For Joanne Leonard, reserving newspaper clippings is something of an urgent task since future generations may know only digital versions of these fragile pages of newspaper. Through the juxtaposition of news images and images in books, Leonard creates a conversation in her photographs between present and past. The pictures she makes, sometimes witty, often poignant, are a form of diary; they reflect her daily observations as she reads the newspaper over morning coffee. Leonard's work has been widely exhibited and published, including exhibition in the San Francisco Museum of Art's Women of Photography, and publication in Janson's History of Art, Gardner's Art Through the Ages, and the Time-Life Library of Photography. She is a distinguished Professor Emeritus at U-M.

When viewing contemporary artist's books, we find alternative bindings and printing methods that often change the form of the traditional codex by altering type or image, shape or structure. For this exhibit, U-M Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design Book Arts Instructor, Barbara Brown, has collected a body of work created by her students who have spent the 2013 winter semester exploring contemporary books and making books as art objects. The following students have work in the show: Ashley Allis, Jessica Costantini, Caili Dalian, Nancy Huynh, Rachel Junker, Janice Lee, Minji Lee, Nina Levin, Corinn Lewis, Rosie Liao, Lyz Luidens, Erica Neuman, Megan Reina, Anna Schulte, Amanda Stimac, Haley Tanasijevich, Diane Thach and Leah Whiteman.

One of the oldest women's professional art organizations in the country, the Athena Art Society began in 1903 at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio to assist and encourage women in all branches of the fine arts. Athena provides local art awards and scholarships for women, and it stimulates local community participation through leadership and partnerships with other art organizations. Their calming representational and abstract images, landscape scenes, and figures evoke memories and feelings, reflecting Visions of Serenity. Members work in all media, including: painting, drawing, pastel, mixed media, photography, ceramics, sculpture, glass and fiber art. Gifts of Art Gallery — Taubman Health Center South Lobby, Floor 1.

Ann Arbor based Adrienne Kaplan explores the American search for happiness by choosing a day at the beach. Her goal is to transmit this search and achievement through the interplay of the paint and the subject. Her works are semi-representational acrylic paintings on canvas. Kaplan earned her BFA in Studio Art & History from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and her MFA in Printmaking from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan. She is represented by WSG gallery in Ann Arbor, where she is an active partner and has exhibited her work continuously since 2005.

Casey Blanchard is a monoprint and mixed media artist living in Vermont. During her travels, Blanchard considers no found object too grand or insignificant for expression in the printing medium. She finds the process of monoprinting to be engaging, fluid, unpredictable and fun. It is the mysteries behind the frayed veil, the torn edge and the unspoken word that intrigue her. Blanchard hopes to wake up the viewer's perception, encouraging in them reflection, exploration and a connection to meaning. She uses organic materials in her artwork to help draw people to their natural, healthy and whole state. Blanchard has been involved in arts in healthcare both nationally and internationally.

Missy Orge creates work that is evocative of scientific curiosities and mounted butterflies, with a humor that sneaks up and inspires a much closer look. Her current work focuses on birdpants ̶ tiny, ornithologically correct pants that “could be for backyard visitors who are either fashion-forward or simply chilly in the Michigan winter." She employs traditional craftwork such as quilting, embroidery and beading to produce highly detailed ̶ and decidedly non-traditional ̶ confections that encourage the viewer to consider the possibilities of enticing a chickadee to don a pair of slacks. Making Ann Arbor her home for more than 20 years, she spends her spare time filling bird feeders in the hope that, one day, she can talk a songbird into modeling her creations.

Reproductive Justice -- the right to have children, not have children, and parent our children in healthy and safe environments -- is a movement and perspective that arose in the 1990s. Articulated and led by women of color with a more encompassing social vision, reproductive justice usually incorporates both a framework of human rights and an awareness of the intersectionality of women’s identities and struggles against sexism, racism, homophobia, and economic marginalization.

This exhibit provides a historical context for the emergence and antecedents of reproductive justice. Given that women's lives have never been reducible to one dimension of their reproductive health, this exhibit traces a longer history of reproductive justice, illustrating many facets of experiences, debates, and policies related to pregnancy, birth, birth control, and raising children.

The exhibit is held in conjunction with the conference, Reproductive Justice: Advocates, Academics, Activists in Ann Arbor, a Michigan Meeting.

