On Jan. 13, a group of U-M students gathered at the University of Michigan Museum of Art to find out something unexpected: which work of art would they be taking off the walls and living with for the semester.

It was Match Day for Art at Home, U-M’s new Art Lending Collection program that is rethinking how students experience art — it doesn’t only live on museum walls. It can live with you, hang above your desk, beside your bed, and shape your everyday routine.

Developed by UMMA’s Art in Public Spaces team and hosted by UMMA, Art at Home made museum-quality art part of students’ daily lives, removing barriers to access and inviting closer, more personal relationships with art.

The debut lending collection featured 75 small-scale, original works by contemporary artists, many with ties to Michigan, displayed for a limited time in UMMA’s Jonathan and Lizzie Tisch Apse. At the close of the exhibition, participating students were each able to select a piece they would live with for the winter 2026 semester.

This semester’s collection was co-curated by five student leaders from the Bridge Scholars Plus program, guided by Félix Zamora-Gómez, program coordinator for engagement at the U-M Arts Initiative, and Erika Larson, manager of Art in Public Spaces.

For student curator Freddy Lazaro, the experience of selecting the works from which his peers would choose was more meaningful than he initially anticipated. Working closely with the UMMA team, Lazaro learned to evaluate works not only for their visual impact, but for how they might resonate in a student’s personal space. One especially meaningful moment came when the group selected a work by Virgil Abloh for the collection.

“I grew up in Chicago and was heavily influenced by Virgil Abloh,” Lazaro said. “Being able to bring a piece of his on campus was truly special.”

Raven Miles, another student curator, said she wanted to approach the collection with questions of inclusion, identity, and belonging.

“In a time where politics often divides us, we wanted to give students something hopeful,” she said. “This collection is for everyone.”

For Miles, the curatorial process also intersected with her own mental health journey. “This project truly felt like art therapy, just without the brush in my hand,” she said. “It reminded me that art is powerful, healing, and has real impact.”

The students who participated in this semester’s Art at Home lending program were all part of the Bridge Scholars Plus program. In the weeks leading up to Match Day, they were encouraged to visit the gallery in advance to explore the artwork and think about what they might want to take home. The match process itself was first-come, first-served. 

During the Match Day event, attendees were assigned to a numbered group based on when they checked in. Groups were called, and members had five minutes to select an artwork that hadn’t already been chosen.

On Jan. 24, UMMA staff delivered the 75 works to South Quad, where students could take them to their rooms and hang them.

For Mylia Maya, a first-year student studying human origins, biology, and behavior in LSA, the opportunity was one she didn’t want to miss. 

“I heard about the Art at Home program from Felix Zamora Gómez after he shared to the BSP community,” Maya said. “The moment I heard the word ‘art,’ he had my attention.”

Maya selected “North” by Enrique Martinez Celaya. 

“At first, the contrast between the dark and illuminating colors caught my eye,” she said. “However, once I paid full attention, I was able to see the figures, an adult and a child. This made me feel comfort from the painting with its symbolic representation. Not only are the colors welcoming, but the meaning you apply to it makes it difficult to look away.”

She also felt a connection to the artist’s background. “Enrique Martinez Celaya was born in Cuba and uses his art to illustrate experiences and memories as they interact with the world and one’s own identity,” she said. “It truly makes me happy to see representation from communities like mine in the Caribbean. Although Puerto Rico and Cuba are two different places, admiration is not one of those differences.”

Maya said that once the artwork left the museum and entered her room, it shifted how she related to it. 

“When I see art in a museum, I look up to it, as if it is something out of reach,” she said. “However, as it hangs in my room, I feel leveled with it. It made my space feel alive.”

That sense of closeness mattered deeply to the artists as well. The student curators selected a work by Ypsilanti-based artist Avery Williamson for the collection. Williamson’s collage work, on the floor, centered rest, imagination, and moments of joy within domestic spaces, making it especially fitting for Art at Home.

“My hope is that the artwork helps students feel more at home in their own heart,” Williamson said, sharing that she wanted students to feel supported as they navigated growth and change.

Williamson believed art took on a different energy when it was lived with rather than visited occasionally. 

“Art in a home witnesses you in your delight, rumination, despair, elation, agitation and messiness,” she said. “I hope this piece brings softness to your day and a place to rest your eyes and heart. I’m rooting for you.”

According to Alessandra Ferrara, director of design and digital strategies at the Library Street Collective gallery, which represented several of the artists selected by the student curators, Art at Home made art more accessible for all at U-M.

“This program allows students to engage directly with contemporary art and contribute their own perspectives to an ongoing dialogue,” she said. “For many students, this may be their first time living with contemporary art, so opening up that dialogue early-on could inspire a lot of the students to pursue careers in the arts.”

The Art at Home program is poised to grow. The Bridge Scholars Plus students who just selected art, will now have the opportunity to help curate the purchase of 75 new artworks, working in collaboration with UMMA curator Jennifer Carty to expand the lending library. Art at Home is slated to return in fall 2026 with eligibility opening to all residence hall-living students.

Art at Home contributors

Galleries and artists who contributed to the Art at Home lending program: 

• Library Street Collective, Detroit
• Louis Buhl & Co., Detroit
• Tandem Press, Madison, Wisconsin
• Goldfinch Gallery, Chicago
• Dieu Donné, New York
• Paulson Fontaine, Berkeley, California
• What Pipeline, Detroit
• High Point Printmaking, Minneapolis
• Situations, New York
• ZieherSmith, Nashville
• Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles
• Tappan Collective, Los Angeles
• 1XRUN, Detroit
• Process Process, Chicago
• ArtClvb, Detroit
• Artists Arsenal Handicraft, Rachelle Baker, Avery Williamson, Olivia Arau McSweeney, and Mia Risberg.