DeVos Art Museum - Art & Design - NMU Events and Announcements

DeVos Art Museum - Art & Design

Celebrating Legacy: Lake Superior Art Association in the Permanent Collection

On View: March 19, 2026 – March 19, 2027

This year marks the 75th Anniversary of the Lake Superior Art Association (LSAA), the longest-running arts organization in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In celebration of this legacy, this exhibition brings together past and present LSAA members from the museum’s permanent collection. A collection that was created in a variety of mediums, including ceramics, sculpture, photography, printmaking, collage, textile, and painting. The artwork offers glimpses into their observations and experiences of everyday life expressed through abstract, representational, and functional forms.

Artists include: Bobbi Ameen, Claire Bennett, Barry Bernstein, Helen Bice, Ben Bohnsack, Sally Brebner, Jon Brookhouse, Thomas Cappuccio, Alice Carr, May Cebalo, Sallie Chisholm, Kathleen Conover, Cynthia Coté, Jack Deo, Verna Depro, Nita Engle, Linda Ferguson, Wayne Francis, Christine Garceau, Vivian Glass, Paul Grant, John Gustafson, Niel Haapala, Elizabeth Hadley, Bill Hamilton, Claire Harkin, Ken Hatfield, John Heath, Kaye Hiebel, Marc Himes, John Hubbard, Kathy Carlton Johnson, Celia Kelly, Diane Kordich, Maude Kronquist, Robert LaLonde, Stella Larkin, Vida Lautner, William Leete, Yvonne Lemire, Marj Lehwald, Maggie Linn, Carl Mayer, Mark Mitchell, Josephine Morris, Tyyne Ostlund, Carol Phillips, Vicki Phillips, Bernard Park, James Quirk, Ed Risak, Sue Robishaw, Ann Russ, Christine Saari, Steve Schmeck, JoAnn Deuel Shelby, Betty Shirtz, Patty Smith, Helen Steinho, and Patrick St. Germain.

DeVos Art Museum - Art & Design

On Friday, September 12th, 2025, please join us for performances, activations, a discussion, and the reception. 

• 12 pm - 5 pm, in front of Art & Design building: misael soto 

• 6 pm: Panel discussion with Mark Jeffery and Kelly Kaczynski 

• 7 pm - 9 pm: Reception featuring performances by Heather Lyon and Kristin Mariani. 

The exhibition features thirty artists who participated in Nido (Italian for "nest"), an artist residency in Monte Castello di Vibio, a hill town in the Umbria region of Italy. The artworks feature a wide range of subjects and multitude of sensory approaches that distill, echo, reflect, and respond to a shared place-based experience. The artworks demonstrate how artist residencies serve as a site of research and play, connecting artists and ideas, fostering community, and laying the groundwork for new approaches to thinking and working, while rapidly transmitting culture.

Artists include Amber J. Anderson, Leslie Baum, Rachel Collier, Gianna Commito, Daisy Craddock, Bailey Fritz, Mary Griffin, Keeley Haftner, Kate Hampel, Mark Jeffery, Kelly Kaczynski, Arnold J. Kemp, Audrey Hynes Kilinski, Emily Lanctot, Amy Lang, Heather Lyon, Kristin Mariani, Jeffrey McMahon, Stephanie McMaho, Heather Mekkelson, Judd Morrissey, Jessica Mueller, Ruth L. Poor, Shawn Powell, Corrie Slawson, misael soto, Ann Stoddard, Simone Whiteley-Allen, Kevin Wixted, and Adrian Wong. 

DeVos Art Museum - Art & Design

Murmurations: August 25 - November 1

The art exhibition features thirty artists who participated in Nido (Italian for "nest"), an artist residency in Monte Castello di Vibio, a hill town in the Umbria region of Italy. The artworks feature a wide range of subjects and multitude of sensory approaches that distill, echo, reflect, and respond to a shared place-based experience. The artworks demonstrate how artist residencies serve as a site of research and play, connecting artists and ideas, fostering community, and laying the groundwork for new approaches to thinking and working, while rapidly transmitting culture.

Artists include Amber J. Anderson, Leslie Baum, Rachel Collier, Gianna Commito, Daisy Craddock, Bailey Fritz, Mary Griffin, Keeley Haftner, Kate Hampel, Mark Jeffery, Kelly Kaczynski, Arnold J. Kemp, Audrey Hynes Kilinski, Emily Lanctot, Amy Lang, Heather Lyon, Kristin Mariani, Jeffrey McMahon, Stephanie McMaho, Heather Mekkelson, Judd Morrissey, Jessica Mueller, Ruth L. Poor, Shawn Powell, Corrie Slawson, misael soto, Ann Stoddard, Simone Whiteley-Allen, Kevin Wixted, and Adrian Wong. 

