The Ann Arbor area is flush with great jazz concerts right now. High-profile artists hosted by UMS and Blue LLama; excellent shows at intimate venues such as Kerrytown Concert House and Ziggy's; third-space concert venues across Washtenaw County, such as Mothfire Brewing, the Elks Lodge, and Rancho Tranquilico, hosting gigs and jam sessions; plus the excellent student bands at U-M and EMU—plus whatever famous guest musicians sometimes join them—performing regularly, as well as annual events such as Edgefest and A2 Jazz Fest.

All this jazz wasn't the case 50 years ago, according to Michael Grofsorean in the September 10, 1976, issue of the Ann Arbor Sun:

Across from Pierce Lake in Chelsea, tucked down a short road off Old U.S. Highway 12, is an art gallery that's known primarily to the people who live right next to it.

But the high-quality exhibitions it stages six times a year deserve the same sort of audiences that attend more forward-facing public galleries and museums in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.

Gallery 100, located inside the Silver Maples of Chelsea retirement community, just opened its final exhibition of the year: Colorful Explorations, which runs from November 5 to January 5, and "invites visitors to experience the power of color, form, and imagination, offering a chance to engage with art that inspires reflection, emotion, and connection." It features works by artists Gwyn McKay, Chris Huang, Susan Clinthorne, Ashley Menth, Bill Knudstrup, Keto Green, and Lulu Fall.

Led by Silver Maples resident Lois DeLeon and Winn Nichols, the retirement community's director of life enrichment, Gallery 100 highlights Michigan artists. It started as a simple idea in 2009 by Glen Paulsen, former president of the Cranbrook Academy of Art, who lived at Silver Maples until his passing in 2012. DeLeon took the idea and ran with it, bringing on Nichols in 2021.

Since then, the dynamic duo has built up Gallery 100's social media presence and marketing, acquired small grants to improve the unassuming space—a long hallway—and continued to book forward-looking exhibits, including hosting the Prison Creative Arts Project twice.

With Colorful Explorations now open, we caught up with Nichols to discuss Gallery 100, one of the more uniquely located third-space galleries in Washtenaw County.

This story originally ran on December 5, 2024. "The Coolidge-Wagner Anthology of Recorded Poetry" continues documenting Michigan poets, and on Monday, September 22, there's a live poetry reading at the Downtown branch of the Ann Arbor District Library showcasing four poets from the project: Owólabi Aboyade, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, Bryan Thao Worra, and Rebecca Biber.

Chien-an Yuan is an evangelist.

Not the type who's selling you hope in exchange for a monthly tithe but the kind who just wants you to believe—in art and its healing powers; in music and its succor; in poetry and life-giving energy.

The Ann Arbor musician-photographer-curator works not just in words but in deeds—and sometimes, the deeds are words, carefully arranged and expertly recited as is the case with The Coolidge-Wagner Anthology of Recorded Poetry.

The project is a collaboration between Yuan's 1473 record label, Michigan poets, and Fifth Avenue Studios, the recordings division of the Ann Arbor District Library (AADL). 

Named after two high school teachers who inspired Yuan, The Coolidge-Wagner Anthology of Recorded Poetry is a collection of recited poems, documented at Fifth Avenue Studios, with covers created by local artists for each chapter in the series. (Shannon Rae Daniels' watercolors will adorn the first 10 sessions.) All the recordings can be listened to and downloaded free of charge whether or not you have a library card.

The anthology's construction is ongoing—you can listen to Ann Arbor poets Kyunghee Kim and Zilka Joseph so far—but there's an official launch for the project on Monday, December 9, at 6 pm at AADL's Downtown location. Kim will be joined by upcoming Coolidge-Wagner writers Sherina Rodriguez Sharpe, Chace Morris, and Emily Nick Howard, along with Yuan introducing the poets and talking about the project. (Joseph will be at a future Coolidge-Wagner event.)

I sent Yuan some queries about The Coolidge-Wagner Anthology of Recorded Poetry, and his answers were so passionate, revealing, and thorough that they stand alone without my framing questions.

Below is Yuan's testament to the power of art and a brief history of The Coolidge-Wagner Anthology of Recorded Poetry:

Friday Five was a column that highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

"Coda" is the Italian word for "tail," as in the end of something: a comet, a dog, a piece of music.

This is the coda for Friday Five, a column started on September 11, 2020, when the world was shut down. It was a way to keep content flowing on Pulp, a website that focuses on local events and creators, at a time when most of those things were shut down or kept behind doors.

Not music, though.

The first Remnants exhibit was staged on October 17, 2023, at Marjorie Mae Del-Radio's Ypsilanti house. The woman affectionately known as "Big Marjorie" was not physically present in her longtime home at 824 Jefferson Street, but her spirit filled the abode—once covered in family photographs, now mostly empty.

Del-Radio died April 12, 2023, at age 90, and her house was cleared out for its sale.

Takeisha Jefferson and Tywree Bailey, both Ypsi-born artists, wanted to honor their grandma and the house that was a family hub, so they did the one-day Remnants exhibit as a creative memorial for friends and family.

"So many family members spoke of how grandma’s house looked like a gallery because of all the photographs she displayed of family members," Jefferson wrote in a Facebook message. "Well, tomorrow it will be a gallery."

Jefferson and Bailey decorated the home with their own photographs and paintings, and also filled a room with Grandma Del-Radio's colorful muumuus, which floated in the space like joyful ghosts.

Even though Remnants was an impromptu event, first cousins Jefferson and Bailey knew they wanted to have a second edition of the exhibit in a traditional gallery.

Remnants II, which runs through September 26 at Ypsilanti's 22 North, doesn't feature any muumuus. But it is brimming with love and pride for their family's history, which stretches deep into Ypsilanti's past. There are photos of and correspondence from Del-Radio's grandfather, William Campbell, who worked as a janitor and porter for Ypsi's Freighthouse, from 1927 to 1936, as well as other images of other family members.

The core of the show belongs to Jefferson and Bailey's artwork, sometimes with assistance from other family members, such as Takeisha's daughter, Tylear Jefferson, also a visual artist.

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This edition features minimalist techno by price, pop tunes by Larkn, hip-hop grunge by Prospecter, electronica by JDSY, and folk-pop by Brad Phillips.

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This edition features hip-hop by 3Steez and 14KT, grimy rap-tronica by Gvmmy, art pop by My Salamander, experimental percussion and spoken word by Jake A. Ellzey and VIRID, and speedy punk by Reckless Manner.

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This edition features guitar jazz by Randy Napoleon, concept-based ambient by Othercast, trip-hop by VaporDaze, alt-indie rock by ckdndcrckd, and drum 'n' bass by NT1AE.

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This edition features orchestral indie by Racing Mount Pleasant, soulful indie by TV Blackout, EDM-influenced drum 'n' bass by Fading Sun, improv noise by Horse Bomb, and lo-fi techno by racer-nelson.exe

Friday Five highlights music by Washtenaw County-associated artists and labels.

This edition features jazzy pop by Dani Darling, classical-jazz minatures by Timothy McAllister and Liz Ames, modern jazz by Brynn Hilliker, indie pop by Skinned Knees and the Band Aids, and trance techno by Aventar.