The Jim Crow Museum is the nation’s largest publicly accessible collection of racist artifacts. Located

on the campus of Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, the museum houses more than

12,000 objects—primarily but not exclusively, segregation era artifacts and everyday anti-black

caricatured objects. The museum’s innovative mission—which doubles as its tagline—is “using objects

of intolerance to teach tolerance.” As such, the Jim Crow Museum serves as a compelling model for

all museums to consider.
 
Join Dr. David Pilgrim, the founder and current director of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, for a discussion of the origins of this museum, its segregation era artifacts, and its mission to use these objects of intolerance to teach tolerance.
 

Please note that some members of the audience may be offended by the images in the presentation.

Are you passionate about important social issues like immigration, healthcare and more? Join the Ginsberg Center on the Diag to talk about the issues that matter most with your fellow students in a 1:1 setting.
Grab some swag and snap a photo with #VotingisSexy2018, make a pin with Pincause, and get a snack before you go!

In case of inclement weather, the event will be held in the UMMA Commons. 

"Where do you think your ancestors got these?" asks Eric Killmonger in the recent Black Panther film. Join us for a discussion facilitated by African Art Historian Ray Silverman with curators, activists and scholars Nii Quarcoopome (Detroit Institute of Arts), Sylvester Ogbechie (UC Santa Barbara), and Monica Udvardy (University of Kentucky) about what we can learn from the display of African art objects in Western art museums, diving deep into fraught questions of collecting, display, and repatriation.

Storytime at the Museum promotes art enjoyment for our youngest patrons. We read a story in the galleries and include a fun, age-appropriate, hands-on activity related to it. Children ages three to six are invited to join Storytime. Parents must accompany children. Siblings are welcome to join the group. Meet in front of the UMMA Store.

Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Jay Fry is a guitar-wielding songwriter and vocalist. Covering and writing songs in a wide variety of genres, there is something for everyone to like in his sound. Though he does a good deal of genre-hopping, his home base is a unique combination of progressive rock, funk, and fusion. Performing solo and with his band, Chirp, he has gigged all over the Midwest. He has released music as a solo artist and with Chirp and will continue to do so; stay tuned!

Find Jay on Facebook @jayfrymusic and Instagram @jayfrymusic.

Paul Rand was a giant of American design whose influential career spanned the second half of the twentieth century. His visionary and pithy conceptions of corporate and non-profit brand identities—though often graphically minimal—embody the artist’s complex philosophy, interest in modernist aesthetics, and singular wit. This exhibition features posters, book covers, and packaging designs from the entirety of Rand’s career. Visit Paul Rand: The Designer’s Task with an UMMA docent to explore the genre of graphic design within the context of the art museum and examine how Rand’s intellectual process and impact on visual culture developed over time.

What is the value of exploring connections between past and present cultures? What technologies and evidence do we use to construct these narratives? What role do institutions, such as museums, play in shaping these histories? We will explore these questions and more in a conversation co-hosted by Curator and U-M Professor of Classical Archaeology, Christopher Ratté, and UMMA Assistant Curator, Jennifer Friess. Join Christopher and Jennifer, for a conversation beginning in the exhibition Urban Biographies, Ancient and Modern at the Kelsey. Our tour will continue across the street in the UMMA exhibition Proof: The Ryoichi Excavations. Taken together, these two exhibitions uncover layers of fact and fiction that shape our understanding of history and our present.

Meet Me at UMMA invites people with mild memory loss to enjoy a guided gallery experience along with family members or care partners. This program is designed for people who live at home and their companions.

If you or someone you care about is experiencing mild memory loss, research has shown that the visual and expressive arts can be good for your mind. In addition, great enjoyment is to be found in seeking out the sights, sounds, textures, and good feelings that come with looking at, learning, and sharing feelings about paintings, music, and other creative arts.

UMMA's trained docents will accompany small groups for a guided tour and provide the opportunity for everyone to experience different kinds of art and share their responses.

We're All Victors! Join us to celebrate YOU—our community, members, and donors as we honor your support of UMMA and the University of Michigan. Enjoy live music, curator chats, and great food and drink! All are welcome—the Museum is always free.

RSVP and share on Facebook.
​
Tag photos, posts, and tweets with #UMMAVictors
 

18-year old tenor saxophonist from Metro Detroit, Michael Hu, has played with legendary musicians around the Detroit area including Marion Hayden, Ellen Rowe, and Sean Dobbins. He is a student in the University of Michigan's Jazz program where he studies with the infinitely talented and versatile Andrew Bishop, Associate Professor and Chair of Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation. Hu just recorded his debut album entitled "Loss For Words" and plans to release it soon. 

