100%

Scanned image of the page. Keyboard directions: use + to zoom in, - to zoom out, arrow keys to pan inside the viewer.

Page Options

Download this Issue

Share

Something wrong?

Something wrong with this page? Report problem.

Rights / Permissions

This collection, digitized in collaboration with the Michigan Daily and the Board for Student Publications, contains materials that are protected by copyright law. Access to these materials is provided for non-profit educational and research purposes. If you use an item from this collection, it is your responsibility to consider the work's copyright status and obtain any required permission.

December 08, 2011 - Image 10

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 2011-12-08

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

2B - Thursday, December 8, 2011

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

2B - Thursday, December 8, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

FOOD WARS
Each week, one Ann Arbor staple menu item becomes a
battlefield as Daily Arts editors butt heads over
which restaurant makes it best.
HAMBURGER

BLIMPY BURGER
551 South Division Street
Know that unsophisticated, awesome
satisfaction that comes when a delectable
beef patty slides down the throat? The
guys eating at Blimpy sure as hell do. What
makes Blimpy Blimpy is the meat. Tender,
earthy, juicy and weirdly cleansing, the
beef ties together the entire burger and
adds the classic home-cooked touch that
makes the food addictively good.
QUICKIE BURGER
800 South State Street
All in all, Quickie's hamburger can be
summed up in one word: solid. There are
no bells and whistles, no tricks up sleeves,
no flashy accoutrements. But when you're
stumbling home at 2 a.m. on a Friday night
and the scent of grilling burger meat wafts
your way, what more could you really ask
for? Nothing more and nothing less.

SAVA'S
211 South State Street
A Sava's burger is like a friend who has
just come back from a semester abroad:
fashion-forward, but bogged down in
flaunting it. The actual beef, vegetables
and burger sauce are good but not great.
But that doesn't matter, as they aren't the
focal point. The brioche bun dominates
the vision and the tastebuds, leaving you
thinking, "Man, that bread was good!"
FIVE GUYS
311 South State Street
Five Guys is a DC staple, an apology
for the backroom politics that infect the
country. Despite its franchised nature, the
burgers are obviously freshly made - hot,
juicy and piled with a ton of diverse (and
100-percent free!) toppings. They're super
messy to eat, but surprisingly cheap. Also,
their staff doesn't treat you like shit.

And the winner is:
FIVE GUYS

Artrain has brought art to more than 850 communities across the country.
Art stays on
Derailment doesn't ous Americans view themselves
- was originally supposed to be
stop Ann Arbor- a mobile show, but was forced to
forgo the MMUs due to financial
based Artrain concerns. Currently stationed
at Keene State College in New
By KATIE STEEN Hampshire, the project will soon
DailyArts Writer be moved to the University of
Maryland University College in
While University students may Adelphi, where it will remain
enjoy artwork by simply strolling until April 2012.
down State Street and encounter- While a main part of Artrain's
ing Orion - hello, giant orange mission is moving artistic and
statue - not all cities are able to cultural exhibits to communities
so readily enjoy arts and culture. that otherwise would not be able
That's where Artrain comes in. to host such displays, the "Infinite
Artrain is an Ann Arbor-based Mirror" diverges from this goal
nonprofit organization that given the artwork is stationary
transports cultural exhibitions to for prolonged periods of time and
communities around the nation is being shown at already-estab-
that lack facilities like museums. lished artcgalleries.
Artrain has featured collections "Today, we're open to mobile
including the works of Andy projects, but they remain expen-
Warhol and Luis Jimnez, and sive and the economy has still not
it has made more than 850 com- returned to such a point where
munity visits all over the country, it's easy to provide projects of a
from Royal Oak, Mich. to Alaska. million dollars or more," Polich
The organization's mission is the explained. "If we don't use mobile
deliverance of arts and culture facilities, what are our other
to places that may not otherwise options? Can we define delivery
have such exhibitions in order to differently than just on a mobile
educate and transform commu- vehicle?"
nities, organizations and indi- For Artrain's "Paths to Peace:
viduals. a War of 1812 Arts Legacy Proj-
Artrain was founded in 1971 ect," the organization used a
by E. Ray Scott, an arts advocate method of delivery that was nei-
and former executive director ther by train nor MMU. In Octo-
of the Michigan Council for the ber, "Paths to Peace" brought
Arts. What started as a short- 150 students from Amherstberg,
term statewide project gradu- Ontario by boat to Put-in-Bay,
ally grew into the full-fledged Ohio to meet 150 local students.
organization Artrain is today. During their seminar, the stu-
Though the exhibits were origi- dents worked with War of 1812
nally transported via locomotive, specialists from Canada and
the museum-on-a-train officially the U.S. in artist workshops.
retired in 2007 due to increased The students are now working
regulations and demands on the on a project in which they cre-
rail system. Additionally, railway ate their own artwork related
routes and schedules restricted to their communities' ties to-the
Artrain's ability to travel to cer- War of 1812.
tain communities. In addressing In May, the students will again
these obstacles, Debra Polich, meet at Fort Malden in Canada
Artrain president and CEO, said and the Perry's Victory and Inter-
the Artrain team engaged in some national Peace Memorial at Put-
significant self-reflection. in-Bay to display their artwork to
"Does our mission have any- the general public. In this man-
thing to do with the train? No," ner, "Paths to Peace" exempli-
Polich said. "Our mission really fies Artran's goal of serving as a
has to do with taking arts and "community catalyst" in that it
culture to communities that don't works to connect communities to
have it, and helping them develop not only the artwork, but to one
and strengthen their (artistic and another.
cultural) infrastructure." "We hope what we're doing
In 20Q8, the organization left with that is opening these young
the iron horses behind and began people's minds to exploring a con-
transitioning to MMUs, which flict from three perspectives -
are expandable semi-trailers able Canada's, Native Americans' and
to create environments appropri- ours," Polich said. "There's always
ate for hosting original artwork another point of view."
and artifacts. But while in the Though Artrain had to alter
process of switching to MMUs, its programming in recent years,
Polich explained quite frankly, the MMUs aren't gathering dust.
"The worldblew up. The economy Artrain plans to use the mobile
crashed ... and it set us back on our museum for its 2012 "Hands-On
heels quite a bit." Alternative Energy Exhibition."
As a result, Artrain's goal of Historically the focus has been
"delivering discovery" has some- on transporting artwork specifi-
what suffered. Its current proj- cally, but the organization has
ect, "Infinite Mirror: Images of recently emphasized deliver-
American Identity" - an exhi- ing a wider range of projects.
bition that focuses on how vari- Its 2012 "Hands-On Alternative

