Presented By: Penny W Stamps School of Art & Design
Fore-Site (Phase 1): The Stamps Gallery Pillar Project
Phase 1 Opening Reception: September 18, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
From September 2025 through August 2026, Stamps Gallery is partnering in a curatorial collaboration with two Ypsilanti-based, artist-run project spaces led by Stamps alumni: C.Y.N.K. Studios, directed by Sally Clegg (Lecturer III and Student Exhibition Coordinator, MFA ’20) and Abhishek Narula (MFA ’20); and Sometimes Space, directed by Nathan Byrne (Lecturer I, MFA ’21). Each space hosts dozens of artists annually for exhibitions, performances, and events, fostering experimental work and building community. For this project, Byrne, Clegg, and Narula have been commissioned to reimagine the pillars on Division Street that flank the gallery. In response, they've curated six artists to create new work for the pillars over three cycles:
Phase 1 (September 12 - December 12) artists: Amelia Burns (Cranbrook MFA '23) and Erin McKenna (MFA '20)
Phase 2 (January 12 - April 12) artists: Sally Clegg (MFA '20) and Kim Karlsrud (MFA '20)
Phase 3 (May 12 - August 12) artists: Abhishek Narula (MFA '20) and Nathan Byrne (MFA '21)
Phase 1 Curatorial Statement
Curated by Sometimes Space: Amelia Burns (entry pillar)
Curated by CYNK Studios: Erin McKenna (courtyard pillar)
Artists Amelia Burns and Erin McKenna reimagine the Division Street pillars through digital collages rooted in memory, landscape and shared environments. Burns arranges fragments of her own photographs into airy compositions where these pictorial remnants become enshrined by the artist’s vision of the sacred. McKenna draws from the language of quilting, organizing her photos of mushrooms, moss and lichen into vibrant geometric patterns which echo Ohio textile traditions. Both artists, Midwestern women attentive to the nuances of place, weave personal imagery into collective meaning. Together, their works create spaces of reverence and connection.
From September 2025 through August 2026, Stamps Gallery is partnering in a curatorial collaboration with two Ypsilanti-based, artist-run project spaces led by Stamps alumni: C.Y.N.K. Studios, directed by Sally Clegg (Lecturer III and Student Exhibition Coordinator, MFA ’20) and Abhishek Narula (MFA ’20); and Sometimes Space, directed by Nathan Byrne (Lecturer I, MFA ’21). Each space hosts dozens of artists annually for exhibitions, performances, and events, fostering experimental work and building community. For this project, Byrne, Clegg, and Narula have been commissioned to reimagine the pillars on Division Street that flank the gallery. In response, they've curated six artists to create new work for the pillars over three cycles:
Phase 1 (September 12 - December 12) artists: Amelia Burns (Cranbrook MFA '23) and Erin McKenna (MFA '20)
Phase 2 (January 12 - April 12) artists: Sally Clegg (MFA '20) and Kim Karlsrud (MFA '20)
Phase 3 (May 12 - August 12) artists: Abhishek Narula (MFA '20) and Nathan Byrne (MFA '21)
Phase 1 Curatorial Statement
Curated by Sometimes Space: Amelia Burns (entry pillar)
Curated by CYNK Studios: Erin McKenna (courtyard pillar)
Artists Amelia Burns and Erin McKenna reimagine the Division Street pillars through digital collages rooted in memory, landscape and shared environments. Burns arranges fragments of her own photographs into airy compositions where these pictorial remnants become enshrined by the artist’s vision of the sacred. McKenna draws from the language of quilting, organizing her photos of mushrooms, moss and lichen into vibrant geometric patterns which echo Ohio textile traditions. Both artists, Midwestern women attentive to the nuances of place, weave personal imagery into collective meaning. Together, their works create spaces of reverence and connection.
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