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September 9, 2022, Adrian, Michigan – The early months of the COVID-19 pandemic brought about death, sickness, isolation, grief – and a great deal of creativity. The creative aspect of the pandemic – as well as the mourning – were showcased by Art in the Time of COVID, an art exhibit at the INAI Gallery near Weber Retreat and Conference Center.
The exhibit featured works by a group of Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates, and friends who met monthly via Zoom, shared progress on their artwork, and encouraged one another. The exhibit also included a memorial to the 14 Adrian Dominican Sisters who died of COVID-19. Guests were invited to write down the names of the people they had lost to the virus.
Featured in a Catholic News Service (CNS) article about the memorial were Sister Suzanne Schreiber, OP, an artist and coordinator of INAI, and Sister Nancyann Turner, OP, who created three quilts that were featured in the exhibit. The artwork “was an effort to both process the COVID reality and the pandemic and all that was going on and a lot of the loss that was happening, and the illness and death that was happening, plus to give expression to our own creative selves,” Sister Suzanne told Gabriella Patti of CNS.
Sister Nancyann described the artwork as “another example of feminine creativity” and noted the comfort she derived from her quilting. Working on the quilts helped her “to remember again my mom and my grandmother as I selected and stitched those different colors, which helped me lament but also helped me have hope and peace,” she said.
Read the entire CNS article, as printed in Catholic Review, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
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.