Want to know a secret?

UM-Dearborn’s art faculty have a “best kept secret” — and they are putting it on display starting today.

“Our university has all of this artistic talent from future and current architects, engineers, psychologists, biochemists, marketers, educators and  more — and many years of it — that comes out of this little known place in the College of Arts, Sciences and Letters: Our art room. It’s time to show off some of that work,” says Applied Art Lecturer Madeleine Barkey.

The new exhibit, “Best Kept Secret: UMD Student, Faculty and Alumni Art Show”  opens today and runs through April 16 at the Stamelos Gallery Center, which is located on the first floor of the Mardigian Library. An opening reception will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. today, with an artist talk at 6 p.m. 

The exhibit’s goal is to showcase work done by UM-Dearborn students, alums and faculty during the past five years. Media include graphic design, painting, drawing, watercolor, printmaking, digital photography, animation and more.

“The university’s art program is a hub of authentic, human-driven creativity. But it’s tucked away on the third and fourth floors of the CASL Building and not everyone goes up there to see what we are up to,” says Applied Art Lecturer Sarah Nesbitt, who says Applied Art faculty personally reached out to hundreds of former students in preparation for the exhibit. “Students from majors across the university gather every day in our art studio and digital arts lab. They train their eyes to be sharper, their hands to be more dexterous and their brains make more connections between the right and left side.”

College of Engineering and Computer Science alum Hunter McCray is one of the 30-plus students and alums whose work is featured in the show. Now working in product development at the furniture company Herman Miller, McCray — a human-centered design engineering major who graduated in 2023 — says his time in the CASL Building’s art room gave him an edge when on the job.

“As an engineer, my UM-Dearborn art education helps me to explore and sketch new ideas to convey with concept and prototype development — and it even helps in the legal field, too, with patent drawings,” says McCray, who is currently working full time while pursuing a graduate degree in engineering at UCLA. He has photography in the exhibit. 

Nesbitt says reaching out to alums and learning about their successes was a perk of exhibit planning. In addition to McCray, the lecturers reconnected with 2022 graduate Dani Hernandez, who is now an associate exhibition manager at the Guggenheim Museum; Grace Bianco, a 2020 graduate who’s a fifth-grade teacher at Detroit Country Day School, and Jaimal Quezada, a 2023 graduate who’s an impact crash safety test engineer at SEGULA Technologies.

“When we first had the idea for the exhibit, there was a concern that there wouldn’t be enough work to fill the space. But our grads have held onto their art and continue to make more — even when going into other fields,” says Nesbitt, who helped select the work in the exhibit. “We have 129 pieces and books of student work on display and there could have easily been more based on the number of entries we received.”

In addition, there will be faculty works — from paintings to digital art to 3D works — by Barkey, Nesbitt, Applied Art Lecturer Kevin Castile, former Applied Art Lecturer Julie Lambert and Curator Emeritus Joe Marks. Lambert now teaches at Macomb Community College. Marks died in 2023; Castile passed away in 2024. 

The exhibit has been in the works for several years — Barkey says it started with Castile, a longtime UM-Dearborn lecturer who died unexpectedly a year ago. Castile’s family provided several of his paintings and sketchbooks for the art show. “This idea was Kevin’s, but we are going to bring it over the finish line,” says Barkey, adding that they want to do a retrospective show every few years moving forward.

Clinical psychology graduate student Paige Allen, who’s also a 2023 undergraduate CASL alum, says Castile and his UM-Dearborn painting class helped get her through the isolating days of the pandemic. She continued to take art classes during her college career. “Professor Castile and his courses have improved my life in ways I don't know how to properly express. I am incredibly thankful to have had him as a professor and for his encouragement of my creativity,” Allen says. “In a world that routinely tends to devalue humanities and the arts, my art courses provided me with a needed outlet. They gave me a set few hours a day to sit down, create and bond with those around me in an open and encouraging space.” Allen has paintings and a digital illustration in the exhibit.

Barkey says she often hears from former students about ways the lessons learned from their art classes, like flexible thinking and thoughtful critiques, help build skills like professional problem solving. She says those students are now in fields like mathematics, game design, architecture, urban planning and more.

“Employers want hard workers who see more than the walls. Sometimes answers are not obvious and creative solutions are needed. Art helps you stretch your hands and minds and become more open to new ideas and forums,” Barkey says. “We have students and alumni with a variety of interests and talents who go out into the world and do great things — and this exhibition unites them through their shared interest in art.”

Galley hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday.

Story by Sarah Tuxbury