Student artists from Refugee Development Center bring colorful art to downtown East Lansing

Photos by Mike Ellis/City Pulse

The latest public art in downtown East Lansing is a set of four double-sided panels, each one 4 feet by 6 feet, with artwork on each side done by student artists from the Refugee Development Center.

The artwork is facilitated by Marissa Tawney Thaler, a teaching artist at REACH Studio Art Center. The panels were installed in mid-August and will be rotated out in November, with individual frames in parking garage stairwells.

“One of REACH’s core values is community, and being able to foster that community through art within the context of identity and inclusion has been awesome,” Thaler said, in a statement. “The pride these students experience when they have success during the creation process is so special, and I am so excited to share their pieces with the City of East Lansing.”

The Refugee Development Center is a Lansing-based nonprofit organization created in 2002 to provide critical services for refugees in mid-Michigan.

 “RDC is home to many cultures from all over the world, and our classroom community is a reflection of what can happen when we come together. This project has allowed our students to explore the idea of identity and to share bits of their home culture with their peers, and now with the broader community,” said Jackson Schooley, Youth Education Coordinator for the Refugee Development Center.

The rotating art display was established by the City’s Downtown Development Authority in 2021 as an open-air public space for the community. It includes four double-sided exhibit panels along the 400 block of Albert Avenue on the north side of the Division Street Parking Garage.