DeVos Art Museum - Art & Design

North of the 45th: 18th Annual Upper Midwest Juried Exhibition 

June 20 - August 1, 2025

North of the 45th is an annual juried exhibition of artists living in the geographical area north of the 45th parallel in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. This line, known as the halfway point between the equator and the North Pole, is often associated with being “up north.” The exhibition highlights artists living in this upper Midwest region from rural and urban areas.

The 2025 exhibition is juried by Rebecca Heidenberg. Heidenberg is an curator, filmmaker, and co-founder of the Minneapolis gallery Dreamsong. Heidenberg earned a BA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 and an MA from The New School in 2016. In 2021, Heidenberg launched Twin Cities Art Week, an annual celebration of contemporary art in Minneapolis and St. Paul, featuring over twenty venues, from small artist-run spaces to leading galleries and major institutions. 

On Friday, July 25 at 6 pm, please join us for talks with the juror and the closing reception.

The exhibition and event are free and open to all.

DeVos Art Museum - Art & Design

June 20 - August 1, 2025

North of the 45th is an annual juried exhibition of artists living in the geographical area north of the 45th parallel in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. This line, known as the halfway point between the equator and the North Pole, is often associated with being “up north.” The exhibition highlights artists living in this upper Midwest region from rural and urban areas. 

The 2025 exhibition is juried by Rebecca Heidenberg. Heidenberg is an curator, filmmaker, and co-founder of the Minneapolis gallery Dreamsong. Heidenberg earned a BA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 and an MA from The New School in 2016. In 2021, Heidenberg launched Twin Cities Art Week, an annual celebration of contemporary art in Minneapolis and St. Paul, featuring over twenty venues, from small artist-run spaces to leading galleries and major institutions.

On Friday, July 25 at 6 pm, please join us for talks with the juror and the closing reception.

The exhibition and event are free and open to all.

DeVos Art Museum - Art & Design

Join us for the Annual Children's Exhibition Reception on May 22, from 5-7 pm.

Each year, the NMU DeVos Art Museum celebrates our area schools that support art programs for elementary students. This annual exhibition, featuring talented elementary students’ artwork in all media, is organized by hardworking art teachers from local schools.

The participating schools include: Aspen Ridge Elementary School, AuTrain-Onota Public School, Birchview Elementary School, Cherry Creek Elementary School, Father Marquette Catholic Academy, Gilbert Elementary School, Graveraet Elementary School, K.I. Sawyer Elementary School, Lakeview Elementary School, North Star Montessori Academy, Powell Township School, and Sandy Knoll Elementary. Featuring Special guest, Project Knot work

The exhibition and event are free and open to all.

DeVos Art Museum - Art & Design

May 5 – May 24, 2025
Join us for the reception on May 22, from 5-7 pm

Each year, the NMU DeVos Art Museum celebrates our area schools that support art programs for elementary students. This annual exhibition, featuring talented elementary students’ artwork in all media, is organized by hardworking art teachers from local schools.

The participating schools include: Aspen Ridge Elementary School, AuTrain-Onota Public School, Birchview Elementary School, Cherry Creek Elementary School, Father Marquette Catholic Academy, Gilbert Elementary School, Graveraet Elementary School, K.I. Sawyer Elementary School, Lakeview Elementary School, North Star Montessori Academy, Powell Township School, and Sandy Knoll Elementary. Featuring special guest, Project Knot Work

The exhibition and event are free and open to all.

DeVos Art Museum - Art & Design

"Standing Still - Studio Portraits from the Upper Peninsula," is on display at the DeVos Art Museum (at the corner of Tracy Ave and Seventh Street) from August 6 to December 13, 2024. 

This historic photographic exhibition features local legends, friends, neighbors, and everyday heroes of the past. Gestures, expressions, clothing, props, and backdrops reveal rich narratives about the subjects, photographers, and the times. The portraits were taken in Upper Peninsula photo studios between 1890 and 1910 by photographers including Charles Cole and Brainard F. Childs at Childs Art Gallery in Marquette and Ishpeming; John William Nara at Nara Studio in Calumet; Gustav A. Werner at Werner Studio in Marquette and Ishpeming, and Theodore Sexton at Sexton Studio in Garden.

Join us on October 10, 2024, at 6 PM for an engaging talk with the artist, Jack Deo, followed by a reception.