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Note from the Atelier August 1, 2026 Hi There Reader... I have a confession. I love a good shopping trip down the back-to-school supply aisle at my local Meijer. I no longer need notebooks for classes or folders for homework, but I still can't resist a fresh pack of Ticonderoga pencils, a handful of Elmer's glue sticks or a good bendy ruler. I love back to school season! Later this month as students head back to school, I'll be starting nine months of docent training at the Grand Rapids Art Museum. It feels a little like the first day of school all over again. So this week's newsletter is inspired by that same spirit of curiosity. I hope you'll enjoy exploring a few remarkable university art museums and discovering why a college elective I loved more than forty years ago still inspires me today. Happy exploring!

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August's Don't Miss Art Exhibitions

Back-to-School Detours Worth Taking...Go Big Ten!

We're veering slightly away from the usual list of art exhibitions and taking a slight detour. Whether you or your child(ren) are heading back to campus or just enjoying a weekend away, don't miss some of the country's finest art museums tucked inside universities. You don't need to be a student to visit, and many offer free admission or charge only a modest fee.

Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois One of my personal favorites (Go Cats!), the Block presents thoughtful, often unexpected exhibitions on a beautiful lakeside campus that is worth wandering on its own. Its collection is especially strong in prints, including work by Chicago printmakers of the 1930s and ’40s, as well as documentary photography of the Midwest and architectural drawings by Marion Mahony Griffin and Walter Burley Griffin.

Weisman Art Museum University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota Frank Gehry’s gleaming stainless steel building is almost as much of a work of art as the collection inside. The museum is particularly known for early 20th-century American art, including the world’s largest holdings of work by Marsden Hartley, Alfred H. Maurer and B.J.O. Nordfeldt, along with an exceptional collection of traditional Korean furniture and decorative objects.

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan Designed by Zaha Hadid, the dramatic angular building feels like a piece of contemporary sculpture dropped into the heart of campus. Although the Broad is best known for its adventurous contemporary exhibitions, its collection includes more than 10,000 objects spanning approximately 5,000 years of art history.

Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana Housed in a striking I.M. Pei-designed building, the Eskenazi holds one of the most expansive university art collections in the country, with more than 45,000 objects from cultures around the world. Among its treasures are Stuart Davis’s vibrant modernist mural Swing Landscape, two exceptional Roman portrait busts of Emperor Septimius Severus and Empress Julia Domna and an important collection of African ceramics.

If you're already planning a fall football weekend, family visit or road trip, consider leaving a little extra time to wander one of these museums, as well as its university grounds. You may discover that the best part of campus isn't the stadium (I know, bite my tongue!).

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When Art Had a Different Job

Why did this never occur to me??

After 40+ years, I have one college textbook left. Just one. My engineering, computer science and math books are long gone. The one that remains sits on a shelf in my Art Room. It's my Art History book. Looking back, I suppose I should have seen this coming.

Last year, I earned a Certificate in World Art History from the Smithsonian. This month, I begin nine months of training to become a volunteer docent at the Grand Rapids Art Museum.

Art history tells us what people valued, feared, celebrated and believed. It reveals how they lived, what they wore, who held power and how they wanted to be remembered. Every painting tells a story, not only about its subject, but also about the artist and the world in which it was created.

One of the biggest light bulb moments for me came just last year. It seems so obvious now, but I'd never really connected the dots before.

For centuries, one of an artist's most important jobs was to record the world's events. Before cameras, paintings documented kings and queens, battles, discoveries, landscapes and everyday life. If someone wanted a portrait, there wasn't another option. If a ruler wanted to commemorate a victory, an artist painted it.

Then photography arrived.

Almost overnight, artists were no longer the world's primary record keepers.

Instead of asking, "How accurately can I paint this?", artists could begin asking, "What do I want to express?"

The Impressionists were no longer trying to create a perfect replica of a landscape. They were capturing the feeling of standing there at that particular moment. The light. The color. The atmosphere. The experience.

They painted outdoors together, sharing ideas, challenging conventions and sometimes rebelling against the very traditions that taught them.

That's one reason artists still copy the work of the masters today. They're not trying to create a finished piece or imitate someone else's style, but to understand how they solved problems of composition, color, light and design. It's much like a musician practicing Mozart or a chef recreating a classic recipe. We learn by studying those who came before us. And that doesn't stop with the masters. Some of my greatest inspiration comes from contemporary artists whose work makes me think differently.

The more I study art history, the more I enjoy visiting museums. And the more I visit museums, the more I enjoy studying art history. It's a lovely little circle.

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