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Exhibition Events this Weekend: Laura Amtower & Parisa Ghaderi

Mosaic wall 2 final resize
Community Action Network students work on living wall mosaics. 

Exhibitions featuring the work of MFA alums Laura Amtower (MFA 2015) and Parisa Ghaderi (MFA 2014) are on view this weekend and featured in the latest Concentrate Media column by Omari Rush.

Waiting for the Past: Building empathy on immigration

Ypsilanti Experimental Space (YES) has a wonderfully unpredictable schedule of multimedia, multidisciplinary activities that pop up in its downtown Ypsi space (8 N. Washington St.) when its managers realize yet another creative use of the venue. The art installation Waiting for the Past, currently running through June 23 at YES, is an empathy-building commentary on immigration. As visitors engage with elements of this timely exhibition, they ideally move from a theoretical to a visceral understanding of the process of traversing borders in pursuit of home, love, or freedom. The creators of this installation, Parisa Ghaderi and Ebrahim Soltani, are themselves immigrants from Iran.

Ghaderi is a visual artist and filmmaker who graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art and Design and whose films have been featured in film festivals around the world. Soltani is a faculty member in Eastern Michigan University’s political science department and has research interests in comparative politics in the Middle East.

Ghaderi and/​or Soltani will be at YES with the installation from 7 p.m.- 9 p.m. on June 9, 10, 16, and 17. For additional information about exhibition hours, visit YES’s Facebook page. You’ll also find information there about the range of projects happening at YES, including micro-cinema, workshops, and other exhibitions.

CAN Art and Design Exhibition: Kids design living wall mosaics

Artistry is not limited by age, though it is sadly sometimes inhibited by the self-awareness that buds with adolescence. These days, though, it flows freely through Community Action Network’s (CAN) art and design program. On Friday, June 9, at 5:30 p.m., the program’s students will have their second annual year-ending art exhibition at Mitchell Elementary School (3550 Pittsview Dr., Ann Arbor).

Open to youth at Mitchell Elementary and the CAN community centers at Hikone and Green Baxter Court, CAN Art and Design provides after-school opportunities for creative expression as well as personal and academic development. Working with artist and educator Laura Amtower, students’ projects feature artistic discovery, problem-solving through design, and community relevance.

While the program’s pilot project was about designing aesthetically rich and functional shelters for cats, the project on display June 9 will be a living wall mosaic that brings together environmental sustainability, mosaic arts, fabrication, and community. Beyond Amtower, this project has received support from Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Michigan Architectural Foundation, Mitchell Elementary staff, Motawi Tileworks, and the program’s advisory committee. 

CAN does a different project each school semester. One of its primary challenges now, though a glorious one, is accommodating growing demand from families wanting to participate, given how the program empowers youth to think creatively about their community and about their potential to make change in the world.

Essential arts events for June 2017: Apps in the gallery, immigration, and a living wall | Concentrate Media