With fall not too far away, we’re anticipating another season full of vibrant colors and landscapes. However, a lot of that color vibrancy can also be found indoors at several art exhibits this month in Washtenaw County. Check out this list of exhibits featured at local galleries in September. 

1968: A Folsom Redemption
September 1-October 20
Chelsea District Library, Chelsea

1968: A Folsom Redemption is a collection of photographs and memories of two journalists—photographer Dan Pousch and writer Gene Beley—lucky enough to be among a handful of eyewitnesses to the historic Johnny Cash concerts at Folsom Prison. The exhibit is available to view in the library's McKune Room.

A Colorful Dream
September 1-October 20
Ypsilanti District Library, Ypsilanti

A Colorful Dream is a family-friendly exhibition by fine art photographer Adrien Broom. Designed to evoke and capture a sense of childhood fantasy, Broom’s work is deeply rooted in fairy tales and mythology, taking the viewer on a journey through the entire spectrum of the rainbow. The exhibit is available to view at the Whittaker branch during library hours.

Talismanic: The Collected Collages of Amy Sacksteder
September 5-October 7
Ann Arbor Art Center, Ann Arbor

Talismanic: The Collected Collages of Amy Sacksteder presents four collage series shared by the artist over eight years. These collages mark time in Sacksteder’s personal life: her children’s early years, the COVID-19 pandemic, and other significant narratives.

The Ann Arbor Art Center is hosting an opening reception September 8 from 6-8 pm. It will coincide with the opening of We are here because you were there.

We are here because you were there
September 8-October 22
Ann Arbor Art Center, Ann Arbor

The exhibit explores the socio-political and cultural impact of post-colonial migration on the Asian-American diaspora. Curated by Chien-An Yuan, We are here because you were there borrows its title from noted Sri Lankan Tamil activist A. Sivanandan’s (aka “Siva”) famous aphorism. Six Asian-American artists—Kim Jackson Debord, Laura Kina, Larry Lee, Cori Nakamura Lin, Okyoung Noh, and Sherina Rodriguez Sharpe—narrate a process of understanding how they reclaim or interpret their lived histories within this post-colonial framework. 

The Ann Arbor Art Center is hosting an opening reception September 8 from 6-8 pm. It will coincide with the spotlight gallery exhibition, Talismanic: The Collected Collages of Amy Sacksteder.

Emerge
Through September 16
Gutman Gallery, Ann Arbor

The Guild of Artists & Artisans presents Emerge, an all-media exhibition featuring young, novice, or emerging artists. All 24 artists featured are current participants in the guild's Emerging Artist Program. 

Dreamland
Accepting submissions September 9 & September 16
Gutman Gallery, Ann Arbor

The Guild of Artists & Artisans is taking submissions for Dreamland, a children’s all-media art exhibit for K-12 students to showcase their creativity about dreams. Artists can bring their artwork—two-dimensional or three-dimensional and up to five pieces—to Gutman Gallery on September 9 from 1-4 pm and September 16 from 1-4 pm. Each child will have one art piece juried into the exhibit. 

The exhibit will run October 6-28. For details, contact irene@theguild.org or elizabeth@theguild.org.

The FET!SH Project
Through September 20
22 North, Ypsilanti 

The FET!SH Project is an artistic intervention that gives voice to women’s concerns and perspectives about the media’s role in how womanhood is defined. It features 18 art-to-wear pieces from curator Laura Earle and other artists.

The Die is Cast
Accepting submissions through September 28
CultureVerse, Ann Arbor

CultureVerse is accepting submissions for The Die is Cast, a virtual multi-media exhibit for high school and college creatives. Applicants can submit works that represent pivotal moments in their lives or in society as a whole. They can explore the concept of The Die is Cast through a personal transformation or a social movement. CultureVerse wants to see how these turning points have shaped student creatives and the world around them. 

Applicants will be notified of their acceptance by October 1, and the exhibit will feature an opening reception on October 12. For details, contact zoya@cultureverse.org.

Terrain
Through October 7
WSG Gallery, Ann Arbor

Nora Venturelli’s Terrain drawings and paintings take inspiration from Michigan landscapes, including long vistas and wide-open spaces. WSG Gallery is hosting an opening reception for Venturelli on September 8 from 5-7 pm.

Black Grass Chernobyl Exhibition
Through November 19
Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor

Black Grass, a multi-content exhibit, features Rachel Yurkovich’s botanical illustrations from the Chernobyl exclusive zone of native plants, excerpts from the Voices of Chernobyl book, and a video presentation.

!!! techno010ffspring !!!
Through December 15
Lane Hall Exhibit Space, the University of Michigan’s Institute on Research for Women and Gender, Ann Arbor

Sarah Buckius’ !!! techno010ffspring !!! critiques the patriarchal paradigms of the STEM field by highlighting the history of women inventors. This exhibit brings conceptual invention in fine art and performance to the disciplines of information technology, robotics, and engineering.

Buckius creates “technoffsprings”: Complex machines that weave together the history of inventions related to the gendered labor of women, especially regarding women’s social roles as caregivers and subjects of care themselves.

An artist talk and opening reception will take place October 4 from 4-6 pm at Lane Hall.

Curriculum / Collection: Arts & Resistance
Through December 17
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor

Curated by David Choberka, Mellon Foundation curator for university learning and programs, and University of Michigan faculty, the exhibit spotlights a university-wide theme that uses art to challenge dominant regimes and ideologies, resist oppression, and envision pathways of change.

Over 100 classes are being taught this semester that engage with the theme, “Arts & Resistance,” which ranges from a political history of hula dance in American culture to a class about carbon-climate interactions in the U-M College of Engineering. Fifteen faculty members are selecting student artwork to include as part of the exhibit.

Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina
Through January 7
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor

Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina features over 60 objects representing the work of African-American potters in the decades surrounding the Civil War. 

Many of these objects have rarely been seen outside of the South, bringing together monumental storage jars by the enslaved poet Dave—later recorded as David Drake (about 1800-about 1870)—along with rare examples of the region’s utilitarian wares and powerful face vessels by potters once known but unrecorded.

The exhibit is curated by Jason Young, University of Michigan professor of history; Adrienne Spinozzi, associate curator for American Wing, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Ethan Lasser, John Moors Cabot Chair, Art of the Americas, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. An exhibition tour will take place October 8 from 2-3 pm at UMMA. 

Lori Stratton is a library technician, writer for Pulp, and writer and editor of strattonsetlist.com.