U-M students selected to present at Ann Arbor Art Fair

Each summer, a handful of students are selected to present at the Ann Arbor Art Fair. The AAAF has the New Art, New Artists (NANA) program through which college students receive one-on-one mentoring from staff of the art fair. Additionally, the Guild of Artists and Artisans has the Emerging Artists Program, which teaches participants how to apply for art fairs, price their work, select tools/technology necessary for a great display, market their work, prepare for shows of various sizes, and more. For Emily Mann (Stamps, '24), Sophia Gallette (Stamps, '23) and Tyler Dunston (Rackham, '24) of the University of Michigan, this summer's fair will be their first time selling their work in the art fair circuit. For Mann, a printmaker, connecting with four different mentors through the NANA program gave her new insight into the business side of art making. In an art fair setting, "not only are you an artist, but you are a business person providing a product for people to buy and you need to engage with customers, which is different from the classroom where we focus on the making of art and our ideas,” Mann said. Most of the prints she will be selling were created in the classroom from wood blocks, lino prints, etchings and lithographs.