Past Art Exhibitions

NCRC has a great history of partnerships with local artists.  Below is the archive of previous exhibitions the NCRC has hosted.

Nour Ballout
Exhibition Dates:
November 03, 2023 to January 15, 2024
Opening Reception

November 3rd, 2023 • 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM UM Staff Hour North Campus Research Complex | 2800 Plymouth Rd | Ann Arbor, MI | 48109

Please join us for a reception to celebrate and mingle with the artists | Enjoy complimentary refreshments & hors d'oeuvres

Nour Ballout (b. 1993, Beirut) is a Detroit & Chicago based interdisciplinary artist and curator. They received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Wayne State University and an MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Nour Ballout’s practice grapples with...

Satchel Lee
Exhibition Dates:
November 03, 2023 to January 15, 2024
Opening Reception

November 3rd, 2023 • 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM UM Staff Hour North Campus Research Complex | 2800 Plymouth Rd | Ann Arbor, MI | 48109

Please join us for a reception to celebrate and mingle with the artists | Enjoy complimentary refreshments & hors d'oeuvres

Born and raised in New York City, Satchel Lee is a multi-media artist whose work can best be described as portraiture. Through collaborations with her immediate community, and also using herself as a subject, Lee draws inspiration from the quotidian, creating offbeat images that aim to...

Matthew Zivich
Exhibition Dates:
June 15, 2023 to August 11, 2023

Matthew Zivich is a professor of art at Saginaw Valley State University. He attended the University of Michigan's art department for a B.S. in Design degree and Indiana University for his M.F.A. degree in painting and sculpture in 1964. While at Indiana, Matthew was a pupil of the late artist, William Bailey, a former assistant to Josef Albers at Yale.

Matthew Zivich has been an active artist in drawing, painting, photography, and sculpture since high school and was first awarded the one-time Leonard Bocour prize for printmaking in graduate school at Indiana. His artworks have been...

Julianne Orlyk Walsh
Exhibition Dates:
June 15, 2023 to August 11, 2023

Julianne Orlyk Walsh has a Master’s degree in architecture from The University of Michigan. She worked as an intern architect at Acock Associates Architects in Columbus, Ohio before returning home to Ann Arbor to join the Medical School as a Facilities Planner. She is currently a student of Daria Paik at the Ann Arbor Art Center, and also takes instruction at the Ann Arbor Potter’s Guild.

The history and evolution of pot making has always captivated Walsh. From the tools and techniques used centuries ago to the fundamental process and output of today, much has remained...

Christina Joya
Exhibition Dates:
June 15, 2023 to August 11, 2023

Mexican-born and Michigan-based ceramics artist, Cristina Joya, has been honing her skills in pottery since 2019. Originally an award winner Graphic Designer, Cristina blended her design skills with her passion for ceramics and self-discovery. Inspired by studies and teachings of renowned physicians, therapists, and spiritual leaders, she draws her creative power from realizing the importance of the mind-body-spirit connection. Her work has been exhibited at local galleries such as the Janice Charach, Pontiac Creative Art Center, Oakland Community College, and The Community House at...

Laura Makar
Exhibition Dates:
March 24, 2023 to May 26, 2023

ARTIST STATEMENT

Each drawing requires patience.

The beauty lies within the tedious process of meticulously piercing the paper. Metaphoric and intricate shapes appear, articulating microscopic and macroscopic configurations within the delicate surface, using violent, yet precise tools.

The hand-tool manipulation of paper, applied through repetitive techniques, document fractal / abstract natural patterns observed during alpha state and shifting metaphysical realities.

The result is a gentle expression of poetic compositions achieved through the redundant,...

Tom Pyrzewski
Exhibition Dates:
March 24, 2023 to May 26, 2023

ARTIST STATEMENT

Discarded objects with curves and diagonals are collected – natural dead-fall and human-made. Bend, cut and assemble - the armature is constructed. Muscle is applied, similar to a body. Cloth that has been soaked in paint is placed onto the structure, providing durability, skin, and color.

Resonance from the objects influence application and determine the overall composition, often described as visceral. The sculpture is organic in form but contains mostly industrial materials within. This attribute implies an interconnection between humanity and nature,...

Ante Meriden 6:27 Dawn, 2021
Samah Kthar
Exhibition Dates:
November 17, 2022 to January 14, 2023

(below)

Artist Reception

November 17, 6PM-8PM

Artist Talk

January 14, 12PM

Samah Kthar is an artist fueled by harnessing the present moment of experience, into something tangible to share. She believes the way to explain an experience, and connect with others is through art. Although having no formal experience in art education, Kthar has obtained three degrees: B.S. in Biological Sciences, B.S in Health Sciences, and Masters in Occupational Therapy. Blending the role as an Artist and an Occupational Therapist in turn, allows her to help others utilize art to...

