Vote 2020: Ann Arbor City Clerk Satellite Office at UMMA

​As we all look ahead to the November election, we want to get our creative juices flowing and print our own favorite slogan! Student Program Assistant Emily Considine will walk you through some examples of campaign graphics and poster styles. Then Michigan-based artist Shayla Johnson will show you how to create a unique poster (or tote bag) featuring your own personal slogan. UMMA will provide a supply kit you can pick up ahead of time. You must register by Sunday, September 6 to participate. Registered participants will receive an email with information for how to get your supplies.

This event is part of UMMA's welcome events for incoming students. All are welcome if there is space, but we will prioritize student participants as supplies are limited. A version of this event for children and families will occur on September 19.

This artmaking workshop is one of many art & activism events related to the fall 2020 election season. Sign up for our email to receive information about additional upcoming events and activities.
 
Shayla Johnson is founder and designer of Scarlet Crane Creations, a dedicated micro-batch textile printing house specializing in hand-printed fabrics for home decor products and lifestyle accessories. Unique surface patterns range from free flowing florals to abstract textures in order to produce stylish and sophisticated collections. Scarlet Crane Creations is housed right here at POST so you’ll have the opportunity to see Shayla’s work space, printing table, and work in process. Shayla also works for UMMA as a Museum Applications Developer.

The Edward Ginsberg Center, in partnership with University of Michigan Museum of Art, warmly invite you and your colleagues to join us for our biannual event.

The Ginsberg Center’s Dewey Series recognizes the enduring legacy of philosopher and educational reformer John Dewey, who taught at U of M in the 1890’s and, later, went on to found the New School for Social Research. Chief among Dewey’s enduring ideas were that experience is the means through which we come to understand and connect with the world around us and that universal education is the key to democracy.

This year's theme is inspired by William James' 1906 Essay, 'The Moral Equivalent of War.' While some of James' assertions are cause for critique, his primary observation that we need to focus on building our shared public life remains more important than ever.  Acknowledging that the events unfolding--locally and nationally--are on our minds, and after careful reflection, we have modified the agenda for this year’s Dewey Lecture. We’re breaking the event into two parts, with this Friday’s part focused on building community and engaging with one another through a facilitated discussion activity, co-designed with UMMA, to explore our prior ideas and experiences around civic engagement and consider how each of us can contribute to build the civic temper. Our planned panel will be part 2, convened later this year.

As we all look ahead to the November election, we want to get our creative juices flowing and print our own favorite slogan! Student Program Assistant Emily Considine will walk you through some examples of campaign graphics and poster styles. Then Michigan-based artist Shayla Johnson will show you how to create a unique poster (or tote bag) featuring your own personal slogan.

Shayla Johnson is founder and designer of Scarlet Crane Creations, a dedicated micro-batch textile printing house specializing in hand-printed fabrics for home decor products and lifestyle accessories. Unique surface patterns range from free flowing florals to abstract textures in order to produce stylish and sophisticated collections. Scarlet Crane Creations is housed in Detroit at POST so you’ll have the opportunity to see Shayla’s work space, printing table, and work in process. Shayla also works for UMMA as a Museum Applications Developer.

Suggested Materials:

• X-acto Knife 
• Tote Bag 
• Stencil Mylar (4 per child) 
• Wedge Cosmetic Sponge (2 per child)  
• Ink
• Paint Containers (2 per child [one for each color])

OR you can use materials from around your home:

• Scissors
• Clean Matte Poster Board or Cardboard Box (with a minimum 11 x 17 clean area)
• 2 Cereal Boxes
• Wedge Cosmetic Sponge or household paint brush
• Poster Paint OR Make your own

Our lens on history powerfully influences how we envision and shape the future. Join two of our country's most accomplished storytellers, Ken Burns and Isabel Wilkerson, as they discuss the complexities of the American narrative and how grappling with the past might lead us forward. 

