What's Happening

August 8, 2022, Adrian, Michigan – With the delivery of an electric lawn mower, the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Motherhouse Campus took the first step in using more sustainable, electric vehicles in its work on facilities and grounds. 

“This really marks the first step in our sustainability efforts on moving away from gas vehicles and gas engines and gas mowers to something that’s more sustainable, something that’s electric that we can charge off of, eventually, our solar grid,” said Joel Henricks, Director of Facilities and Grounds. 

The electric mower is part of a long-time effort by the Adrian Dominican Sisters to live sustainably on their Motherhouse Campus in Adrian. Other efforts over the years include a field of solar arrays; a solar panel carport; a Permaculture garden; and the installation of brighter and more efficient LED lighting in the campus buildings. These initiatives are an effort to live out the Congregation’s 2016 Enactment on Sustainability.

Watch the video of the arrival of the electric lawn mower below.
 

Featured photo: R.J. Hauenstein, a Co-worker in Campus Facilities and Grounds, tests out the new electric mower.

August 5, 2022, Adrian, Michigan – Unraveling Racism: Seeing White, an art exhibit exploring the hidden strands of systemic racism in the United States, opens September 2, 2022, at INAI: A Space Apart. Laura Earle is an artist and curator of the exhibit, which is being presented as a partnership of INAI and Siena Heights University.

The exhibit runs through Sunday, November 13, 2022. An artists’ reception is from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Sunday, October 23, 2022, with a special invitation for Siena Heights University students to attend from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. All guests will be screened for COVID-19 and are required to wear masks.

Laura will give a talk on the exhibit at 7:00 p.m. Monday, October 24, 2022, in Rueckert Auditorium, Dominican Hall, Siena Heights University. She previously presented an excerpt of Unraveling Racism: Seeing White in 2019 at Northwest Gallery of Art in Detroit.

The exhibit is the result of the work of 12 Michigan artists who gathered to share personal experiences and to create an artistic dialogue around the issues raised in John Biewen’s podcast, Seeing White. The artists gathered to listen to the podcast and to uncover the impact and history of whiteness in the United States. The result is a lively body of inclusive, interdisciplinary, and collaborative artwork.

Participating artists are Michael Dixon, Laura Earle, Michelle Graznak, Donna Jackson, Rita Lee, Azya Moore, Nora Myers, Mia Risberg, Trisha Schultz, Will See, Laurie Wechter, and Margi Weir. 

Sister Suzanne Schreiber, OP, Coordinator of INAI Gallery, is pleased to offer the exhibit. “It is in sync with our Adrian Dominican philosophy as we reckon with racism in our own community, our history, and ourselves,” she said.

INAI (pronounced in-EYE, meaning “within” in Japanese) is a contemplative space and art gallery that resonates with the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Vision: to seek truth, make peace, and reverence life. It houses an art gallery, a quiet space for personal reflection and meditation, and an art room. INAI: A Space Apart is open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily, or by appointment. Call 517-266-4090 or 517-266-4000.

Weber Center is on the campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Motherhouse, 1257 E. Siena Heights Drive, Adrian. Enter the Eastern-most driveway of the complex and follow the signs to Weber Center. For information, call the Weber Center at 517-266-4000.