Join AADL as we celebrate the works commissioned by local artists for the Lobby Gallery Screen. In 2021, the Ann Arbor District Library put out a call for new and existing work, still art and non-narrative video art, to be licensed for exhibit on the Lobby Gallery Screen. At this event we celebrate the works of the artists selected for the call ranging in themes related to Great Lakes, Heritage, Futures and more.

The Lobby Gallery Screen is a generous gift made possible by the Ladies Library Association.

This year, the Dance for Mother Earth Powwow in Ann Arbor celebrates its 50th anniversary. Its beginnings in 1972 as a small outdoor gathering stand in stark contrast to its current status as one the top student-organized powwows in the country. Dance, music, art, and community are central to the annual celebration. This exhibit features reprinted programs and posters, photographs, news articles, and artwork for a look back at the vibrant 50 year history of the Dance for Mother Earth Powwow.

Michelle Inez Hinojosa’s “Seeking Belonging in the Light Cast by Nine Birds” is a collection of transparent artworks which unfold memories about migration, indigenous / intergenerational knowledge, and love.

Kaleidoscope Artists Collective was established in 2017. It is an informal art organization composed of past and present students of Deb Guidot, MFA, an art instructor at Washtenaw Community College.

Their members, who are both amateur and professional artists, have a wide-range of talents and experience in various art mediums that include watercolor, acrylics, mixed media, laser cutting and printing, pen & ink, pastels, colored pencil and sculpture.

The Braille Enhanced Story Walk features Lori Degman's book Just Read! in both braille and in print for young readers and families to enjoy. This interactive exhibit is installed around the accessible trail at High Point School and associated events will be held during the month of April.

This exhibit features lithograph and relief prints from eight Taiwanese artists on the theme of "Soaring Like a Dragon as Good Fortune Beckons." For the past 39 years, the Taiwan Ministry of Culture has invited artists to create prints in celebration of the Lunar New Year season. This exhibit features two commissioned prints and six first-prize winners chosen by judges under the auspices of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts.

Nate Powell showcases different approaches to fiction and nonfiction in comics storytelling to tackle common themes of myth-making, memory, freedom, and the power of expression in the new graphic novels Fall Through and Lies My Teacher Told Me.  

Love Makes a Family is a museum-quality traveling exhibit which includes photographs and interviews with families that have lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer-identified (LGBTQ) members. Through first-person accounts and positive images, this exhibit seeks to challenge and change damaging myths and stereotypes about LGBTQ people and their families. There are two versions of the narratives, one designed especially for younger children.

This exhibit features the origin stories of four historic Black families from the area, the Jewett and Asher-Aray families from Ann Arbor and Pittsfield Township, and the Kersey and Bass families from Ypsilanti. Using photographs, records, and oral histories, the descendants retell the stories of how their families laid the foundation for generations of Black community building to come.

An opening reception will be held in the Downtown Library 3rd floor exhibit space on Sunday, June 9, from 3:00–5:00pm.