UMMA Impact Report
UMMA puts art and ideas at the center of campus and public life. UMMA’s mission is to enrich our understanding of one another, foster joy, and build a more just future. Through exhibitions, programs, research, and community partnerships we are redefining what a campus museum can be.
Here’s a glimpse into how we harnessed the power of art in 2022-2023
"I am thrilled to share this report on all that we accomplished at UMMA in 2022-2023, and to highlight the impact that our work has had on our communities across the campus, Michigan, and beyond. We are working hard to live up to UMMA’s mission and to realize an ambitious future for the Museum. We’re collaborating with and serving communities who have been historically excluded by arts institutions, illuminating and conveying stories that have been undertold, and creating experiences with art that bring joy and delight. We’re looking forward to 2024, and to more opportunities to join with you and our diverse publics as we make UMMA a vibrant and dynamic hub for connecting with art and one another."
Christina Olsen
Director
Enrich Our Understanding
From creating platforms for diverse voices and viewpoints to setting the stage for deep levels of inquiry, UMMA’s exhibitions and programs in 2022-2023 brought new ideas, joy, and connection to our communities.
“”
I was completely inexperienced in the analyzing of art. I understood how it could be helpful but had never personally done it. To do it in person and listen to others doing it in person really opened my eyes…
– Anonymous
University of Michigan Student
Foster Joy
Whether it was by helping you find your own voice or just having fun through innovative creative expression, in 2022-23 UMMA’s projects and events increased the world’s supply of joy and delight.
“”
The students LOVED (the tour) and learned so much. They were inspired by the sights, smells, sounds and space. They came back to school buzzing with lots of good conversations and so much creative energy.
– Detroit Achievement Academy tour
February 2023
Build a more just future
We believe that art is a fundamental human right and that equity must be central to everything UMMA does. In 2022-23 we expanded collaborations and deepened relationships with indigenous communities, artists from underrepresented backgrounds, university and K-12 students, and so many more individuals, groups, and communities.
*The federal designation of Title 1 names schools that enroll more than 40% of students from low-income households
“”
The most interesting thing about our class visit to UMMA was the variety of art (and artists) we were exposed to, engaged with, and critically studied from a social justice perspective.
– Anonymous
University of Michigan Student
FY 23 Giving
More than 1/3 of UMMA's annual budget comes from donor support--from one-time gifts of all sizes, to ongoing support for exhibitions and programs, to sustaining income from endowed funds. We couldn't do it without you! None of this great and important work happens without the support of our dedicated members, donors, and other funders. UMMA is able to change lives and re-imagine what a campus art museum can be because of the generous support from so many in our local community, the region, and across the globe.
Notable Acquisitions
Title
When Gods Speak, Heaven Listens
Artist(s)
Frederick Ebenezer Okai
Artist Nationality
Ghana, born 1986
Object Creation Date
2022
Medium
Clay, duvet, light, nylon rope, metal wire, polyurethane glue
Credit Line
Museum purchase made possible by the Director's Acquisition Committee, 2022
Label copy
Frederick Ebenezer Okai, an artist based in Ghana, makes large-scale ceramic pieces that are fired in custom, handmade, individual kilns. Okay relishes pushing himself and his chosen medium to their very limits. Each kiln is built around the sculpture, and needs to be dismantled brick-by-brick after firing, so it is common for the bricks to fall inwards and destroy the newly fired post, in which case Okai has to start all over again.
Building individual kilns for each of his works is not only time consuming and labor-intensive, it also cannot be done in isolation. As a member of the artist collective blaxTARLINES, Okai calls upon friends and colleagues to help him create, conceptualize, and hone his practice. When kilns need to be built, exhibitions need to be created, or artistic processes need to be documented, blaxTARLINES activates its network and brings together the hands necessary to uplift the work of one of its members.
Title
Celestial Tower
Artist(s)
Matthew Angelo Harrison
Artist Nationality
United States, born 1989
Object Creation Date
2021
Medium
Wooden sculpture and tinted polyurethane resin
Credit Line
Museum purchase made possible by Wayee Chu and Ethan Beard, 2022
Label copy
Detroit-based artist Matthew Angelo Harrison's experiences working at Ford Motor Company, where he made clay prototypes for cars and automotive parts, inform and inspire his practice. He builds his own specialized machinery and uses it to encapsulate personal memorabilia, wooden sculptures, or ephemera of the Detroit auto industry into block of acrylic resin.