Find Michael on Facebook @michaelhuhu.

Abstraction, Color, and Politics in the Early 1970s explores large-scale works of art by Helen Frankenthaler, Louise Nevelson, Sam Gilliam, and Al Loving, within the context of highly-charged debates of the early 1970s about aesthetics, politics, race, and feminism. This exhibition explores the gendered and racialized terms upon which great art was defined and assessed, and the strategy of artists to question the identity and aesthetics of the artist making the art. UMMA docents will help visitors look through the lens of the four artists’ works to explore the aesthetic choices inherent in abstraction as well as the acts of staining, pouring, draping, —or even taking apart the wall itself—within this charged political context.

What is African art? What makes art 'African'? Peoples, cultures and nations have always exchanged goods, ideas and artworks: 15th century West African artworks clearly show motifs introduced by Portuguese explorers, while modern artists such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse found inspiration in African art. Especially now, in our current age of globalization, which has allowed the sharing of information to take place at an unprecedented speed and scale, cross-cultural exchange is the rule, rather than the exception. This raises the question: does it still make sense to classify works by geography? Did it ever?  Laura De Becker, UMMA's Helmut and Candis Stern Associate Curator of African art, will speak to these themes while focusing in detail on some of the works in Beyond Borders: Global Africa. 

Wondering what to wear to the polls on November 6? Come to the VOTE! 2018 Fashion Show featuring SHEI Magazine, Bronze Elegance Fashion Show, NOiR Runway Fashion, and enspiRED to get inspired to vote!

Music! 
Food!
Button-making with Pincause!
Grab some swag from #VotingisSexy2018, and learn about whats on this year's ballot from the Ginsberg Center.

Martin J. Powers, Sally Michelson Davidson Professor of Chinese Arts and Cultures at the University of Michigan has been a towering beacon in the field, trailblazing fresh methodologies and breaking down academic stereotypes on Chinese culture. This scholarly gathering will reflect upon ways the field of sinology has changed over the course of Professor Powers' long academic career, and the new directions it is developing, or should develop, in the years ahead. 

Panel themes include Art, Trade, and Early Modern Cultural Contact; Fakery, Fiction, and History; Of and By Women; Painting as Political Maneuvering; China Studies Beyond Borders; Connective and Comparative Histories

Martin J. Powers, Sally Michelson Davidson Professor of Chinese Arts and Cultures at the University of Michigan has been a towering beacon in the field, trailblazing fresh methodologies and breaking down academic stereotypes on Chinese culture. This scholarly gathering will reflect upon ways the field of sinology has changed over the course of Professor Powers' long academic career, and the new directions it is developing, or should develop, in the years ahead. 

Panel themes include Art, Trade, and Early Modern Cultural Contact; Fakery, Fiction, and History; Of and By Women; Painting as Political Maneuvering; China Studies Beyond Borders; Connective and Comparative Histories

Families with children ages six and up are invited to create a project inspired by the exhibition Beyond Borders: Global Africa. Enjoy a tour with UMMA docents followed by a hands-on workshop with Zimbabwean artist Masimba Hwati. Parents must accompany children.

Emma Lee Aboukasm is an award-winning, Detroit-based recording artist, vocalist, pianist, and composer. Educated in classical and jazz music at the University of Michigan, she is now performing in a variety of venues, ranging from intimate venues like the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe to the Detroit Jazz Festival. Emma Lee is on the vanguard of contemporary music in the heart of metro-Detroit. 

Aboukasm won the Youth Vocal Jazz Competition in Detroit in 2014. In 2015, she made the top five finalists out of 2,000 applications worldwide in the International Sarah Vaughan Vocal Jazz Competition. There, she performed for a panel of judges including Christian McBride and Cyrille Aimée and played tracks from her CD on WBGO radio in Newark, NJ. 

Currently, Emma Lee Aboukasm resides in Southeast Michigan as she completes her bachelor degrees in Jazz Studies and Science in Information Analysis at the University of Michigan. She continues to write and arrange music for a new project to be announced soon. 

