6 GROUNDCOVER NEWS LOCAL ART Mural inside Sweetwaters cafe on Washington Street. JANUARY 10, 2024 and see Ten Thousand Villages as they are celebrating their 20-year anniversary as of October. Makeshift Gallery The Makeshift Gallery was created Where is the art hiding in Ann Arbor? CINDY GERE Groundcover vendor No. 279 2025 is all about being alive and exploring art in Ann Arbor. Sweetwaters on Washington St. I wandered into Sweetwaters where you are surrounded by amazing art works from the Huron Valley Art Collective, a wonderful art group that works with businesses to display their creations. There is art on just about every wall, many artists come from all over Michigan to show their art talents. The variety of art is very inviting. Each piece is for sale. The artists give a brief bio of their past and write about the kind of art they display, sometimes including QR codes to show more of what they have to offer. Many artists nowadays have full web pages and independent websites where they show their work and studio Crazy Wisdom My next stop was at one of my personal favorites: The one and only Crazy Wisdom. This shop holds many wonderful artworks from around the world, ranging from wall art to sculptures and jewelry. I was told they have sculptures from Spain and carvings from Indonesia. As a Native American, I love the dream catcher and wall hangings. Crazy Wisdom has many jewelry artists and much of the work is shown in display boxes around the front of the building. The artwork at Crazy Wisdom is spiritual in nature but also eye-catching. They reopened in 2023. Their annual magazine is a wonderful way to connect with like-minded people in a spiritual and holistic way. WSG Gallery My next stop was the intriguing WSG gallery on Ann Street that carries absolutely one of a kind art works from artists all over the state. Each artist contributes their time back into the gallery; this gallery is owned and operated by the artist collective. Much of this art is very inspiring and modern, as well as traditional. It’s a wonderful group effort in which artists bring back art to the city. This gallery closed for some time because of COVID-19, and now has reopened for the public, so do stop by and see great and inspiring art. Chris Nordin I took a hop, skip and jump into the shop of one-of-a-kind artist Chris Nordin, a glass blower, which is right near WSG. He does awe-inspiring pieces. He also brings from around the nation well-known artists to show their great works of art within his gallery. What I find so amazing about Nordin’s artwork is the mix of metal and glass hanging from ceilings in offices around the nation. Glass is a hard medium to work with and extremely fragile. This makes it far more valuable to show to the world, in my opinion. You add light to the works and you get beautiful art. You just need to go and experience this impressive form of art: Thursday and Friday 12 to 4 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Ten Thousand Villages My next stop was Ten Thousand Villages on Main Street. I walked in and immediately saw silk scarves that I fell in love with; each one was bright and colorful. This wonderful shop practices fair trade with artists on the other side of the world and brings in amazing artwork to you and me. Fair trade gives artists equal opportunity in their communities and helps them with a living wage. It’s an international partnership that has lasted for decades. The amazing principles of fair trade ensure the rights of artists in their home nations – sustainable development, environment friendly partnerships, paying promptly and fairly. As I walked through the gallery I saw many functional artworks, such as jewelry, kitchenware, wall hangings and scarves of many colors. Please come by a small group of local artists as a pop-up in 2022. This group expanded with other local artists to create a locals-only arts gallery for equal exposure and fair pay practices. Many highend galleries take advantage of artists with the amount of cut each gallery takes, often leaving the artist out in the cold. Makeshift and other co-op galleries are forcing real change for artist work. Honest work for honest pay. The Makeshift was created by Cheryl Dawdy and Jim Moran, but many artists are part of the gallery. This is the next gallery I hope to find my own works in sometime soon. The Makeshift Gallery is a one-of-a-kind art collective. The artists themselves come together and show their works to the world, but also take the time to do both behind-the-scenes work and help with the front desk during open hours. This gallery has shows with invited musicians and has amazing events with open mics and concerts on Friday nights. Their events bring in the public and show off the artists’ work. There is a featured artist wall and some not only talented but also popular artists as well. This wonderful location at 407 E Liberty St is not to be missed. The kinds of art available here are: fine art photography, paintings, mixed media, ceramics, jewelry and musical instruments. Come see this art from Wednesday through Saturday 1 to 7 and Sunday noon to 5. Ann Arbor Art Center A2AC The Ann Arbor Art Center — I popped in to see all the wonderful A2AC activities that blanket the see ART page 8 Cindy at the Makeshift Gallery in front of Andy Schiff (left) and Zeke Mallory's paintings, holding a cigarbox guitar made by Mike Mouradian.
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