Community Programs
The Dennos Museum Center presents a variety of programs for all ages, seeking to build community, spark conversation, and inspire change. Check out the listings here to find out what's happening.
2023 summer exhibit opening
Thursday, June 15th — 7:00 PM
RSVP Online | Free Admission
Join the fun for our Summer opening reception on Thursday, June 15th at 7:00 PM! Doors will open at 6:45PM. This season weaves connections between space, time, memory, and travel. Study breathtaking paintings of classic cars in Luster, explore Jerry’s Map, or find yourself immersed in landscapes from DMC’s permanent collection.
Our Summer Exhibitions
Luster: Realism and Hyperrealism in Contemporary Automobile and Motorcycle Painting
Jerry's Map
A New Perspective: Landscapes from the Dennos Museum Center
Enjoy an evening with light refreshments, a cash bar, and music. Members will receive one drink ticket each upon arrival. Additionally, members can enjoy double discounts in the Museum Store the night of the event. Guests of members and the public are welcome to attend the event, but will not receive drink tickets upon arrival. Please RSVP your group in advance. Limit of 300 RSVPs.
Tour tuesdays
Tuesday, June 20th - Tuesday, August 29th
11:30 AM & 12:30 PM
Come to the museum and join an informal tour of our current exhibitions with one of our docents. Tours are free with museum admission and will begin at 11:30 AM & 12:30 PM. Please meet by the front desk a few minutes before the tour begins.
second sunday art project: map-making with artist jerry gretzinger
Sunday, June 11th
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Register Online | Free Admission
Join us for a collaborative mapping workshop with artist Jerry Gretzinger.
What would a joyful world look like from the sky? Together we will explore lines, shapes, colors, land rivers, habitats and a plethora of art materials to create a large-scale collaborative, imaginative map that will be installed in the Discovery Gallery throughout the summer.
After the workshop, and just as Jerry's Map has evolved over time, visitors to the Discovery Gallery will be invited to add to the map for a community-created vision of a joyful world.
Registration required. Limit of 36 participants, please limit groups to 4 people. Register here.
juneteenth free day
Monday, June 19th
DMC FREE DAY | 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
NMC & NORTHERN MICHIGAN E3 BLOCK PARTY | 4:00 PM
Enjoy a free day at the museum in recognition of Juneteenth, America’s second Independence Day, and see our current exhibitions. Learn more about the historical legacy of Juneteenth here.
In addition, watch episodes from a two-part series focused on the presidential portraits of The Obamas. Please register for films in advance. Limit of 35 people per screening. Between the films, enjoy some light refreshments.
After the films, join NMC and Northern Michigan E3 for a block-party style celebration and educational programs in the courtyard between East Hall and the Innovation Center at 4:00 PM. Find other Juneteenth events in our area here.
second sunday art project: cars
Sunday, July 9th
1:00 - 3:00 PM
Drop in and get creative with a family-friendly art activity led by our docents in our sculpture court. This month’s activity will be inspired by the exhibition Luster: Realism and Hyperrealism in Contemporary Automobile and Motorcycle Painting. Free with the price of admission to join in the fun!
the art of: jerry gretzinger
Thursday, July 20th — 5:00 PM
Register Online | Free Admission
Join our Director, Craig Hadley and featured artist Jerry Gretzinger in the sculpture court for a lively and inspiring conversation about Jerry’s decades-long map project. Get the inside scoop on how the artwork started, evolved, and how it lives on today.
Limit of 40 people, please limit groups to 4 people. Register here.
second sunday art project: landscapes
Sunday, August 13th
1:00 - 3:00 PM
Drop in and get creative with a family-friendly art activity led by our docents in our sculpture court. This month’s activity will be inspired by the exhibition A New Perspective: Landscapes from the Dennos Museum Center. Free with the price of admission to join in the fun!
PAST PROGRAMS
nmc pride carnival free day
Saturday, June 3rd
RAINBOW STORY TIME | 10:00 AM - 11: 30 AM
PRIDE CARNIVAL | 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
DMC FREE DAY | 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Come and be part of the festivities at NMC's Pride Carnival from 11:00AM - 2:00PM. DMC will be free as part of the celebration from 11:00AM - 4:00PM, and will be hosting Rainbow Story Time at 10:00 AM.
Rainbow Story Time will feature Mindful + Musical with Miriam Pico, a book Read Aloud with Wild + Wonder, Brilliant Books and a thoughtful collection of diverse and inclusive children's books, and a little craft project with artist Jenn Oltersdorf.
The carnival will include an array of food vendors, engaging activities from local non-profit organizations, and carnival-style attractions that everyone can enjoy - all for free! Carnival location will be under the clock tower on the campus of Northwestern Michigan College.
how do they do that? behind the scenes at the dennos museum center
Friday, April 14th — 10:00AM
Register through Extended Education | $29
What does it take for a museum to create polished museum exhibitions? How does a museum install large structures, take care of taxidermied polar bears, light exhibitions, and position artwork for the best visitor experience? Join Craig Hadley, Executive Director at the Dennos Museum Center, for a guided tour that is guaranteed to leave you thinking about museums in an entirely new way! Bring your questions and some comfortable walking shoes.