Alex Anest has been teaching, performing, and recording music professionally in the Southeast Michigan area since 1996. He founded and leads the Ann Arbor Guitar Trio and is also currently playing with the Alex Anest Trio, the Bluewater Kings, Kat Steih, and Klezmephonic. Alex studied guitar with Miles Okazaki and Chris Buzzelli. He holds a Masters of Music in Improvisation from University of Michigan, where he studied with Benny Green, Mark Kirschenmann, and Ellen Rowe. Alex was a founding member of the electric jazz group Giraffe, the Jericho Guitar Trio, Never Nebula, Secret 7, and Delta 88. He has toured Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy with songwriter Kevin Meisel and has played on stages throughout the Midwest and New England. Alex has also appeared on over 30 albums, mostly recorded in Michigan.

The story of Japanese archaeologist Ryoichi and evidence of his worldwide excavations are
explored by Patrick Nagatani in this series of photographs. Nagatani presents a narrative of
Ryoichi’s archeological work, supported by images of excavation sites, unearthed artifacts, and
Ryoichi’s own journal pages. According to the photographs, Ryoichi discovered evidence of an
automobile culture buried at sites across several continents: Stonehenge, the Grand Canyon,
and a necropolis in China. Docents will introduce this provocative and playful series that compels viewers to reflect on how photographs and institutions, such as museums, shape our
knowledge of the past and present.

Paul Rand, twentieth-century pioneer in the field of design, was best-known for crafting corporate designs for media and technology powerhouses such as IBM, Westinghouse, NeXT Computer, and Cummins. Through his now-iconic designs and writings, Rand articulated a philosophy for a new generation of designers: all forms of visual communication should seek to meld the utilitarian and the beautiful. Join Jennifer Friess, UMMA Assistant Curator, and Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo, U-M Professor of Art & Design and designer, in the gallery as they explore Rand’s prolific career through posters, book covers, packaging designs, and other ephemera recently donated to UMMA.

Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of educational entertainment known to mankind. From the West African tradition of the Griot to modern day Moth events, storytelling environments have served as a means to pass along history, shape culture, share helpful lessons, and establish a sense of belonging and community.

The U-M Comprehensive Studies Program and Department of Afroamerican and African Studies invite you to explore themes related to campus life, coming of age, and learning and growing, at this series of Moth-Style Storyteller Lounge events.  The theme for the November event will take its inspiration from UMMA's exhibition Beyond Borders: Global Africa and include notions of border and boundary crossing as the jumping off point to share personal experiences. Storytellers include students, faculty and staff, and Voices of Wisdom (alums or community members).

Light food and refreshments will be served in the Commons at 6:30 prior to the start of the program.

Value the Voice will take place on Tuesdays, September 18, November 13, January 22, and March 19 at 7 p.m. in the UMMA Auditorium.

For more information, please contact Keith Jason at mrjason@umich.edu or 734-764-9128

Philip Metres’s writing has appeared widely, including in Best American Poetry, and has garnered two NEA fellowships, two Arab American Book Awards, and the Lannon Literary Fellowship, among others. His work has been called “beautiful, powerful, magnetically original” (Cleveland Arts Prize citation). Lawrence Joseph has written that “Philip Metres’s poetry speaks to us all, in ways critical, vital, profound, and brilliant.” His poems have been translated into Arabic, Polish, Russian, and Tamil. He is a professor of English at John Carroll University in Cleveland, where he teaches literature and creative writing, and lives with his wife Amy and their two daughters. Were it not for the Ellis Island effect, his last name would be Abourjaili.

Aimee Bender is the author of five books: The Girl in the Flammable Skirt (1998) which was a NY Times Notable Book, An Invisible Sign of My Own (2000) which was an L.A. Times pick of the year, Willful Creatures (2005) which was nominated by The Believer as one of the best books of the year, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (2010) which won the SCIBA award for best fiction and an Alex Award, and The Color Master, a NY Times Notable Book for 2013. Her books have been translated into sixteen languages. Her short fiction has been published in Granta, GQ, Harper’s, Tin House, McSweeney’s, The Paris Review, and more, as well as heard on PRI’s “This American Life” and “Selected Shorts." She lives in Los Angeles with her family, and teaches creative writing at USC.

Join African Students Association, Caribbean Students Association, Creatives of Color, and Black Student Union at the University of Michigan Museum of Art for an exciting evening of food and performance in conjunction with the UMMA exhibition Beyond Borders: Global Africa. Performances include spoken word, Amala Dancers, Ambiance, and more! The event is semi-formal with a gallery viewing included. We look forward to sharing our perspective on how African culture, artistic expressions, and traditions are beyond borders, in an event you do not want to miss!

