ANN ARBOR—At first glance, the collection of cubicles inside the University of Michigan School of Art & Design Stamps Studios are strikingly similar in size and general appearance.

Yet, inside each of the 80 cubicles is a unique story about a graduating senior’s yearlong struggle to create art that reflects the student’s talent, intellectual curiosity, personal history and in some cases, social conscience.

In the final days of their undergraduate careers, the finished works of this year’s group of graduating A&D seniors are now on exhibition in “Let’s Wrestle: The Art & Design 2008 Senior Show.” The work can be seen at Slusser and Warren Robbins galleries inside the School of Art & Design on U-M’s North Campus, Work:Ann Arbor in downtown Ann Arbor, and Work:Detroit in the cultural district in Detroit.

“Let’s Wrestle: The 2008 Art & Design Senior Show” includes film, installation, performance, traditional and new media. Closing dates for the exhibits and events vary.

The cubicles offer a snapshot of the creative process that leads to the senior exhibitions and events.

“Cubicles serve as their research labs—it’s where students dream, have lunch, sleep and create art, sometimes at any hour of the day,” said Andy Kirshner, assistant professor at the School of Art & Design, who is among the faculty members who oversee the yearlong course that asks graduating seniors to create art while working in an assigned studio cubicle space.

“The idea is to turn students into autonomous creators,” said Kirshner. “We give them guidance, coach them, offer suggestions. But their job is to come up with the questions they want to answer and answer them during the course of the year.”

Typically, notes and sketches are pinned to cubicle walls, along with quotes and photographs of family and friends. Some cubicles have mattresses; others have small sofas and comfy chairs. And most spaces are stuffed with art supplies, and the interesting clutter of empty soda pop cans, stained coffee cups and fast-food wrappers that are the remnants of periods of intense creative work.

Kristen Shank, a graduating senior from Minster, Ohio, spent the past academic year organizing a 6K walk and designing all the print materials to promote the event, which was held April 13 in Ann Arbor. Shenk was inspired to create the public event after she learned that most women in Third World countries walk an average of six kilometers to get water.

“This space has been an ideal space to develop for my creative work,” she said. “It’s been a creative, collaborative space where we bounce ideas off of each other. I feel like I’ve lived here for the last eight months.”

In a cubicle a few aisles away, Liz Hazle, a graduating senior from Grand Rapids, translated images from old family photographs into compelling large-scale narrative drawings. Hazle’s work is now on exhibit at the Warehaus Gallery (Liberty and First streets) in Ann Arbor.

“Students have said to me that they’ve surpassed their expectations,” said Kirshner. “They say it’s the hardest class they’ve ever taken and the most rewarding.”

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