Author: Calin Firlit

Hello all! As many of you may know, today was the second and final university-sanctioned Wellness Day of the semester. I know that it is difficult to focus on wellness for a day at this point in the semester, but I hope that students and faculty alike could take some time to focus on mental health. Mental health is something that I am extremely passionate about and it’s a common theme in my artistic work, so I always take the opportunity to talk about it when I can! I’d love for this post to serve as a check-in for anyone that may need it. Feel free to comment below about how you are, what you did for the Wellness Day today, or what your favorite things to do to take care of your mental health are. Personally, I tried to spend some time working on homework outdoors, and I made sure to cuddle with my adorable cat, Juniper! I drew the things I did for my mental health today in the image above. Be well!

For today’s post, I wanted to talk about an amazing public art piece in the Ann-Arbor/Ypsilanti area! Prospect Park is a DIY skate park that was painted entirely by the community of people that skates there. Visiting Prospect is like stepping into an immersive world of color and movement. The varying height of the ramps makes the art feel alive, and the sheer amount of it is all-consuming. Adding roller skaters and skateboarders into the mix creates a whole new dimension of life within the art. Many of the skaters are clad with bright-colored outfits and statement pieces, bringing their own unique style into the mismatch of striking art around them. Prospect Park is just that: a jigsaw of personal expression, an explosion of color, and an epicenter of life. To see more images of Prospect Park and to read statements from athletes that skate there, you can follow this link to a copy of my book, Unsponsored?: A Feminist, Queer Skate Story. I had the amazing opportunity to photograph female and gender non-conforming skaters within and outside of the Ann Arbor area. Many of them are artists; one roller skater I talked to has a business selling hand-made rugs in the shape of roller skates. Another is a fifteen-year-old photographer that is just starting out, but produces portraits that make it look like she’s been taking pictures for years. One skateboarder is going to a school across the country to study design this coming fall. Another is a non-binary fashion influencer. Listening to their stories was like talking to Prospect personified; art was all around me.

Happy Tuesday! In honor of Stamp’s annual Hail Yeah! celebration, where students gather to give our thanks to alumni donors, I thought it was fitting to make a post celebrating all of the amazing Stamps alumni who have given back so much to our school! Thank you, we appreciate all that you do. To read about Stamps alumni, click here. To find more information about how you can participate in Hail Yeah!, click here.

Story, Word, Sound, Sway is an exhibition that features eleven Stamps School of Art and Design alumni. It’s currently on display at the Stamps Gallery but you can also access it online at this link. After spending time with the online exhibition, I thought that more people should be aware of the amazing work being featured! Four of the Stamps alumni that have pieces in this exhibition will be participating in a virtual panel to discuss their work and how they’re using their art to combat racial injustice. The panel will take place this coming Thursday, February 18th from 6:00-7:30 PM. You can register for this live event here! I hope you all are able to check out the exhibition and participate in the important conversation that’s being fostered on campus by these eleven talented University of Michigan alumni!