Lois Beardslee: anishinaabe author speaks from a socioeconomic perspective
Thursday, April 13th — 7:00PM
Milliken Auditorium at DMC
Register Online | Free Admission
Please join us for an evening with award-winning author and illustrator Lois Beardslee. A recipient of the prestigious Michigan Notable Book Award along with a silver medal from the Midwest Book Awards, Beardslee's writings grapple with contemporary issues ranging from climate change to socioeconomic inequality. This event is general admission. Following the lecture, please join us for a post reception on the Museum side.
Please register in advance. Limit of 350 people.
Please be sure to visit the Traverse Area District Library locations for more information and to check out books by Lois Beardslee. Her works will be on display at the library on Woodmere Ave along with a selection of books by other indigenous and women poets through the end of April.
Generous support for this project provided by Art Bridges. Additional program partners include the NMC Library and Interlochen Center for the Arts.
the art of: teresa Dunn
Wednesday, March 22nd — 1:30 & 3:00PM
Register Online | Free admission
Join exhibiting artist Teresa Dunn for an informal talk in the galleries and learn more about her exhibition US. Teresa Dunn's recent narrative painting series brings voice to stories that people of color, individuals with complex cultural identities, and immigrants shared with her about their daily experience in America.
Informed by Dunn’s own upbringing, as a brown Mexican-American in the Midwest, these paintings consider isolation and belonging, joy and struggle, and relationships and identity through visually poetic constructed realities. The narratives are fictive futures, potential alternate realities, speculative nonfiction, or distorted depictions of past events. Dunn uses color, light, and painterly surfaces to build psychological tension on questions of race and gender. Dunn’s paintings are not didactic nor do they propose solutions for the issues they consider. Instead, US values representations of Black and Brown lives.
About Teresa Dunn
Teresa Dunn is a Mexican American artist raised in rural Southern Illinois. Her identity, life, and art are influenced by her racial and cultural heritages and the complexities of being a brown woman in the Midwest.
Dunn received her MFA from Indiana University Bloomington in 2002. She is a three-time recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Fellowship and received the Jacob K Javits Fellowship from the US Department of Education. Dunn is represented by First Street Gallery in NYC and Galerie l’Échaudé in Paris, France. She exhibits widely and is currently a Professor of Painting and Drawing at Michigan State University in East Lansing where she has taught since 2006.
CURIOSITIES: VOYAGES BEYOND THE STACKS
Touring the Senses | Thursdays, 4:00 PM (March 2nd - 23rd)
March 2nd event is at DMC
Hearing, sight, smell, taste, touch: our senses mediate every moment of our relationships with others and the world around us. And yet, despite their deceptive familiarity, our tools of perception are wondrous and strange! How do they work, exactly? How (in)complete is our understanding of them? Let's find out! Special interactive series featuring guest hosts Craig Hadley (Dennos Museum), James Morse (Culinary Institute), Leanne Baumeler (Disability Support) & Maria Ulrich (Audio Tech).
Learn more about the Curiosities series here.
The Art Of: Ahavani Mullen
Wednesday, February 22nd — 4:00PM
Register Online | Free admission
Please join the artist for an intimate walkthrough of the four works on view in the Dennos Museum’s Zimmerman sculpture court. Her solo exhibition called Across Centuries and the Earth explores the ways in which subtle, ephemeral vibrations can be given form on a canvas, using energetically-charged paint to create fields of color, light, and texture. These works were created during her spring 2022 residency at Tusen Takk.
hearts for art
February 1st - 14th
Show some love to your favorite artwork at the museum and celebrate Hearts for Art with us! This program returns for the first time since 2019.
Pick up a heart at the front desk, leave it on the floor in front of the artwork (please don't place hearts in the frames or on pedestals), and share your favorites with us online.
You can find us on Facebook, and Instagram @dennosmuseumcenter.
embrace the dream free day
Monday, January 16th
Enjoy free admission and help us kick off Northwestern Michigan College's Embrace the Dream programs in honor of King's legacy. You might even get a chance to watch as DMC staff install three new exhibits including Teresa Dunn: Us, A Rich History: African American Artists from the Muskegon Museum of Art, and Vitality and Continuity: Art in the Experiences of Anishinaabe, Inuit and Pueblo Women.
Observing with NASA - Family Day
Saturday, December 3, 2022
Make a Comet Project & Moon Phases — 1:00 - 2:00 PM
Presentation by Jerry Dobek and the Astronomical Society — 2:00 PM
Location: Dennos Museum Center
Enjoy free admission to the museum and make your own astronomical images using the Observing With NASA Kiosk in the Discovery Gallery. Learn to make a comet and about moon phases with the help of the Astronomical Society from 1:00 - 2:00PM. Afterwards, head over to Milliken Auditorium to learn more about the Observing With NASA Kiosk and the science behind the imaging used by the Hubble Telescope with a presentation by Jerry Dobek, Head of the Astronomy and Science Departments at Northwestern Michigan College.
