Event Details

Historical sources belong to everyone. This workshop invites community members to not only engage with the archives but even reshape them! Imagine combining your own experiences with a copy of a historical photo to create art that is brand new.

During the workshop, archivists from the Bentley Historical Library will teach participants about finding and understanding archival photos.

Guest artist Avery Williams will then lead a hands-on workshop where participants create collage art with images from the Bentley’s archival collections about the Ann Arbor area’s community life.

Avery explains, “I’m drawn to the fragments and remnants that I encounter in the archive: a sly look between two people in the corner of a photograph, a bit of handwriting in the margin of a typed document. I’m excited to work with the Bentley Historical Library and their rich collections to introduce participants to my collage practice. Together we’ll look closely at the archive to craft new stories about the past.”

This workshop welcomes members of the Ann Arbor community ages 14+ as well as UM students, staff, and faculty. Dinner provided.

About the speaker:

Avery Williamson is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores historical and contemporary notions of the archive, domestic space, Black pleasure and spatiotemporal collapse. She explores the narratives of Black women in personal and institutional archives. Her artwork has been featured in The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, Guardian News, Oprah Magazine and Martha Stewart Magazine. She graduated from Harvard College with a degree in Visual Studies and currently lives and works in Southeast Michigan.