Exhibition Dates: August 18 - October 17, 2025
Exhibition Reception: September 11, 3-5 p.m.

"In their second year, students at the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design complete a major milestone: Second Year Studio (SYS). It’s a course where, per the syllabus, students 'develop the capacity to work independently by identifying, exploring, and pursuing a single independent project that involves multiple iterations.' Each student takes their own path, encountering questions that can shape the direction of their creative practice—how do I manage my time? How much constraint vs. freedom do I thrive on? What subject matter do I care about most deeply? How do my ideas about my future goals intersect with the work I want to make now? At the end of the semester, students formally report on their experience in a presentation called the Sophomore Review, and a faculty panel offers individualized feedback.

Until now, the classroom studios and review rooms have been the only place to catch a glimpse of the art and design work resulting from this pivotal course. Last year, Associate Dean for Academic Programs Rebecca Strzelec proposed something new: an exhibition installed throughout the Art & Architecture Building during the summer that would celebrate Second Year Studio work and help to welcome the community back in the Fall. This inaugural 2025 Second Year Studio Exhibition showcases our rising third-years and transfer students, and invites first-years and other newcomers to explore both the building, and the creative possibilities ahead. The show features 44 students who have volunteered to participate, yet it honors every Stamps major who reaches the SYS milestone.

The pieces on view span a wide array of media and capture a specific moment in each maker’s path—experiments in previously unfamiliar methods, emergent passions, creative risks taken, iterations and reiterations, and the seeds of so much future work."

- Sally Clegg, Lecturer and Student Exhibitions Coordinator

Exhibiting Artists and Designers

Robin Beaney
Adi Behar
David Byun
Zoë Corley
Chloe Dennis
Viktoriya Finyak
Maria Elena García-Murguía
Elisa Gasser
Olivia Glynn
Roe Halbert
Nadav Havilio
Dee Holmes
Ruby Hough
Urvi Joshi
Eunice Kim
Hannah Kryzhan
Ben Levitsky
Joyce Liu
Katelyn Ma
Alexandria Mainor
Erin Malone
Summer Mansi
Cheyenne Moore
Ella Moxon
Shafiq Muqit
Alex Nguyen
Anna Noh
Leanna Mokihana Paik
Eva Park
Michelle Peng
Eliana Pettigrew
Zainab Rahmani
Olivia Reed
Sky Roberts
Zachary Sebestyen
Oliver Lee St Cyr
Sophie Stillwagon
Veronica Weinberg
Caitlin Weingarden
Nala Arielle White
Ariel Williams
Silas Williams
Katherine Xu
Joy Yang