About Jerry Dobek
Dr. Jerry Dobek is a professional astrophysicist and faculty instructor at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC). He is the current Sciences Department Head and Director of the Joseph H. Rogers Observatory at NMC. He has taught astronomy and mathematics for NMC as an adjunct from 1987 until 2002 when he became a full time faculty instructor. His interests in astronomy and space science began in the early 1960's. Jerry holds memberships with the RAS, AAS, AAAS, ASP, AAVSO, RASC, IDA, GTAS, IES, SAE and is a lifetime member of Phi Theta Kappa. His research interests are in variable stars and dark material, which he conducts from his own observatory north of Traverse City, Michigan. Jerry is also the site coordinator / site director for Project ASTRO and Project Family ASTRO for the Michigan and Upper Wisconsin sites, and serves as the regional Solar System Ambassador for NASA / JPL. Jerry is a founding member of and the regional representative for the International Dark-Sky Association and has been instrumental in writing lighting ordinances for townships and counties in Michigan as well as several other states. Jerry designed and assisted in the installation of the fiber optics in the ceiling of the Traverse City State Theater: a true depiction of the night sky over that location for 11 August at 11:00 pm EST. The ‘fiber-optical stars’ are adjusted to match the visual brightness. His personal interests are astrophotography and writing / playing music on his 6 & 12 string guitars. Jerry's photos of comets Hyakutake and Hale Bopp are part of NASA's archive images of comets.
Public viewing nights at the NMC Observatory are held the first Friday of each month at 8:00 PM. All NMC Observatory public viewing nights are weather dependent. For updates, visit gtastro.org.
Family Night at the NMC Observatory
Saturday, November 12, 2022 — 8:00 PM
Location: J. H. Rogers Observatory, 1753 Birmley Rd, Traverse City, MI 49696
In celebration of the NASA Kiosk at DMC, enjoy a Family Night at the NMC Observatory. This extra special night will include planetary observations. Observatory nights are weather dependent, so be sure to check out gtastro.org for updates!
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED DUE TO CLOUDY AND SNOWY CONDITIONS.
Check out the NASA Kiosk during the Holiday Artist Market
Friday & Saturday, November 4-5, 2022
Location: Dennos Museum Center
Admission is free during the Holiday Artist Market. Enjoy the Observing With NASA Kiosk during our open hours.
saving stuff: preserving the past for future generations
Wednesday, November 2, 2022 — 10:00 AM
Location: Dennos Museum
Register with Extended Education, $39
All of us have family treasures that we have inherited or collected over the years. In this live workshop, learn how museum professionals take care of a wide range of artworks and objects, from sculptures and paintings to photographs and precious news clippings. Discuss the different ways in which objects deteriorate, tips for mitigating loss, and what you can do to protect your precious belongings. Part lecture, part workshop, and part behind-the-scenes at the Dennos Museum Center. Craig Hadley, Executive Director and Chief Curator at the Museum, will pique the interest of budding historians, preservationists, art historians - and anyone interested in learning something new. Bring your questions!
indigenous peoples' day
Monday, October 10, 2022 — 11:00AM
Celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day with the Traverse Area District Library inside the museum with stories, poems, and dancing. Afterwards, receive a free picture book (choice of Fry Bread or We Are Still Here) and craft for your family. Both books and crafts will be available as supplies last.
In addition, there is free museum admission for the day (11 am - 4 pm), so you have time to view the collection or play together in the Discovery Gallery, with over a dozen hands-on interactives. Parking on NMC's campus is also free for the day.
Second Sunday Art Project - Space
Sunday, October 9, 2022
Make your own space themed artwork from 1:00 - 3:00 PM in the Sculpture Court with some of the museum’s docents. While at the museum, work with real data from NASA telescopes and satellites using our Observing With NASA Kiosk in the Discovery Gallery.
International Observe the Moon Day
Saturday, October 1, 2022
Solar Observation at the Museum — 2:00 - 4:00 PM
Lunar Observation at the NMC Observatory — 8:00 PM
Join the Astronomical Society and NMC’s Jerry Dobek, head of the Astronomy and Science Departments, for Solar Observation outside the Dennos Museum. Admission to the museum will be free. While at the museum, visit the Observing With NASA Kiosk in the Discovery Gallery to take, create, and share your own amazing space images, and learn about astro imaging technologies.
In the evening, observe the moon at the NMC Observatory. Public viewing at the Observatory is weather dependent. Visit gtastro.org for updates.
first images from nasa's james webb space telescope
Tuesday, July 12th
10:00 AM & 6:00 PM
Northwestern Michigan College astronomy instructor Jerry Dobek will host two in-person and livestreamed events on July 12 for the region to see the first images from NASA's James Webb telescope. Both will be at Milliken Auditorium.
10 AM: First Images release event including Webb's first full-color images and spectroscopic data. Join us on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtZD4kDAq-s
6 PM: Expert panel program to discuss the first image findings and answer audience questions. Join us on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtZD4kDAq-s