Paul Rand was a giant of American design whose influential career spanned the second half of the twentieth century. His visionary and pithy conceptions of corporate and non-profit brand identities—though often graphically minimal—embody the artist’s complex philosophy, interest in modernist aesthetics, and singular wit. This exhibition features posters, book covers, and packaging designs from the entirety of Rand’s career. Visit Paul Rand: The Designer’s Task with an UMMA docent to explore the genre of graphic design within the context of the art museum and examine how Rand’s intellectual process and impact on visual culture developed over time.

The exhibition Abstraction, Color, and Politics in the Early 1970s presents large-scale works by four leading American artists—Helen Frankenthaler, Sam Gilliam, Al Loving, and Louise Nevelson—who chose abstraction as a means of expression within the intense political climate of the early 1970s. To many at the time, the decision by women artists and artists of color to make abstract art represented a retreat from politics and protest: an abnegation of a commitment to civil rights and feminism. Join UMMA Director and exhibition curator, Christina Olsen, in the gallery to explore these works of art and the questions they pose.

U-M students Lenae Jefferson and Qwantayvious Stiggers will engage visitors in a conversation about art, identity, borders, and other matters on the closing day of the exhibition Beyond Borders: Global Africa. Ms. Jefferson was the 2018 UMMA Bennett Summer Intern as well as a Program Intern at the Motown Museum. She has been involved in the Vice President for Student Life’s Student Advisory Board and the Prison Creative Arts Project. Mr. Stiggers has served on the executive board of Habitat for Humanity, as a member of the Black Student Union, and as a leader in Bridge Scholars PLUS. Join these accomplished and dedicated students in a meaningful discussion in this exciting exhibition before it closes.

More than ever in the era of globalization, ideas traverse geographic, generational, and cultural boundaries, even as national borders seem to be closing. Beyond Borders: Global Africa reflects on this moment by considering how Africa and its artists have been at the center of complex histories of encounter and exchange for centuries. Bringing together a dazzling array of works made in Africa, Europe and the United States from the nineteenth to twenty-first century, the exhibition demonstrates the international scope and reach of art from Africa and the African diaspora. Join UMMA docents as they explore the significant themes of our times including slavery, colonization, migration, racism and identity.

Jen Sygit and Sam Corbin have been performing regionally as a songwriting team for the better part of a decade. Together, they have six albums and are both members of the Americana outfit "Lincoln County Process."  Soulful vocals laden with rich harmonies, a variety of instrumentation including banjo, acoustic guitar, telecaster, and harmonica round out the duo's eclectic, roots-y sound.

Find Jen and Sam on Twitter @sygvicious and @SamCorbinMusic.

Lina Iris Viktor is a British-Liberian conceptual artist whose work centers around the age-old practice of gilding with 24-karat gold to call into question the nature of time and being. Utilizing a multidisciplinary approach, Viktor weaves together many disparate materials, uniting contemporary and ancient modes of making including photography, performance, installation, and abstract painting. In recent years she has focused on creating increasingly dark canvases embedded with “layers of light” in the form of symbols and intricate patterns that Viktor calls “light-works.” According to the artist: "My personal mandate has always been to reveal that which is hidden. To reflect upon diverse histories — many of which have been grossly misrepresented or erased — and bring them to light. I want to offer a hopeful projection of a future I would like to see." Viktor has exhibited extensively in the United States and internationally, including at the Harvard Art Museums, the Cooper Gallery at Harvard University, the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta, and has a solo exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art (opening in October 2018). Additionally, Viktor has engaged in critical talks and panels at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., New York University, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and King’s College in London.

One MFA student of fiction and one of poetry, each introduced by a peer, will read their work. The Mark Webster Reading Series presents emerging writers in a warm and relaxed setting. We encourage you to bring your friends—a Webster reading makes for an enjoyable and enlightening Friday evening.

This week's reading features Will Brewbaker, David Wade, and Talin Tahajian.

Will Brewbaker was born and raised in Alabama, which is a small state in the southeastern corner of the USA. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia, where he encountered his very first iambic foot. 

David Wade is a fiction writer from Washington, PA interested in rustbelt literature, hip hop, and speculative fiction. He is an MFA candidate at the University of Michigan and can (sometimes) be found online @davidwadetv.

