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.

Dragos Burghiue's Touch of the Sea contains seascape paintings with a robust level of texture. The exhibit contains a series of seascapes featuring different weather patterns and a sailing vessel riding the sea. The vessel gives the viewer a platform for perspective, so that they can be anchored into the scene itself. In choosing these sailing seascapes as subject matter, Burghiue highlights the dichotomy of the ruthless power of the sea with the human endeavor to make use of its benefits.

Each year the Ann Arbor Public Schools come to the Ann Arbor District Library to showcase the work of their students. Once again, the developing talents of students from across the city will be shown throughout the Library.

Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional art in many mediums will fill the display cases and cover the walls of our art display areas. Enjoy the wonderfully creative projects of the students of kindergarten through twelfth grade art classes.

The Michigan Art Education Association (MAEA) offers its members the unique opportunity to showcase outstanding artwork produced by students from all regions of the state of Michigan.

This exhibit by Laura Cavanagh includes a collection of Queenies: or whimsical portraits of imagined personas, each framed in a one-of-a-kind vintage frame. Each work begins as a detailed pen and ink portrait of a full-body figure into which Cavanagh collages vintage papers and ephemera to give the figure a wholly unique, individual appearance. The final piece includes hand stitching, French knot embellishments and a personaIized (and imaginary) biography. 

Unsettled Lives documents the history of Iraqi migration to metro Detroit in the wake of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Attracted by Dearborn’s many Arabic speakers, mosques, and service organizations, as well as the affordable housing of Detroit, roughly 10,000 Iraqis have settled in Wayne County since the 1990s. Many of the Iraqis interviewed spent the years immediately following the war in the large refugee camp in Rafha, Saudi Arabia, which was set up in the aftermath of the failed uprising against Saddam Hussein.

From the 1830s to the early 1900s photography went from a specialized and labor-intensive scientific medium to a beloved hobby for many. Photographic styles and practices set visual trends, forwarded stereotypes, maintained myths, and, as always, operated within the ideology of the time. Throughout the same decades, twenty new states joined the Union, including Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota—leading to the assimilation and displacement of countless Native populations. 

The 2022 Honor Awards represent the many hours of work, creativity, and intelligent architectural solutions of the members of the AIA Huron Valley Chapter.

Special thanks to this year's jurors from the AIA Toledo Chapter: Ed Glowacki, AIA Emeritus; Erin Curley, AIA; Andy Knopp, AIA.

This exhibit is an exploration of visual elements in everyday images by Scott LeRoy Ward. Ward is a photographer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan and owner of Beartown Road Design. 

Humanize the Numbers is an ongoing collaborative project with students and faculty at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor joining incarcerated individuals impacted by the criminal justice system in Michigan to connect with those on the outside through photography. The project aims to showcase the creativity of those who are incarcerated, using photography to allow their stories to add a personal dimension to the overwhelming statistics of mass incarceration.