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*Common app code: Central27
University Art Gallery
Located near the library and university center, the Central Michigan University Art Gallery's mission is to provide you and other mid-Michigan community members the opportunity to see contemporary art by emerging and established regional, national and international artists.
The gallery also serves as a laboratory and classroom for you to learn the process and concepts of exhibiting your creative work through juried student shows and senior BFA and BAA exhibitions.
We showcase art
We feature up to 12 exhibitions a year, as well as related lectures and films. Our schedule includes original curated exhibitions and national traveling exhibitions. You will be able to exhibit your work in an impressive 1890 square feet of display space and 290 running feet of walls in two galleries, equipped with LED track lighting, computer monitors, wifi, and a high-definition digital projector with a sound system.
Current exhibition
More Than You Needed to Know - Works by David Stairs
This is a 50-year retrospective with documentation of work by David Stairs, professor of graphic design at Central Michigan University. He is active in the area of social design and has published and been anthologized numerous times including in Design Issues and on the Design Observer website. In 2000 he received a two-year Fulbright to lecture and do research at the Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine Arts at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. In 2002 Stairs founded Designers Without Borders in conjunction with his work in Africa. In 2006 he founded the Design-Altruism-Project weblog. In 2012 he received his second Fulbright research award, this time to India. He directed and produced the design documentary Digging the Suez Canal with a Teaspoon, 2019. Stairs is an internationally renowned book artist, with work in collections around the world including MOMA New York, MOCA Chicago, the Tate, and the Smithsonian. He has been represented by Printed Matter in New York since 1980. His book Okuwangaala: The Resilience of vernacular in Everyday African Design was published in September 2025.
Exhibition Dates: October 23 - November 21, 2026, Main Gallery
Reception: October 24, 2-4pm
Artist Talk: November 5, 5pm, Opperman Auditorium, Park Library
One Old White Guy: Works by James MaloneBeach
James MaloneBeach creates medals of honor for personal and public feats. Military decorations and reliquaries inspire his work. His medals may include fabricated metal frames, found objects, personal artifacts and relics, animal body parts, ribbons, and photos. His works honor heroism of ordinary lives as well as satirizes politicians, political situations and the foibles of daily life.
MaloneBeach has exhibited locally, nationally and internationally, often at the Art Medal World Congress (FIDEM). He has an MA from the University of Iowa in metalworking and did his undergraduate work at Bemidji State in Minnesota. His works are in the collections at The Swedish Cabinet of Coins and Medals, The National Museum of the Netherlands, The Newark Museum and The British Museum. James MaloneBeach lives and works in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.
Exhibition Dates: October 23 - November 21, 2026, West Gallery
Artist Talk: October 27, 5pm, Wightman Hall 142
Artist Reception: October 27, 6:15pm, West Gallery
About the gallery
Admission
The gallery is free and open to the public. There is never an admission charge.
Tours and Group Visits
Tours are available at no cost to school groups or other visitors. To schedule tours or group visits of over 15* people contact 989-774-7457.
Addresses
Mailing address
University Art Gallery
Wightman 132
Central Michigan University
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
Shipping address
University Art Gallery
Central Michigan University
251 E. Preston St.
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
