Past Exhibitions

Uneasy Years: Michigan Jewry During Depression and War

An exhibit from the Michigan State University Museum

April 4, - May 16, 2009

This exhibition explores the dilemmas of Michigan Jews during Depression and WWII, at once increasingly at home in Michigan and the US, yet anxious amidst depression and rising anti-Semitism in the US, and the rise of Nazism, terror, and the war abroad. Five themes include:

• At Home in Michigan: at work, and within community
  
• Jews in the Mind of Michigan and America: present in popular culture at the same time as discrimination, and anti-Semitism is growing
  
• Coming of War: as Nazi terror spread in Europe, Americans grappled with their ability and responsibility
  
• Jews in World War II: Michigan Jews contributed in many ways after Pearl Harbor, when the US entered WWII
  
• Immigrants, Refugees & Haven: as an immigrant nation, America's response to the refugee crisis was limited and restricted

Vanishing Points - Photographs by Christine Flavin

September - December 2008

Christine Flavin, photographer and NMU professor in the School of Art and Design, combines both traditional and digital techniques in her work. She uses hand-built panoramic pinhole and large-format, zone plate cameras to capture surreal views of abandoned industrial landscapes.

The zone plate camera creates circular photographs in which the subjects float in a frame of black, reminiscent of camera technology at the turn of the 20th century when the Industrial Revolution was in full motion. The panoramic pinhole camera provides an expansive view in the large murals of the landscape. The swirling sensation in the foreground is caused by optical distortion.

The photographs on exhibition at the Beaumier Upper Peninsula Heritage Center Museum in fall 2008 document the deserted and crumbling mining operations throughout Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. They present visual remnants of an industry at its peak in the first half of the 20th century, which has now spiraled out of existence. Photographs made at the time of the mining heyday accompany the images of the vanishing industrial landscape, providing a historical perspective to Flavin’s contemporary interpretation.

Rags, Rugs and Weavers: A Living Tradition

An exhibit from the Michigan State University Museum

February 8 - March 22, 2009

The process of weaving rags into useful household items came to Michigan with immigrants from northern Europe. Today, Finnish-Americans in the state's Upper Peninsula continue the tradition, weaving used clothing and other discarded textiles into colorful rugs. Rag rug weaving is a shared cultural activity in these communities. Materials donated by one person may be cut into rags or sewn into strips by another, woven into a rug by still another, and the finished rug purchased by yet another member of the community. Weavers often learn the craft from family members or neighbors, perfecting their techniques by trial and error.

Rags, Rugs and Weavers: A Living Tradition explores this textile tradition through the work of eight accomplished rag rug weavers. Rugs, descriptive panels, sample materials and tools, and photographs illustrate all aspects of rag rug weaving. Viewers follow the process from rag to rug and back to rag and learn how these weavers and others are keeping the tradition alive.