Alisha Wessler’s “Compass” is from the exhibit “Kelsey Contemporaries: Kayla Romberger and Alisha Wessler,” open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 1-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through June 16 at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. The exhibit features the work of Master of Fine Arts students Romberger and Wessler from the School of Art & Design and Museum Studies Program.

Herbs, herb container plantings, and hard-to-find heirloom vegetables grown by Cultivating Community, the U-M student volunteer gardening group. All proceeds support Cultivating Community and the U-M Campus Farm. Both days: demos and information by UMBees, the student beekeeping group; and Michigan Gourd Society. Also, on May 18, a fermenting class presented by local holistic nutritionists (fee-based class); and the Herb Study Group will be on hand with herb info, free herbal samples and recipes, and information on worm castings and gardening with worms. Free admission.

Matthaei Botanical Gardens is the venue for this special show of art created by older adults with memory loss and art students working in a variety of materials and media. The exhibit is based on the class created by U-M Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design Associate Professor Anne Mondro. Partnering with the U-M Silver Club mild memory loss program club members, including the newer Elderberry (barely elder) group, students guided the members in art making. The theme of the semester was “Lessons Learned.” Students and club members shared experiences and expertise to create one-of-a-kind works of art. The final result is an art exhibition for the Club Members, care partners and students. This traveling exhibition captures the spirit of creativity and embraces a shared experience.

Sponsored by U-M Geriatrics Center, Silver Club Mild Memory Loss Programs; U-M Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design; U-M Alzheimer's Disease Center; and U-M Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Nichols Arboretum.

Organized by the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Florencia Pita/FP mod explores the provocations and intersections of digital technology, material experimentation, femininity, and ornament in the work of Argentina-born, Los Angeles-based architect and designer Florencia Pita. The exhibition and its related publication, part of the UMMA Books series, trace the evolution of Pita's design ideology through installation pieces, urban design, tableware, furniture, and architecture, as well as small adornments. Pita's boldly colored works draw from literary, art, and biological sources; employ cutting-edge architectural fabrication techniques; and cross borders of visual art, architecture, and design.

Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the Herbert W. and Susan L. Johe Endowment, Laura Lynch and Hugh McPherson, and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. Additional generous support is provided by Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

People are different. Throughout history, these differences have been a source of community strength and personal identity. They have also been the basis for discrimination and oppression.

The idea of “race” has been used historically to describe these differences and to justify mistreatment of people and even genocide. Today, contemporary scientific understanding of human variation is beginning to challenge “racial” differences, and even challenge the very concept of race.

Race: Are we so different?, developed by the American Anthropological Association in collaboration with the Science Museum of Minnesota, is the first national exhibition to tell the stories of race from the biological, cultural, and historical points of view. Combining these perspectives offers an unprecedented look at race and racism in the United States. For more information about the exhibit, visit www.UnderstandingRace.org. The traveling Race exhibit has inspired the University of Michigan’s Understanding Race Project, an audience engagement initiative including the campus-wide, winter term Understanding Race Theme Semester, centered in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; participation by all ten public school districts in Washtenaw County; and extensive involvement by community members, nonprofits, government agencies, and other groups.

Museum opens at 12 noon on Sundays

Writes Michigan boogie master Mark Braun, better known as Mr. B: "Mr. B’s Joybox Express ... is the realization of an ambition I have had my whole adult life—combining two passions of musical expression and athletic endeavor. My life’s work has been as a pianist, performing throughout the world as a soloist, with big bands, and occasionally with some of the giants of the blues/jazz piano world. I have spent much of my free time in an array of sports from baseball leagues to extreme winter camping, and long-distance open water swimming, among others. Recognizing that uniting these seemingly divergent interests required a unique platform, I dreamed of putting a real piano on a bicycle and riding it across the USA. As I approached 50, the dream reemerged, with a twist: Could that whimsical notion be a tool to help others in a tangible way?" Thus was born Mr. B's Joybox Express, a fundraising marvel of a piano-hauling tricycle with three cyclists, hydraulic disc brakes, and a rear differential. This year, Mr. B and his crew are riding the entire length of the Mississippi River, raising funds for arts and athletics, and at today's concert you can help put them on the road! You'll hear an array of Michigan jazz and blues giants, including Mr. B himself, Madcat, George Bedard, Paul Keller, San Slomovitz, Ellen Rowe, Pete Siers, and more surprise guests. Mr. B's Joybox Express is a 501(c)(3) that raises funds for organizations that provide arts and athletics programming for kids.