John Rizzo
Exhibition Dates:
November 17, 2022 to January 14, 2023

(below)

Artist Reception

November 17, 6PM-8PM

Artist Talk

January 14, 12PM

John Rizzo was born and raised in Chicago. In 1997, John moved to Detroit to attend school, received an MFA from Wayne State University, fell in love with the city and has called it home ever since. John is currently employed as the Wood Shop Manager at the College for Creative Studies; in addition, he teaches two courses in the Foundations Program. Detroit students enrolled in John's courses learn 3-Dimensional Concepts as well as 3-Dimensional Techniques, both of which aim at training early...

8 NIGHT LEAVES DANCE
Stephanie Sarris
Exhibition Dates:
October 15, 2021 to December 10, 2021

Stephanie Sarris earned M.F.A. Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills--Drawing and Painting and B.F.A. & B.A.E. University of Michigan. Her artist training includes studies at Eastern Michigan University, Florence, Italy, University of Michigan, Dearborn and Wayne State University, Detroit.

Sarris has exhibited her work extensively throughout the Detroit Metropolitan area, and is included in the permanent collections of Neiman Marcus, Somerset Collection/Troy, Michigan; Tysons II/ McClean, Virginia; Dallas, Texas;Fort Worth, Texas; Las Vegas,...

Untamed
Sandra Osip
Exhibition Dates:
October 15, 2021 to December 10, 2021

Sandra Osip was born in Detroit, Michigan and earned Bachelor of Science from Wayne State University, and Master of Fine Arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She has received two Michigan Council of Arts awards and a public art commission titled “Progression” for the Detroit People Mover “Art in the Stations”project, in the Fort/Cass Station.

Osip’s artwork has been included in exhibitions at the Hill Gallery in Birmingham, Michigan, Wasserman Project, Detroit, Michigan and Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago, Illinois; and it can be found in many permanent art collections including the...

Cathy VanVoorhis
Exhibition Dates:
January 08, 2020 to May 03, 2020

Artist Reception: NCRC, Building 18 on Friday, February 7, 5PM - 7PM

Cathy VanVoorhis was one of two artists in residence hosted by University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) during the summer 2019. The UMBS provides students and faculty the opportunity to study environmental science in the field, alongside some of the world’s most respected experts. Including cultural experts, through a residency program, in the mix provided a perfect bridge between the arts and sciences.

The work created during this residency will be featured in her exhibition titled “Forest and...

Exhibition Dates:
January 08, 2020 to May 03, 2020

Artist Reception: NCRC, Building 18 on Friday, February 7, 5PM - 7PM

"Photography is a universal language and it is my hope that my images will move viewers to respond not only with empathy, but also with action. It is my intention to photograph people with compassion and dignity in the hope of communicating our interrelatedness." — Mark Tuschman

Mark Tuschman has worked as an international freelance photographer for more than 34 years. He dedicates himself to raising awareness on international issues regarding women and children, and is committed to issues of...

Heaven Gate, 2018
Al Hebert
Exhibition Dates:
September 13, 2019 to December 13, 2019

Al Hebert has been a prominent figure in the Detroit art scene since he received his MFA at Wayne State University in 1967. In the Exhibition “Advice to Polonius” Hebert references Shakespeare’s Hamlet , Polonius, a man of experience, who gives some life advice to his son Laertes. Polonius states “neither a borrower nor a lender be”, and advise him to borrow objects extensively from many sources, and then lend them to sculptural assemblage.

This is exactly what Hebert does in the creation of the works in this exhibit, incorporating Objet trouvé ...

Empire Bluff
Alli McPhail
Exhibition Dates:
September 13, 2019 to December 13, 2019

Born and raised in northern Michigan, Alli grew up surrounded by the beauty of nature. From a young age, she picked up watercolor painting, emulating her mother while they would travel around Michigan and back to where her dad grew up in British Columbia, Canada. Self-taught from a young age, she would take her watercolors outside and attempt to paint what she saw -- weather it was mountains, lakes, rivers, or the woods.

Years later, Alli attended the University of Michigan and completed a degree in architecture. Although she appreciates the built environment, she is continually...

Gilda Snowden
Exhibition Dates:
May 10, 2019 to August 24, 2019

Gilda Snowden (1954 – 2014) was a Detroit artist who received a bachelor of fine arts, master of art and master of fine arts in painting from Wayne State University. She was Interim Chair and Professor of Fine Arts at the College for Creative Studies, Detroit and also Gallery Director of the Detroit Repertory Theatre. Snowden’s works have been exhibited throughout the United States, as well as in Mexico, Canada and West Africa. Her works are featured in a number of publications, as well as private and corporate collections, including Post/Newsweek, the Neiman-Marcus Corporation, Ameritech...

