From UMMA’s Walls to Students’ Homes: Art That Lives with You

On January 13, a group of U-M students gathered at UMMA to find out something unexpected: which work of art would they be taking off the walls and living with for the semester.

It was Match Day for Art at Home, U-M’s Art Lending Collection program that is rethinking how U-M students experience art — it doesn’t only live on museum walls. It can live with you, hang above your desk, beside your bed, and shape your everyday routine.

Developed by UMMA’s Art in Public Spaces team, Art at Home makes museum-quality art part of students’ daily lives—removing barriers to access and inviting closer, more personal relationships with art. This year, five student curators researched artists, discussed selections, and ultimately purchased 75 works curated to resonate emotionally with student audiences, inspire reflection, or offer a moment of calm.

For student curator Freddy Lazaro (BBA ‘28), the experience of selecting the works from which his peers would choose was more meaningful than he initially anticipated. Working closely with the UMMA team, Lazaro learned to evaluate works not only for their visual impact, but for how they might resonate in a student’s personal space. One especially meaningful moment came when the group selected a work by Virgil Abloh for the collection. “I grew up in Chicago and was heavily influenced by Virgil Abloh,” Lazaro said. “Being able to bring a piece of his on campus was truly special.”

Another student curator, Raven Miles, said she wanted to approach the collection with questions of inclusion, identity, and belonging. “In a time where politics often divides us, we wanted to give students something hopeful,” she said. “This collection is for everyone.” For Miles, the curatorial process also intersected with her own mental health journey. “This project truly felt like art therapy, just without the brush in my hand,” she said. “It reminded me that art is powerful, healing, and has real impact.”

That sense of closeness matters deeply to the artists as well. The student curators selected a work by Ypsilanti-based artist Avery Williamson for the collection. Williamson’s collage work, on the floor, centers rest, imagination, and moments of joy within domestic spaces, making it especially fitting for Art at Home.

“My hope is that the artwork helps students feel more at home in their own heart,” Williamson said, sharing that she wants students to feel supported as they navigate growth and change. Williamson believes art takes on a different energy when it’s lived with rather than visited occasionally. “Art in a home witnesses you in your delight, rumination, despair, elation, agitation, and messiness,” she said. “I hope this piece brings softness to your day and a place to rest your eyes and heart. I’m rooting for you.”

According to Alessandra Ferrara, Director of Design and Digital Strategies at the Library Street Collective gallery, which represents several of the artists selected by the student curators, Art at Home will make art more accessible for all at U-M. “This program allows students to engage directly with contemporary art and contribute their own perspectives to an ongoing dialogue,” she said. “For many students, this may be their first time living with contemporary art, so opening up that dialogue early-on could inspire a lot of the students to pursue careers in the arts.”

Thank you to the galleries and artists who generously contributed to the Art at Home lending program: Library Street Collective, Detroit, Louis Buhl & Co., Detroit, Tandem Press, Madison, WI, Goldfinch Gallery, Chicago, Dieu Donné, New York, Paulson Fontaine, Berkeley, CA, What Pipeline, Detroit, High Point Printmaking, Minneapolis, MN, Situations, New York, ZieherSmith, Nashville, TN, Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, CA,, Tappan Collective, Los Angeles, CA, 1XRUN, Detroit, Process Process, Chicago, ArtClvb, Detroit, and artists Arsenal Handicraft, Rachelle Baker, Avery Williamson, Olivia Arau McSweeney, and Mia Risberg.

Art at Home will return with an expanded collection for all dorm-living undergraduate students to select from in Fall 2026.