Dates: October 18, 2024 through January 11, 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, October 18, 5-8PM
Virtual Artist Talk: Thursday, November 14, 5-7PM
Closing Reception: Friday, January 10, 2025

The Elaine L. Jacob Gallery, Wayne State University is pleased to present Echoes from the Rust, October 18, 2024 through January 11, 2025. An opening reception will be held on Friday, October 18, 5-8PM, with a DJ performance by Saylem Celeste (Submerge), playing from 5:30-8PM. 

Echoes from the Rust traces the artistic lineages of the Rust Belt as it re-emerges from a time of fracture following corporate abandonment and economic decline. This group exhibition hones in on artwork made by artists with lived experiences in Detroit and Pittsburgh, two post-industrial titans forged by steel.

Through various personal explorations the artists invoke the deep rich cultural inheritance of the Rust Belt. These sensitive minings are reflected against surfaces in new forms of paintings, drawings, collage, found objects, and video/site-specific installations. With experimentations intersecting themes around identity, migration, labor, and place, Echoes from the Rust compels us to re-center the Rust Belt’s multifaceted histories – to provide guidance as a bright shining light moving forward.

Echoes from the Rust is curated by Kemuel Benyehudah, a Brooklyn born curator who has relocated to Detroit and witnessed gentrification’s socioeconomic disparities, cultural erasure, and human displacement. He is interested in expanded notions of community to envision equitable futures for all.

Works by the following artists are included in the exhibition: N.E. Brown, Halima Afi Cassells, Adnan Charara, Joshua Challen Ice, Hubert Massey, and Omid Shekari.

Special programing coinciding with the exhibition will include a virtual artist talk on Thursday, November 14 from 6-8PM on Zoom, and a closing reception on Friday, January 10 5-8PM.

Dates: January 17 through February 22, 2025
Reception: Friday, January 17, 5-8PM
Closing Artist Talk: Saturday, February 22, 2025, 10-11:30AM

This exhibition shines light on a facet of Wayne State’s vibrant community of creative alumni. The artists featured were pinpointed by the current faculty as those with compelling approaches to integrating form and color.

Featuring works by: Zahra Almajidi, Kathy Clifford, Jessica Wildman Katz, Brian Kritzman, Shannon Kurzyniec, lambert, Elise Martin, Nancy Pletos, John Rizzo, John Rowland and Albert Young

Special programmin coinciding with the exhibition will include a gallery talk on Saturday, February 22, 10AM-11:30PM. To attend, please RSVP.

The event is in partnership and hosted the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, and Wayne State University Alumni Association.

For more information about the gallery talk, please contact April Hazamy at 561-860-3297 or ahazamy@wayne.edu.

Dates: February 7 through April 26, 2025
Reception: Friday, February 7, 5-8PM

The College of Fine, Performing, Communication Arts (CFPCA), Wayne State University is pleased to present Edge of Visibility at the Elaine L. Jacob Gallery from February 7 through April 26, 2025. An opening reception will be held on Friday, February 7, 5-8PM.  

Edge of Visibility is a multimedia exhibition featuring works by artists who address current contemporary concepts. Through individual practices and the use of repetition, color, and abstracted imagery, the artists reflect on personal experiences to explore identity and origin. Tension and harmony are made visible through process and material, representing cultural and historical topics, but also a passage of time.

The exhibition features work by Alia Ali, Hasan Elahi, Sahar Khoury, and Jordan Nassar.

Dates: February 7 through April 26, 2025
Reception: Friday, February 7, 5-8PM

The College of Fine, Performing, Communication Arts (CFPCA), Wayne State University and the University Art Collection are pleased to present Orgins at the Elaine L. Jacob Gallery from February 7 through April 26, 2025. An opening reception will be held on Friday, February 7, 5-8PM.  

The selected works will reveals a critical understanding of the larger artworld, combined with ideas and approaches unique to Detroit's cultural community. Each work reflects a powerful sense of loyalty to the place of origin, created by artists with deep ties to the community, and articulate the way in which cultural expression has manifested itself in a unique and diverse Detroit style.

Included with the exhibition will be a selection of work from the Alternative Press, curated by Jakira Ahmed, the UAC Susanne Feld Hilberry Fellow.  Jakira is a current student receiving a BA in Art History and English, and also works in the UAC as well as the galleries.