In Celestial Tower, Harrison immerses a monumental wooden mask from the Dogon of Mali in resin to create an entirely new visual representation that raises questions about the politics of mass production, authenticity, and the extraction, fragmentation, and disintegration of culture. By stripping down and re-contextulizing the mask, Harrison offers a commentary on the troubled history of African artworks circulating in our economy and museum and how they are severed from their locations of origin. Harrison purposely seeks out sculptures and masks made for sale, which have been discarded by collectors and museums alike as "inauthentic."
Harrison says, "I like to play with the idea of the archive, with longevity and perpetuity. My resin encapsulations take wooden sculptures targeting the tourist trade-in other words, semi-disposable moments-and give them a lasting platform, a stage to mean more, like a dragonfly caught in amber."
2022/1.55E
Title
bodies and souls (fabric element)
Artist(s)
Suchitra Mattai
Artist Nationality
Guyanese
Object Creation Date
2021
Medium & Support
fabric, metallic thread, and sequins on vintage frame
Dimensions
7 ft. 3 in. x 10 ft. 5 1/8 in. (220.98 x 317.82 cm);7 ft. 3 1/8 in. x 30 in. x 2 in. (221.3 x 76.2 x 5.08 cm);8 ft. 3 5/8 in. x 3 3/4 in. x 2 in. (253.05 x 9.53 x 5.08 cm);8 ft. 3 5/8 in. x 3 3/4 in. x 2 in. (253.05 x 9.53 x 5.08 cm);7 ft. 3 1/8 in. x 30 in. x 2 in. (221.3 x 76.2 x 5.08 cm)
Credit Line
Museum Purchase made possible by the Director's Acquisition Committee, 2022
Physical Description
Highly decorated gold frame, broken on the top edge and and fractured on the bottom edge. A large piece of gold and red fabric with a gold fringe is covered with numerous multi-covered shirts, tunics, or other similar garments sewn across the front, giving a quilted appearance. The fabric is attached to the frame along points on the top, top left corner, and right side which causes the fabric to drape toward the bottom.
Primary Object Classification
Mixed Media
Primary Object Type
installation art
Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary
Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
bodies and souls (fabric element)
fabric, metallic thread, and sequins on vintage frame
7 ft. 3 in. x 10 ft. 5 1/8 in. (220.98 x 317.82 cm);7 ft. 3 1/8 in. x 30 in. x 2 in. (221.3 x 76.2 x 5.08 cm);8 ft. 3 5/8 in. x 3 3/4 in. x 2 in. (253.05 x 9.53 x 5.08 cm);8 ft. 3 5/8 in. x 3 3/4 in. x 2 in. (253.05 x 9.53 x 5.08 cm);7 ft. 3 1/8 in. x 30 in. x 2 in. (221.3 x 76.2 x 5.08 cm)
Museum Purchase made possible by the Director's Acquisition Committee, 2022
Title
Consumption of Love (Eugene, Miyi, and Qun), from the series Please Take Off Your Shoes, 2020
Artist(s)
Jarod Lew
Medium
Archival pigment print, 44 x 36 inches
Credit Line
Museum purchase made possible by the UMMA Director’s Acquisition Committee, 2023
Your Support Matters Most!
None of the important work UMMA does would be possible without the support of incredibly dedicated members and donors such as you. UMMA is able to change lives and re-imagine what a campus art museum can mean for its community because of the generous support from people around the world–people like you.
Thank you for supporting our mission in so many ways–by visiting the Museum, by participating in our virtual programs, sharing news about UMMA with friends and family, and through your financial support–we couldn’t do it without you!
If you are able, please consider making a gift to help us continue this important work!
FY 23 Exhibition Support Provided By
Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch, Erica Gervais Pappendick and Ted Pappendick, Joseph and Annette Allen, the William C. Weese Program for Ceramic Arts at UMMA, U-M Credit Union Arts Adventures Program, the Eleanor Noyes Crumpacker Endowment Fund, Richard and Rosann Noel Endowment, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Japan World Exposition 1970 Commemorative Fund, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, James M. Trapp, Nancy and Joe Keithley, the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, Susan and Richard Gutow, Japan Foundation, Bendit and Mark Bernstein, Max Wicha and Sheila Crowley, Destination Ann Arbor, Oxford Companies, and Ilene H. Forsyth Theater Endowment Fund at UMS,
University of Michigan support: Office of the Provost, Center for Japanese Studies, Nam Center for Korean Studies, Department of History of Art, Institute for the Humanities, Graham Sustainability Institute, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Creative Campus Voting Project, Democracy and Debate Initiative, Stamps School of Art & Design, and Office of Research.
Impact Report Photo Credits
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Header Enrich Our Understanding |
Foster Joy |
Build a More Just Future FY 23 Giving |