Make Friends -:
215S. state
rUSSOA.CL E ann arbor L EE

track
Energy" exhibition will lack art-
work entirely - Polich.explained
the education component of
the exhibition is what makes it
still relevant to the mission of
Artrain.
"The intention is to provide as
much access to kids, their fami-
lies (and) adults that generally
might not take part in a cultural
experience," she said. "Taking art
projects to these towns is great
but there are other types of muse-
ums that these communities don't
have either, like science, cultural
or history museums."
In moving such programs
around, Artrain has received
assistance from members of the
University community. 'U' alum
Jason Polan traveled with the
organization back in its train
days as part of the Allesee Fel-
lowship, a program offered to
recent college graduates. An art-
ist himself, Polan spent about a
year touring, including a trip all
the way up to Alaska, performing
avariety of duties such as prepar-
ing exhibits, helping with volun-
teer training and creating and
discussing artwork to students in
classrooms.
While on tour, Polan also
worked on his project, the "Taco
Bell Drawing Club," which essen-
tially involves drawing people at
Taco Bell and inviting others to
draw with him. He continues the
club today, citing Arrain as an
influence.
"A lot of the positive reactions I
got to the projects I was working
on made what I was doing then
affect the way I do things now,"
Polan said. "I still like doing proj-
ects where I get to interact with a
lot of people."
Artrain has inspired college
students on the administration
end as well. 'U' alum Nathan
Zamarron also traveled with
Artrain, working as an admin-
istrative assistant while still in
school and then accepting a full-
time position as office manager
upon graduation.
After spending three years on
the road, Zamarron described his
experience with Artrain as amaz-
ing and inspiring for the com-
munities he visited and himself.
Zamarron attributes Artrain to
helping him find his career path
in administration and community
organization in the arts. He now
works as community arts man-
ager for the Lexington, Ky. arts
council, LexArts.
"That experience of really get-
ting to see first-hand the living
working artist was something
special," Zamarron said. "You
could find out that, wow, there are
people actually making a living
supportingthemselves in the arts.
Artrain made me realize that that
was a possibility."
And Zamarron certainly isn't
the only one who thinks Artrain
is special. The many unusual
artistic opportunities Artrain has
created have earned the organiza-
tion nationwide recognition. In
2006, it won the National Medal
for Museum and Library Service,
which honors organizations that
make extraordinary changes in
the community. In response to the
medal and all it represents, Polich
expressed her pride and confi-

dence in Artrain's future.
"Having Artrain's work
acknowledged in that way was
very validating in every single
way," Polich said.
Polich added that the organi-
zation still looks to the award for
guidance, despite all of the chang-
es that have occurred since.
"We're still pretty humbled by
it. It makes you want to continue
to live up to that standard."

0

S
0
0

ALSO
LIKES
FIVE
GUYS.
Learn more
about him and

0

r-, _ m m o

USm s hamburgers
in this week's
B-Side Buzz at
8 4 9 6 2 5 michigandaily.
__ _ __ __ _ __com.

( LITTLE
the
musical
a Department of Musical Theatre studio production
Music by Jason Howland " Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein
Book by Allan Knee " Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott
Dec. 8 at 7:30 PM " Dec. 9 & 10 at 8 PM " Dec. 10 & 11 at 2 PM " Arthur Miller Theatre
ft General Admission $17 e Students $10 w/ID
IMusic,Theatre&Dance League Ticket Office 9 734-764-2538 " tickets.music.umich.edu

0
0

Back to Top

© 2024 Regents of the University of Michigan