Tag: umma

PREVIEW: UMMA’s 24-Hour Art21 Screening

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UMMA’s 24-Hour Art21 Screening

If you find yourself at the UGLI this Staurday night, studying into the wee hours of the morn and, nearing dawn you need a study break, never fear! Entertainment is on the way. UMMA and the UGLI are teaming up to present a 24-hour marathon screening of Art21. PBS’s series features one hour pieces on famous twentieth century contemporary artists. The episodes to be aired this weekend will include celebrated  names such as Kara Walker, Ai Weiwei, El Anatsui, Cindy Sherman, Matthew Barney, Barry McGee, Laurie Anderson, Marina Abramović, Jeff Koons, John Baldessari, and many more (ninety, to be exact, because this event honors 100 working artists). The series invites viewers into the studios, homes, galleries, and creative spaces of these pioneering stylists. This behind-the-scenes look is inspiring to artist types and others alike.  So whether you intend to be at the library this weekend or not, you will certainly have something enjoyable to do!

For more information on Art21, click here. The Facebook event and the UMMA’s student blog The Annex will also tell you everything you need to know about the screening. See you there!

PREVIEW: UMMA’s Student Late Night

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UMMA’s Student Late Night

On Thursday April 4th from 8-11 pm, the UMMA will host the annual Student Late Night. Since September, the UMMA Student Programming Advisory Council (SPAC) has been planning for this multi-media evening. The venue will be jam packed with activities, performances, and prizes.  WCBN Radio will be DJ-ing all night; live music  includes Music School senior Peter Felsman and friends who will accompany a performance by Cadance Dance Company.  The Ann Arbor Art Center will host an art-making activity. The SPAC has arranged a scavenger hunt throughout the museum, featuring pieces from the permanent collection. But there will also be ample opportunity to explore the visiting exhibits by El Anatsui, Florencia Pita F/P Mod, and Francis Alÿs. There will also be  a photo booth for you and your friends as well as free snacks and refreshments. The evening is partially  sponsored by Arts at Michigan and a number of local businesses and restaurants whose goods are up for prizes. Come get your UMMA gear, including buttons featuring images from the permanent collection, and so much more.

Bring your friends! In the meantime, check out the SPAC’s blog The Annex. See you there!

PREVIEW: UMMA AFTER HOURS

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UMMA AFTER HOURS

Twice a year, the UMMA stays open late for visitors to explore the artwork After Hours. On Thursday March 14th, the spring celebration of the late night event will take place in the museum. There are a number of exquisite permanent collection pieces, as well as a series of visiting exhibits that are worth checking out by night. If you can’t find time during regular hours, this a great opportunity to get your art fix. In addition to the usual artwork, there will be live music performed by the Ingrid Racine Quartet, playing Jazz and Afro Pop tunes. From the UMMA’s site, After Hours is about:

Standing before the shimmering fields of color created by West African artist El Anatsui in the career retrospective El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You About Africa, taking a walk around London with the Queen of England’s guards in Francis Alÿs’s video work Guards, traveling to the Himalayas with Buddhist Thangkas and Treasures: The Walter Koelz Collection, Museum of Anthropology, and finding out what an architect does with Alice in Wonderland and Andy Warhol’s dessert recipes in Florencia Pita/FP mod. The

After Hours runs from 7-10 pm. Click here for more info. And for more updates about happenings at UMMA and around campus, check out the blog The Annex. See you there!

PREVIEW: Crush, Crumple, Fold: The Art of El Anatsui

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Crush, Crumple, Fold: The Art of El Anatsui

As a part of the “EL Anatsui: When I Last Wrote To You About Africa” exhibit, UMMA will be hosting a film screening of a documentary on the artists work. This film will discus the process, inspirations, and challenges of the world renowned artist. Tuesday, February 19th at 7 pm in the Helmut Stern auditorium.  Read more information about the making of the film and its connection to the exhibit on UMMA’s website. Click here for a quick clip about the film and here to read a review. See you there!

PREVIEW: Ecstasy and Fantasy

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Ecstasy and Fantasy

On Friday, February 15th, the School of Music, UM Chamber Choir,  and UMMA collaborate to create an evening of sounds inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Faculty from the school will perform a selection from Iriving Fine’s “Alice in Wonderland” as well as several other composers from the same era as well as a contemporary, visiting composer. The music will be performed alongside Florencia Pita’s “Alice” inspired artwork. The dual representation of imagination, fantasy, mystery, and magic will surely create a dynamic and intriguing performance. 7 pm at the UMMA.

REVIEW: Florencia Pita

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Florencia Pita

If you’ve passed by the UMMA in the past month, you’ve probably noticed an incredibly curious landscape looking out at you from the windowed, first floor  gallery. Bright reds, spinning blues, swirling shapes and swirling constructions fill the space, drawing the eye in, maintaing mysterious and fantasy  no matter how long the viewer looks. Florencia Pita’s designs are all about organic exaggerations and whimsical, barely  recognizable figures. The Argentine-born artist is trained as an architect but works with furniture, jewelry, graphic design, sculpture, and more. Many of her foliage-like  configurations are inspired by the feminine form. Yet these representations are complex: both her  large scale architecture installations  and her minute scrupulous  jewelry designs often represen the same, flowery  forms. In this way, her work confounds scales and draws the viewer in infinitely.

In an interview with UMMA Academic Coordinator  David Choberka, I learned more about Florencia Pita’s inspirations and styles:

“She makes these cool, whimsical, conceptual, digital designs that are really interesting because of how she plays with scale—her flowery, colorful treelike structures could be anything from buildings to vases, furniture, jewelry or tableware. She makes these large-scale wall hanging appliqués based on children’s stories—one is inspired by Alice in Wonderland. The exhibition features a couple of her installation pieces, as well as models and digital representations of her work. She is developed an original piece for this exhibition, which is exciting. She has won a ton of awards and been featured in exhibitions all over the world. Her work really blurs the boundaries between visual art, architecture, and design, and is definitely worth checking out.”

Click here for more about Florencia Pita and her studio FP/Mod. To read about the exhibit, look at UMMA’s website. The exhibit is open during museum hours until the middle of June.