Talin Tahajian grew up near Boston. She did her undergraduate degree at the University of Cambridge (UK), where she studied English literature. She edits poetry for Big Lucks and the Adroit Journal. 

Storytime at the Museum promotes art enjoyment for our youngest patrons. We read a story in the galleries and include a fun, age-appropriate, hands-on activity related to it. Children ages three to six are invited to join Storytime. Parents must accompany children. Siblings are welcome to join the group. Meet in front of the UMMA Store.

As the holidays ramp up and expectations go into high gear, slow down and enjoy a leisurely experience with magnificent art by Helen Frankenthaler,  Sam Gilliam, Al Loving, and Louise Nevelson in the exhibition Abstraction, Color, and Politics in the Early 1970s. Give yourself the gift of time for quiet, immersive attention to beautiful and intriguing paintings using strategies found in “Slow Looking” by Sheri Tishman, Senior Research Associate at Project Zero, a research and development center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. UMMA’s Curator for Teaching and Learning, Pam Reister, will introduce visitors to Tishman's strategies of thoughtful attention to the things around us. Observe carefully, reflect thoughtfully, think cooperatively with other visitors, and enjoy the break.

Abstraction, Color, and Politics in the Early 1970s explores large-scale works of art by Helen Frankenthaler, Louise Nevelson, Sam Gilliam, and Al Loving, within the context of highly-charged debates of the early 1970s about aesthetics, politics, race, and feminism. This exhibition explores the gendered and racialized terms upon which great art was defined and assessed, and the strategy of artists to question the identity and aesthetics of the artist making the art. UMMA docents will help visitors look through the lens of the four artists’ works to explore the aesthetic choices inherent in abstraction as well as the acts of staining, pouring, draping, —or even taking apart the wall itself—within this charged political context.

Elizabeth Alexander—poet, essayist, memoirist, scholar, and arts activist—is president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the nation’s largest funder in arts and culture, and humanities in higher education. Dr. Alexander has held distinguished professorships at Smith College, Columbia University, and Yale University, where she taught for 15 years and chaired the African American Studies Department. She is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, serves on the Pulitzer Prize Board, and co-designed the Art for Justice Fund. Notably, Alexander composed and delivered “Praise Song for the Day” for the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009 and is author or co-author of fourteen books, most recently a memoir, The Light of the World, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2015.

Elizabeth Alexander—poet, essayist, memoirist, scholar, and arts activist—is president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the nation’s largest funder in arts and culture, and humanities in higher education. Dr. Alexander has held distinguished professorships at Smith College, Columbia University, and Yale University, where she taught for 15 years and chaired the African American Studies Department. She is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, serves on the Pulitzer Prize Board, and co-designed the Art for Justice Fund. Notably, Alexander composed and delivered “Praise Song for the Day” for the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009 and is author or co-author of fourteen books, most recently a memoir, The Light of the World, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2015.

University and community poets will meet in the serene and surreal constellation that is Tristin Lowe: Under the Influence and read a selection of poems. The installation, which includes a twelve-and-half-foot-diameter felt facsimile of the moon, creates a feeling of time having stopped, a sensation that is both captivating and strange. Poets will read work that address that feeling and other themes in their work. Talin Tahajian, U-M MFA student and Hopwood Graduate Poetry winner, will curate this event, inviting fellow students and local poets to share their work. Join us for this encounter with unexpected visual and literary art.

The story of Japanese archaeologist Ryoichi and evidence of his worldwide excavations are
explored by Patrick Nagatani in this series of photographs. Nagatani presents a narrative of
Ryoichi’s archeological work, supported by images of excavation sites, unearthed artifacts, and
Ryoichi’s own journal pages. According to the photographs, Ryoichi discovered evidence of an
automobile culture buried at sites across several continents: Stonehenge, the Grand Canyon,
and a necropolis in China. Docents will introduce this provocative and playful series that compels viewers to reflect on how photographs and institutions, such as museums, shape our
knowledge of the past and present.

Electronic Chamber Music students, led by SMTD professor Michael Gurevich, respond to the speculative truth of the exhibition Proof: The Ryoichi Excavations by creating and performing works which use technology to subvert or transform reality.