Celebration,  2019, printed vinyl with textured laminate (photo credit Larry Melkus)
Lester Johnson
Exhibition Dates:
May 10, 2019 to August 24, 2019

Lester Johnson, renowned Detroit artist, earned his bachelor of fine arts and master of fine arts degrees from the University of Michigan. He has exhibited his work in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and galleries and museums around the world. A Garland of Praise Songs for Rosa Parks finds its permanent home at the Wayne State University Law School’s Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights in Detroit. In 2011, Johnson was invited to sign the famed historic Scarab Club beam, an honor extended to artists who have made significant and...

Karen Anne Klein
Exhibition Dates:
January 25, 2019 to May 03, 2019

Karen Anne Klein uses images of natures to tell stories. The birds, flowers and insects she chooses for her compositions have symbolic meanings and mythological associations. There is always more there than meets the eye. Drawing directly from life, from specimens found in natural history museums, Klein creates beautifully realistic works that incorporate a touch of whimsy and wonder.

This exhibition will feature Cabinets of Curiosities/Wunder-Kammer: During the Renaissance, private collections were assembled in rooms with the idea that a person could know...

Barrett Klein
Exhibition Dates:
January 25, 2019 to May 03, 2019

We are a wondrous, accomplished, creative species of primate… that also happens to be shortsighted, dangerously self-absorbed, and destructive on a global scale. The only planet we know to harbor life is changing rapidly, largely by our industrious actions. Never before has the need to explore, embrace, and conserve life’s diversity been as important as it is now.

This show represents hints of what we cannot see, or often choose not to see, and is a plea to celebrate the tiny majority that drives our ecosystems and has influenced human culture since our cultures’ incipient stages....

Office of Patient Experience
Exhibition Dates:
January 25, 2019 to May 03, 2019

Michigan Medicine advisors, peer mentors, and staff have created artwork and stories reflecting the patient experience.

Art Reception: 5-6:30 p.m.

Storytelling Event: 6:30-8 p.m.

“Candycopia”, 84”x58”, acrylic, latex, spray paint, paint marker, paint fragments, on canvas, 2018
Dennis Michael Jones
Exhibition Dates:
September 20, 2018 to December 21, 2018

Dennis Jones, a visual artist, educator, and licensed practicing architect, has exhibited his work locally, nationally and internationally over the last twenty-six years. Selected exhibition venues include The OK Harris Gallery, New York; The Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, MI; Oakland University Art Gallery, Rochester Hills, MI; Grand Rapids, ArtPrize; Elaine L. Jacob Gallery, Detroit, MI; The College for Creative Studies Center Galleries, Detroit, MI; Concordia College Gallery, Ann Arbor Art Center and The Gallery Project, Ann Arbor, MI. Jones recently curated an exhibition titled, SIX...

Michigan Medicine, UM Geriatrics Silver Club
Exhibition Dates:
September 20, 2018 to December 21, 2018

Reinventing Matisse is an exhibition of original artworks created by men and women living well with memory loss who participate in the Michigan Medicine,

UM Geriatrics Silver Club Programs. The mission of the Silver Club Programs is to build a community where people with memory loss make friends, share joys and fears, be creative and have fun through meaningful adult-focused engaging activities.

The exhibition consists of original art pieces in the art mediums of acrylic painting, collage and mixed media.

Please contact the...

“Three Muses”, Collage and Acrylic on Paper
K. A. Letts
Exhibition Dates:
September 20, 2018 to December 21, 2018

K.A. Letts is a graduate of Barnard College (B.A.) and Yale Drama School (M.F.A.) and is an Inter/National Alumna Artist at A.I.R. Gallery ( www.airgallery.org ) in Brooklyn, N.Y. In 2015, Letts has shown work at Hatch Art in Hamtramck, at 555 Galleries in Detroit, Motor Row Gallery in Chicago and at Non-Fiction Gallery in Savannah GA. Work by K.A. Letts was on exhibit in 2014-2015 at the Toledo Art Museum in the 95th Annual Area Artists Exhibit where she was awarded the Toledo Federation of Art Society's Purchase Award....

Allie McGhee
Exhibition Dates:
May 16, 2018 to August 31, 2018

Allie McGhee is Detroit’s famed “Old Master” of abstract expressionism. After attending Cass Technical High School, Detroit, McGhee studied at Ferris State University and Eastern Michigan University, where he graduated in 1965. A Detroiter for over five decades, he is committed to art in public places, such as his commissions for Michigan Avenue Station on the Detroit People Mover and Detroit Receiving Hospital. His paintings are included in the collections of the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC; and has been featured at the G.R. N'namdi Gallery (Detroit, MI...

Donita Simpson
Exhibition Dates:
May 16, 2018 to August 31, 2018

Donita Simpson is a Detroit based photographer who creates images of Detroit area artists, many who have exhibited at NCRC, in their personal creative environments. She earned her BFA, MFA and MEd from Wayne State University.

Simpson's portraits have hung in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, traveled the nation and won several Statewide competitions. Her portrait of Detroit's beloved Gilda Snowden was chosen as a finalist in The Outwin 2016 American Portraiture Today Competition, selected from over 2500 entries. She has been photographing Detroit artists since...