What's Happening

September 18, 2023, Adrian, Michigan – Art lovers can be inspired and instructed as they explore an exhibit of artwork in various media by local artists and members of the Adrian Center for the Arts (ACA) at INAI, an art gallery adjacent to Weber Retreat and Conference Center. 

This exhibit, "ACA at INAI," is open from Friday, October 6, 2023, through Sunday, January 28, 2024, with an artists’ reception from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Sunday, October 22, 2023. INAI is open daily from 9:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. or call 517-266-4090 for an appointment.

Pi Benio, Director of Programming for the ACA, said the exhibit includes paintings, drawings, clay work, metals, glass, printmaking, and fiber art. “It’s a pretty good range of everything we have as a studio,” she said. The ACA offers classes on those media and will soon expand its offerings to include sculpture and hot glass. About 100 members benefit from the organization; residents have established studios in the ACA complex.  

“I’m really excited to collaborate with INAI” on the exhibit, Pi said. “We’ve partnered in a variety of ways in terms of supporting each other’s programming. INAI will have an opening, and we’ll have an opening at the same time” to attract people to both sites. Pi often helps Sister Suzanne Schreiber, OP, the INAI Coordinator, with the installation of art exhibits.

An art professor at Adrian College for 36 years, Pi brought art therapy to the Adrian Girls Training School, a state-run institution for girls who were recommended to it by the juvenile court. “I thought it would be a really great art center,” Pi said. When Michigan closed the school, and after she retired, Pi was part of the group establishing the ACA at the school’s site. The parent organization is the Lenawee Council for the Visual Arts.

“Art is about every feeling a human can have,” Pi said. “Art lets you express what you feel.” She noted that art is an essential outlet and safe way to express anger or other emotions. In addition, art benefits people who view it. “People who go to art shows might be connecting with a feeling, experience, or a place,” she said. “There are a variety of ways that art can reach people.”

Weber Center is on the campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Motherhouse, Adrian, Michigan. Traveling east on Siena Heights Drive, pass the Adrian Rea Literacy Center and turn left just before the solar panel-covered parking lot. Follow the signs to Weber Center. For information, call the Weber Center at 517-266-4000.