Journalist Isabel Wilkerson was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama in 2016 “for championing the stories of an unsung history.” The first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism, her book The Warmth of Other Suns, a sweeping and intimate examination of the Great Migration, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. Her new book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, examines the entrenched hierarchies that shape American life. Told through intimate personal narratives and deeply researched history, Wilkerson examines the ties between the American caste system and those in India and Nazi Germany, and points to ways America can move beyond our artificial and destructive human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.

Ken Burns has been making documentary films for over forty years. Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, he has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War; Baseball; Jazz; The War; The National Parks: America’s Best Idea; The Roosevelts: An Intimate History; Jackie Robinson; Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson; The Vietnam War; The Central Park Five; and Country Music. His films have been honored with dozens of major awards, including sixteen Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, two Oscar nominations; and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. His new website UNUM rearranges clips from his past films into playlists to add historical context to the present.

This conversation will be moderated by Lynette Clemetson, Director of Wallace House, Knight-Wallace Fellowships and the Livingston Awards at the University of Michigan. A longtime journalist, she was a correspondent for Newsweek magazine in the U.S. and Asia, a national correspondent for The New York Times, and senior director of strategy and new initiatives at NPR. Wallace House works to sustain and elevate the careers of journalists, foster civic engagement, and uphold the role of a free press in democratic society. 

In advance of the Presidential election, UMMA and U-M's Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning created the “Dialogue Deck for Personal and Political Reflection." The Dialogue Deck pairs twelve images from UMMA’s permanent collection with provocative discussion prompts designed to encourage conversation and reflection about US culture and politics. The Dialogue Deck activity is meant to encourage meaningful dialogue and connection with your family, friends, colleagues, and maybe even yourself.

During the month of October, UMMA will host three "Democracy Conversations" via Zoom that feature the Dialogue Deck activity. Participants will be sorted into small breakout groups of 4-5 people and paired with a host who will gently guide the activity and conversation.  Conversations will last one hour, and offer the opportunity for individuals to learn more about the Dialogue Deck activity and engage in conversation with others outside their immediate social circles. 

The Dialogue Deck can be used by anyone as a self-guided discussion tool, and the print version of the deck is available for free at the UMMA Shop.

Philippa P.B. Hughes is a social sculptor and creative strategist who produces art-fueled projects that spark humanizing and authentic conversations across political, social, and cultural divides. She is an evangelist for dismantling the polarization industrial complex, one conversation at a time. Hughes has designed and produced hundreds of creative activations since 2007 for curious folks to engage with art and one another in unconventional and meaningful ways. She leads CuriosityConnects.us, a partner in Looking For America, a national series inviting politically diverse guests to break bread and talk to each other face-to-face using art as a starting point for relationship-building conversations. Hughes has engineered numerous public-private collaborations that have been funded by the Kresge Foundation, New American Economy, Center for Inclusion & Belonging, and the DC Office of Planning. She has served as a commissioner on the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities among numerous other boards throughout Washington, D.C., where she is based. Hughes has spoken at TEDxAmericanUniversity, Creative Placemaking Week 2018 in Amsterdam, Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit, TomTom Festival, Smart Growth America’s Intersections. Her work has been featured by CNN, PBS Newshour, CityLab, and The Washington Post, among numerous other media outlets. Her formal training took place at the University of Virginia, which launched her into a six-year legal career that ended with the Washington City Paper declaring 2007 “The Year of Philippa.” Deep curiosity about the world and the people in it provided the education that mattered most.

In advance of the Presidential election, UMMA and U-M's Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning created the “Dialogue Deck for Personal and Political Reflection." The Dialogue Deck pairs twelve images from UMMA’s permanent collection with provocative discussion prompts designed to encourage conversation and reflection about US culture and politics. The Dialogue Deck activity is meant to encourage meaningful dialogue and connection with your family, friends, colleagues, and maybe even yourself.

