Anne Mondro: Forging Community Through Art

“Between the Earth and the Sky: Intergenerational Interactions of Visibility,” a program facilitated by Stamps Associate Professor Anne Mondro and Charlie Michaels (MFA 2011), is featured in a new University Record article by Safiya Merchant. Supported by a National Endowment for the Arts grant and U‑M Office of Research grant, the project brings area young adults and local community members living with dementia together to create seasonal public art installations.

A group of young adults worked hand-in-hand with residents of the Memory Support Center at Brecon Village this past fall to forge light out of darkness.

Working across generations and the struggles associated with living with dementia, the teens guided the group of Saline residents in making 10-sided star-shaped paper lanterns — orbs that would light up the sky on the longest night of the year.

The teens — members of the Ypsilanti Corner Health Center Youth Leadership Council — and the residents collaged layers of tissue paper onto pre-fabricated plastic sheets that were then folded and stitched together to create the stars.

In a program facilitated by Anne Mondro, associate professor of art and design, and Charlie Michaels, assistant director of student and faculty engagement at the College of Engineering’s Center for Socially Engaged Design, area young adults and local community members living with dementia have been united this past year to create seasonal public art installations centering on the themes of ​‘light’ and ​‘growth.’

Bridging the divide: U‑M faculty, staff forge community through art | University Record