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Nathan Byrne and Emily Staugaitis Curate "The Grass Grows in the Icebox" at CLUSTER Museum

March 30, 2026
Poster for "Grass Grows in the Icebox 2026," featuring circular arrangements of grass and dark, textured ice spheres on a black background.
Poster design by Sky Christoph (BFA ​’23)

In April, Ann Arbor’s CLUSTER Museum will feature The Grass Grows in the Icebox, a new exhibition curated by Stamps faculty Nathan Byrne (MFA ​‘21) and Emily Staugaitis. Featuring work by Ruth K Burke (MFA ​‘17), Cyrah Dardas, Maya Davis, Marianne Hoffmeister Castro , Grace Millard, and Kirby Shoote, the exhibition explores relationships cultivated by artists working with nonhuman beings, land, and natural materials not as subject or object, but as collaborators. 

The exhibition opens with a reception on Saturday, April 4 from 5 – 8 p.m., and will be on view through April 25. Accompanying thematic programs include multiple workshops, the CLUSTER Film Series Grass Grows in Film, a 2‑day Ekphrastic Poetry Walk, and a closing reception.

The artists in this exhibition are contemplating the labors of land work, care and attention, ecofeminism, empathy with other-than-human domains, somatic remembering, restoration, and repair.

Ruth K Burke, Cyrah Dardas, Maya Davis, Marianne Hoffmeister Castro, Grace Millard, and Kirby Shoote meet the world with a lens of closeness, an insistence and persistence of attention. As light as silk and as heavy as stone, the vibrancy of materials and modalities in Grass Grows in the Icebox invite us to consider the ways in which everything is connected and creative practice can be a conduit for those connections.

“As CLUSTER’s first guest curators, It is great to host Nate and Emily’s vision for the space. Their selection of interdisciplinary artists reveal those working in a beautifully intimate approach with the natural world,” says CLUSTER Museum co-founder and director Thea A. Eck.

Grass Grows in the Icebox
Guest curated by Nathan Byrne and Emily Staugaitis.
Exhibition Dates: April 4 – 25
CLUSTER Museum, 307 N. Main St Ann Arbor MI 48104

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Co-founded by Thea Eck (MFA​’08), Kim DeBord (BFA​’98), and Chien-An Yuan, CLUSTER aims to create opportunities for exhibition, learning, and community, bringing those in the arts together in thoughtful and innovative ways.