During the month of October, UMMA will host three "Democracy Conversations" via Zoom that feature the Dialogue Deck activity. Participants will be sorted into small breakout groups of 4-5 people and paired with a host who will gently guide the activity and conversation.  Conversations will last one hour, and offer the opportunity for individuals to learn more about the Dialogue Deck activity and engage in conversation with others outside their immediate social circles. 

The Dialogue Deck can be used by anyone as a self-guided discussion tool, and the print version of the deck is available for free at the UMMA Shop.

Please join us for a live question and answer session with Philippa P.B. Hughes. Hughes is a social sculptor and creative strategist who produces art-fueled projects that spark humanizing and authentic conversations across political, social, and cultural divides. She is an evangelist for dismantling the polarization industrial complex, one conversation at a time. Hughes has designed and produced hundreds of creative activations since 2007 for curious folks to engage with art and one another in unconventional and meaningful ways. She leads CuriosityConnects.us, a partner in Looking For America, a national series inviting politically diverse guests to break bread and talk to each other face-to-face using art as a starting point for relationship-building conversations. Hughes has engineered numerous public-private collaborations that have been funded by the Kresge Foundation, New American Economy, Center for Inclusion & Belonging, and the DC Office of Planning. She has served as a commissioner on the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities among numerous other boards throughout Washington, D.C., where she is based. Hughes has spoken at TEDxAmericanUniversity, Creative Placemaking Week 2018 in Amsterdam, Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit, TomTom Festival, Smart Growth America’s Intersections. Her work has been featured by CNN, PBS Newshour, CityLab, and The Washington Post, among numerous other media outlets. Her formal training took place at the University of Virginia, which launched her into a six-year legal career that ended with the Washington City Paper declaring 2007 “The Year of Philippa.” Deep curiosity about the world and the people in it provided the education that mattered most.

For any questions about the event or to share accommodation needs, please email lherbert@umich.edu and chrissti@umich.edu -- we are eager to help ensure that this event is inclusive to you. High quality auto-captions/transcriptions will be provided. Please make any additional requests no later than October 15.  

In advance of the Presidential election, UMMA and U-M's Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning created the “Dialogue Deck for Personal and Political Reflection." The Dialogue Deck pairs twelve images from UMMA’s permanent collection with provocative discussion prompts designed to encourage conversation and reflection about US culture and politics. The Dialogue Deck activity is meant to encourage meaningful dialogue and connection with your family, friends, colleagues, and maybe even yourself.

During the month of October, UMMA will host three "Democracy Conversations" via Zoom that feature the Dialogue Deck activity. Participants will be sorted into small breakout groups of 4-5 people and paired with a host who will gently guide the activity and conversation.  Conversations will last one hour, and offer the opportunity for individuals to learn more about the Dialogue Deck activity and engage in conversation with others outside their immediate social circles. 

The Dialogue Deck can be used by anyone as a self-guided discussion tool, and the print version of the deck is available for free at the UMMA Shop.

Join us for a virtual panel discussion with designers from the AIGA “Get out the Vote: Empowering the Women’s Vote exhibition at Stamps Gallery. Hear about the ideas behind their poster designs, why they believe it is important to vote, and what the 19th amendment means to them. Panelists will include Stamps School of Art & Design Professors Audrey Bennett and Hannah Smotrich, and Michigan State University Professor Kelly Salchow Macarthur. Panelists will be joined by the U-M Museum of Art Student Engagement Council members Emily Considine and Sarah Jacob who have worked closely with partners across campus to develop voter participation initiatives for U-M students. The discussion will be moderated by Stamps Gallery Outreach and Public Engagement Coordinator Jennifer Junkermeier-Khan and followed by a Q&A. U-M Students, Faculty, and Staff will be able to register to vote, request an absentee ballot, and vote early at UMMA every weekday between Sept. 24 and election day. To find out more visit UMMA Vote2020.

Organized by Stamps Gallery in partnership with UMMA.

Find out more about the AIGA “Get out the Vote: Empowering the Women’s Vote exhibition here. Read more from the U-M Museum of Art Student Engagement Council on their blog.