Paul Rand was a giant of American design whose influential career spanned the second half of the twentieth century. His visionary and pithy conceptions of corporate and non-profit brand identities—though often graphically minimal—embody the artist’s complex philosophy, interest in modernist aesthetics, and singular wit. This exhibition features posters, book covers, and packaging designs from the entirety of Rand’s career. Visit Paul Rand: The Designer’s Task with an UMMA docent to explore the genre of graphic design within the context of the art museum and examine how Rand’s intellectual process and impact on visual culture developed over time.

Paul Rand was a giant of American design whose influential career spanned the second half of the twentieth century. His visionary and pithy conceptions of corporate and non-profit brand identities—though often graphically minimal—embody the artist’s complex philosophy, interest in modernist aesthetics, and singular wit. This exhibition features posters, book covers, and packaging designs from the entirety of Rand’s career. Visit Paul Rand: The Designer’s Task with an UMMA docent to explore the genre of graphic design within the context of the art museum and examine how Rand’s intellectual process and impact on visual culture developed over time.

The story of Japanese archaeologist Ryoichi and evidence of his worldwide excavations are
explored by Patrick Nagatani in this series of photographs. Nagatani presents a narrative of
Ryoichi’s archeological work, supported by images of excavation sites, unearthed artifacts, and
Ryoichi’s own journal pages. According to the photographs, Ryoichi discovered evidence of an
automobile culture buried at sites across several continents: Stonehenge, the Grand Canyon,
and a necropolis in China. Docents will introduce this provocative and playful series that compels viewers to reflect on how photographs and institutions, such as museums, shape our
knowledge of the past and present.

Abstraction, Color, and Politics in the Early 1970s explores large-scale works of art by Helen Frankenthaler, Louise Nevelson, Sam Gilliam, and Al Loving, within the context of highly-charged debates of the early 1970s about aesthetics, politics, race, and feminism. This exhibition explores the gendered and racialized terms upon which great art was defined and assessed, and the strategy of artists to question the identity and aesthetics of the artist making the art. UMMA docents will help visitors look through the lens of the four artists’ works to explore the aesthetic choices inherent in abstraction as well as the acts of staining, pouring, draping, —or even taking apart the wall itself—within this charged political context.

The internet has changed every aspect of contemporary life—from how we interact with each other to how we work and play. Art in the Age of the Internet, 1989 to Today, examines the radical impact of internet culture on visual art since the invention of the web in 1989. Join UMMA docents as they explore the more than forty works across a variety of media—painting, performance, photography, sculpture, video, and web-based projects—in this exciting exhibition.

The story of Japanese archaeologist Ryoichi and evidence of his worldwide excavations are
explored by Patrick Nagatani in this series of photographs. Nagatani presents a narrative of
Ryoichi’s archeological work, supported by images of excavation sites, unearthed artifacts, and
Ryoichi’s own journal pages. According to the photographs, Ryoichi discovered evidence of an
automobile culture buried at sites across several continents: Stonehenge, the Grand Canyon,
and a necropolis in China. Docents will introduce this provocative and playful series that compels viewers to reflect on how photographs and institutions, such as museums, shape our
knowledge of the past and present.

Paul Rand was a giant of American design whose influential career spanned the second half of the twentieth century. His visionary and pithy conceptions of corporate and non-profit brand identities—though often graphically minimal—embody the artist’s complex philosophy, interest in modernist aesthetics, and singular wit. This exhibition features posters, book covers, and packaging designs from the entirety of Rand’s career. Visit Paul Rand: The Designer’s Task with an UMMA docent to explore the genre of graphic design within the context of the art museum and examine how Rand’s intellectual process and impact on visual culture developed over time.

Abstraction, Color, and Politics in the Early 1970s explores large-scale works of art by Helen Frankenthaler, Louise Nevelson, Sam Gilliam, and Al Loving, within the context of highly-charged debates of the early 1970s about aesthetics, politics, race, and feminism. This exhibition explores the gendered and racialized terms upon which great art was defined and assessed, and the strategy of artists to question the identity and aesthetics of the artist making the art. UMMA docents will help visitors look through the lens of the four artists’ works to explore the aesthetic choices inherent in abstraction as well as the acts of staining, pouring, draping, —or even taking apart the wall itself—within this charged political context.

The internet has changed every aspect of contemporary life—from how we interact with each other to how we work and play. Art in the Age of the Internet, 1989 to Today, examines the radical impact of internet culture on visual art since the invention of the web in 1989. Join UMMA docents as they explore the more than forty works across a variety of media—painting, performance, photography, sculpture, video, and web-based projects—in this exciting exhibition.