Stories indexed with the term ‘UM School of Art & Design’

William Dennisuk is still waiting for the state to sign off on a public art installation that could dot a stretch of the Huron River with large vase-like sculptures. As he waits, he spends most of his days in a studio, hoping to complete the project before he returns to Finland later this year.

The Chronicle first met Dennisuk – a visiting artist and lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Art & Design – when he came to the October 2009 meeting of the Ann Arbor Park Advisory Commission. He described his project, called Vessels, as a way to bring together the city and campus communities, and to raise awareness about how we interact with the natural world.

When The Chronicle dropped by the art school’s studio recently to get an update on the project, Dennisuk said that working through the required approval process took longer than expected. Also taking longer than projected was working through his own learning curve for some new techniques he’s trying with these sculptures.

Although he had hoped to install his artwork in April, now it looks like late May will be a more realistic goal. [Full Story]

Regular Chronicle readers know we’re  big fans of the odd and inexplicable. That served us well on Saturday night, when we attended a performance by Pat Oleszko, visiting artist at the University of Michigan School of Art & Design.

In fact, “Gulliblurr Travels: A Space Oddity” drew a lot of other Ann Arbor absurderati to the Duderstadt Center’s Video Studio, including Dave Devarti, Elaine Sims (of the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission), and Shoshana Hurand (one of the lead FestiFoolers, taking a break before Sunday’s main event). We’d been alerted to this one-weekend-only show by Kath Weider-Roos, director of UM’s PLAY Gallery – she and her husband John Roos (of Roos Roast) were also in Saturday’s packed audience.

So what did we all see? [Full Story]

On Saturday morning, as The Chronicle shot photographs on South State Street just outside the UM School of Art and Design’s Work Gallery, a young pair walked past: “Ann Arbor is not a photo opp,” said one. “It is if you’re not from around here,” replied the other.

It wasn’t clear if they meant The Chronicle, or Randy Tack, who works with Eastman Kodak as a cinematographer, training people to use 16mm cameras. Tack was setting up a shot with some folks who’d responded to an announcement for Stop By Shoot Film, a program specifically designed to introduce people to the cameras. [Full Story]