Ann Arbor does not have enough art galleries to cater to the sheer amount, diversity and quality of artistic talent regularly sprouting out of it, and needs more to keep its independent and inclusive art culture alive — which is why Kim DeBord, Thea Eck and Chien-An Yuan said they recently opened the CLUSTER Museum on the northern end of Main Street Ann Arbor.
“We recognized that there’s a lack of opportunities for artists in the area. There’s a few options, but not enough for a vibrant city—a vibrant city should have more options than Ann Arbor has,” DeBord explained while giving Current Magazine a tour. “So, Thea gathered a few people to talk about what kind of vision they see, what experiences they’ve had before, what needs are lacking—but it was a way to start the community talking.”
CLUSTER Museum is in a white-washed single story building with big windows facing east, framed by bright magenta paint intended to both catch your eye and provide a welcoming invitation inside.
Once you are inside, you’ll find a much smaller room than the one further back. The cash register and assortment on the wall forms the shop section of CLUSTER. There is also a kids play area where they can create their own art.
Yuan said he’s noticed that Ann Arbor “has this tension between the old and the new” but has an interesting approach to sidestepping this tension by quoting the composer Gustav Mahler “Tradition is not he worship of ashes, but the preservation of the fire.” CLUSTER is attempting to do that for Ann Arbor, to remove any trace of elitism created by high prices because as Yuan put it “art and barriers equals a bad time.”
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Yuan acknowledges a contradiction in his motives. He describes himself as being generally against nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake, and yet CLUSTER is very much an attempt to revitalize a version of Ann Arbor that is almost gone—a more affordable and inclusive Ann Arbor that had its expensive pockets but offered an attainable lifestyle full of culture and entertainment for the average resident. Ann Arbor still has that of course, but not like Yuan remembers from his childhood. An Ann Arbor that was well aware of “the weird and the strange” and embraced it whole-heartedly; an Ann Arbor defined by “the confluence of the echos of the Hippie movement colliding with the punk DIY movement, and at that time, the rapid rise of VHS allowing people to screen underground cult films… to almost democratize the way people could experience and digest art.”
Having grown up in Ann Arbor, and then moved away for a number of years, Yuan realized that this culture was barely what he remembered. Recreating that culture of “non-institutional” art and “punk, alternative, DIY art events” back to Ann Arbor is the goal. He is hardly alone of course. Maybe CLUSTER is therefore less of a contradiction than Yuan fears.
“The mission of CLUSTER is to create an art space by and for artists. I think that what we noticed happening is that there is a clear division—two ecosystems existing in Ann Arbor— Ann Arbor and the University. I think a lot of people think its one and the same, that the University art system speaks for the city, and for us here, we just don’t think that’s true. We really need a robust, art forward art space, that has a high standard of artistic rigor. The ‘museum’ is the heart of the name … because what Ann Arbor needs is a true, contemporary art space,” Yuan said. “The downtown area has become dominated by restaurants. There’s less of a belief in arts and culture as the lifeblood of the city, and that’s what we hope to bring back.”
DeBord, Eck and Yuan said that the last thing that they want is not to fail as an art gallery—or them the worst thing would be to be perceived as an elitist space for the wealthy and not as an accessible art gallery for all. Not only can the art be viewed for free like any other gallery, but it is not going to be anywhere near as expensive as some of the most high end art in Ann Arbor’s art scene.
All three of them emphasize that they have no intention of going against the university nor the other, established art galleries. They are aiming instead to provide an alternative to them, one that stands as a bridge between the university and its students, the collection of fine artists living in town and the local Ann Arborites who are eager to engage with the fine arts in an inclusive way and preserve the quirky post-hippie culture of Ann Arbor.
“We’ve all been working in the arts for a really long time. We’ve all experienced a wide array of galleries and museums and we’ve chosen to build this so it can uphold our values,” DeBord explains. “That doesn’t mean that everyone can afford every one of our pieces” but many can.
While some pieces within CLUSTER are well into the five figures to buy, they have pieces in their shop can be had for as little as $125.
They also want people to come in to do more than just view the art. They are hosting regular artists workshops, where you can learn how to make your own version of what the professionals make. Poetry readings and live readings by authors are also going to be regularly in the works.
The next one on December 18, Anthem for a Fixed Point, is going to have no less than seven authors. According to CLUSTER, this is going to be done in conjunction with the Fifth Avenue Press, a project of the Ann Arbor District Library, and will be curated by Erin Helmrich and Michelle Yang. Attendance will be free and will go from 7-8:15pm
Eck recommends that people who are unsure about galleries in general “go to our website and see what we offer between paying workshops, free workshops, artists talks, the next showings. Next year we have a lot of fun events that are going to be in this space—from performing art events, to sound and video events and shows.”
The art you can buy is a mixed collection of what is available right now. But go through the doors beside the floor-to-ceiling windows and you’ll enter a much larger space for curated art shows. These month long affairs are for shows like “Every Line Is A Circle If You Make It Long Enough,” a solo show of amazingly intricate paper pieces from Matt Shilan that was there for November. Their new show “If We Go, We Go Together” by the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti-based +1 art group will run from December 5 to January 3 and have its opening reception from 6-9pm on December 12.
The show will feature the work of Hannah Burr, Martyna Alexander, Ingrid Ankerson, Ryan Molloy, John Leyland, Yiu Keung Lee, Margeaux Claude, Hannah Thompsett and Amy Sacksteder and Jordan Buschur.
Across Miller Avenue, a similar art effort called Vacancy recently closed. Both gallery efforts recognize that Ann Arbor’s artists have more talent than gallery space. But the difference is that the Vacancy project was intended for fine artists and graphic artists freshly out of the University of Michigan’s STAMPS School, whereas CLUSTER is intended to provide a space for well established fine artists who want to be able to stay in Ann Arbor and make a living with their chosen mediums.
Yuan also made the point that the arts have been under significant strain lately. It was already hard to make a living as an artist before the culture wars led to politically motivated attempts to define what an artist could or couldn’t do, as well as other divisive issues leading to what he feels is a society that’s gone mean.
“The art culture put forth by the president [Trump] is very cynical. It’s trying to tell people that nothing’s working and the only way for things to work is to return to a time that was grounded in inequity and screwing people over. It’s almost embracing a lack of vision—and I don’t believe it,” Yuan said. “We, as a culture, want to come up with new ideas. The key is not to give into the fear of the unknown. We have to be able to try things…. Can we come up with something new? Yes, we can. Can we convince the public to buy into it? That’s the trick.”
The trio said that their year long lease was a big factor of how they could get off the ground in the first place. By not having to stick to a five year commitment in August, they got the advantage of having to raise less capital knowing it was a double edged sword in that it gives them a shorter time frame to get enough people through the doors to make their new art experiment viable.
They have over half a year left to create enough hype to stay open and provide the gallery space that Ann Arbor’s artists seem to need. The space on 307 North Main Street is open between 11am and 5pm, Wednesday through Friday, or between 10am to 2pm on Saturdays.
“Ann Arbor needs more spaces. CLUSTER can’t do everything for everyone. Everyone who walks in the door might not have work that works here conceptually, visually—and we are scheduled out ahead like any art gallery—but I think we’re really open to conversations with anyone,” DeBord said.
Drew Saunders is a freelance business and environmental journalist who grew up just outside of Ann Arbor. He covers local business developments, embraces his foodie side with reviews restaurants, obsesses over Michigan's environmental state, loves movies, and feels spoiled by the music he gets to review for Ann Arbor!
