormanian, Nicolas Weise

CMU ANIMATION: Spring 2023 Senior Gallery & Showcase

Senior Gallery Event Dates: April 24 - May 2, 2023
Gallery Location: 3rd Floor Gallery Space, Park Library

Spring Showcase Date: Tuesday, May 2nd @ 6pm-7:45pm, Reception following
Showcase Location: Opperman Auditorium, Park Library

2023 Annual Juried CMU Student Art Exhibition

Exhibition Dates: Feb. 24 - March 3 & March 14 - 25. (Closed for Spring Break)

OUT OF PLACE: 2023 Graphic Design BFA Exhibition

Exhibition Dates: April 1st - April 15th, University Art Gallery
Opening & Reception: April 1st, 2-4pm

Field Notes:  Works by Kenneth Buhler and Ellen Driscoll 

Jan. 13 – Feb. 11, 2023 at the University Art Gallery
Artist Talk begins at 4pm; Reception is on Thursday, Jan. 26th from 4-6pm

While both artists in Field Notes are deeply inspired and engaged with the botanical world in all its wonder and complexity, their work shows the range of how an artist might consider the plant kingdom - Driscoll with reductive, lush, and warm earth tones and Buhler with poetic, language-inspired color.

Danielle Eliska: Capitalize the B in Black

Feb. 9 - March 26, 2023 - Baber Room Gallery, Charles V. Park Library

This exhibition includes photography and collage works amplifying Black life and lineage.

Jessica Brandl: Visiting Artist

Artist Workshop & Demo 5:00pm-7:30pm, Wednesday, February 15th, North Art Studio, Ceramics

AWARDS FOR GRAPHIC DESIGN!!

Congratulations to our CMU graphic design graduating class of 2023!

Their capstone exhibit was honored with a Gold Addy AND Student Best of Show at the Lansing AAF club awards banquet a couple weeks ago.

Six of the alumni from the class attended the event, one driving 9 hours from the U.P. to attend. Their exhibit was the product of a lot of hard work and effort that began as freshmen, right in the middle of the pandemic. We all grew together through those four years – myself as well, teaching online or partially online with different modalities. Clark Most was the instructor for some of these students for as many as 5-6 classes during those four years, which made the event even more memorable.

Big shout-out to Gerald Westlund as well, another CMU graphic design grad who's creative direction efforts at Traction Partners in Lansing took Best of Show for the professional category!

Melissa Navarre, BFA Studio Art '24

Melissa has been awarded the 25th Annual Regina Brown Undergraduate Fellowship through the National Council on Education in the Ceramic Arts. A $2000 award given to 3 undergraduates per year to pursue research pertaining to their thesis work. This award comes on the heels of the current research pertaining to The Ancient Future workshops at CMU and Ox-Bow. This competitive award is highly regarded in the field.

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Madeline Devantier and Courtney Annuschat both have several works published in the February issue of Hand – a national magazine. Milkweed, Linocut 15"x12"

Lindsay Robertson, Animation BFA 2023,  had an animated film accepted into an international festival in Greece.

See her work HERE