Fourth Annual

Disability Pride Art Exhibition

Group Exhibition at Gallery Be

June 16-July 30, 2026

Reception: Annual ADA Celebration
Saturday, July 25
12:00-4:00pm

Gallery Be
Disability Network Washtenaw Monroe Livingston
3941 Research Park Dr | Ann Arbor, MI 48108

Open during office hours:
Tuesday – Thursday, 9:00am – 4:00pm

Contact the artist to inquire about artwork availability.

For a guided tour or questions, contact:
Gallery Manager, Claire – claire@dnwml.org

Neuroplasticity

Millicent Joseph

Graphite on paper

30×24″

2010

Image description: This drawing is done in graphite pencil on white paper. It shows, me, lying in a hospital bed and gown, in a comatose state. Details of my facial features are visible, yet my head is transparent, revealing my skull. In my skull are two holes, one on top from a catheter drill in my ventricles and the other on the side from my surgery of the right temporal lobe. From the top hole, grows a small sprout. Inside the large hole on the right temporal lobe, my brain is visible. From my brain in that large hole, grows a long leafy vine. The vine drapes over my pillow and reaches above me, growing toward the light. My hand rests on my stomach, and in my hand I hold a paint brush. The paint brush drips paint onto my gown.

Concept: This piece symbolizes the growth I felt as an artist after my stroke and brain surgery. I learned that the brain is able to rewire itself after an injury, adapting and forming new neural pathways to take over functions of the injured parts. Though my doctors and therapists once believed I’d never walk again, and told my parents that the artistic side of my brain was badly damaged, I was able to reach parts of my brain and train those areas to make new connections to replace the old, broken paths. The vine depicts the new growth from my damaged brain, as well as my soul reaching upwards towards heaven. The paint brush still dripping with wet paint, symbolizes the blood recently leaking from my veins within my brain.

Original: 500.00

Prints: 35.00 each

Please contact via facebook for purchasing inquires: facebook.com/millicent.wells

In Verdant Pastures

Millicent Joseph

Graphite on paper

16×21.5″

1998

Image description: This is a graphite pencil drawing in grayscale, showing my head floating above a scene in my life. Inside my temple, there’s a window to my brain. My hair is long and borders the top and sides of the piece, creating stage curtains. Inside the hair, you see faceless dancers (me), performing when I was fourteen. In the center, bordered by the hair curtain, there are six faceless teenagers, having a picnic in the grass (the stage). On the right side of the drawing, peering from the curtain of hair, there is one faceless dancer, looking back at herself and friends, wishing for the past.

Concept: This piece started my “Brain Art.” My best friend, Ryan Conarro, wrote a poem, “In Verdant Pastures,” about me being in a coma after my stroke. In my comatose state, he described me dreaming of dancing, dreaming of an outdoor ballet and picnic with our friends, and what I was perhaps dreaming during my brain surgery. This poem gave inspiration to an obsession with illustrating the surreal thoughts and experiences related to having brain surgery, memory loss, and paralysis at such a young age.

Original on loan from Eastern Kentucky University

Prints: 20.00 each

Please contact via facebook for purchasing inquires: facebook.com/millicent.wells

CARTOON NETWORK

Aidan Strasser

Digital

8×10″

2024

Image description: A digital illustration of a CRT TV sitting on the floor in a dark room. A smiling, anthropomorphic calico cat gives a peace sign on the TV screen. There is an orange pill bottle on top of the TV, and a couple of items of clutter in the foreground. The TV is the only light source in the image.

Concept: This piece mainly addresses trauma, especially when it is ongoing and lifelong (as is the case for many disabled and other marginalized people.) There is this desire to find some sort of lesson in the suffering, to gain something positive from it. This is the kind of thing that often happens in fiction: the protagonist overcomes adversity and then they can live a peaceful, “normal” life. In reality, when you go through a lot of suffering, usually all you get from it is trauma, and it does not make you stronger and it is not inspiring. But, it helps to cope to think about it that way. The artwork’s title is from a Black Dresses song which reflects a similar sentiment.

90.00

Venmo: venmo.com/u/tiny_star

galaxygenet.carrd.co

@Galaxygenet

Michigan Lighthouse

Tracy Huston

Acrylic on canvas

9×12″

2026

Image description: This is a large red lighthouse with an attached building that has a black roof. It is set on a grassy hill with a bright blue sky in the background.

Concept: I love Michigan lighthouses and travels to see them any time I can. I paint the lighthouses frequently. They bring me joy and many people enjoy my style.

Sunflower on a Sunny Day

Sara Ann Stock

Oil pastel and graphite on paper

9×11″

2026

Image description: This is a yellow framed oil pastel drawing of a sunflower. Most of the image is the brown and black pistil of the flower with yellow and orange petals surrounding the center. There is also a green stem and leaves with a brown outline and a bright blue in the background.

Concept: I love sunflowers and how they follow the sun, their size and that they grow in summertime on blue sunny days. I wanted to draw that.

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Abstracted Circles

Shawn Slater

Alcohol ink on paper

10.75×13″

2025

Image description: The is a delicate alcohol ink painting of yellow, blue and magenta biomorphic circles with some gold paint dabbled throughout the image. The circles sit over a soft pink background.

Concept: I love to create various “drop art,” a term I coined as I explored acrylic pouring and alcohol ink dropping onto canvas and paper.

Oni Mask with Blade

Jordan Dahms

Gel marker on paper

10×13″

2026

Image description: This is a colored gel pen drawing of a lower face Japanese red oni mask with yellow gold teeth. There is a Japanese blade going through the middle of the mask with three pink cherry blossoms around it and some falling petals.

Concept: I love anime and Japanese inspired art. I was inspired to create this piece from my imagination because of my love for the oni mask.

Come Together: Memories made whole

Marchese Traver

Fabric, machine sewn and embroidered

12×18″

2026

Image description: This is a rectangluar wall-hanging that has a fabric heart in the center. This heart is quilted with many multicolored scrap pieces. Bordering each piece is hand-embriodery and the background of the heart is navy blue fabric and is hand-stitched with multicolored yarn. There’s a border with two rows of stitching on the top and three rows on the sides. This is a blend of machine sewing and hand embroidery and materials used are rust-colored thread, blue ribbon, and multicolored yarn. The bottom has three rows of stitches but the addition of a fringe which was applied by hand and used the same multicolored yarn throughout the wallhanging. The top of the wallhanging has a wooden dowel which is covered with the yarn.

Concept: The concept of the piece is about memories but not just any memories; these memories are precious. If memories were a garment, these would be the time-worn scraps that are held for no other reason than sentimental value. These memories need to be cherished and forever stitched into the human heart. In a way, memories define who are are and what we’re made of.

When I was creating this piece, I did this in conjunction with other projects. I did this on and off for many weeks and it was intended to be a birthday gift for a friend.

This project went with me on camping trips and times spent with friends. I sometimes get attached to my projects but can usually let them go to their intended recipient.

Not this time for it wasn’t the labor itself but the memories that attached themselves.

As for my friend, ironically, a different project that I intended for myself I gave to her so she is not without a gift.

As for the memories themselves, this piece shows that even the broken, fragmented, or simply a remnant of a time gone by can always have a special place in your heart

Pineapple Square(pants) Quilt Block

Marchese Traver

Fabric, quilted

20×20″

2026

Image description: This is a 20″ x 20″ square quilt block with Spongebob Squarepants in the middle. The predominant color is a solid light blue and the corners are diagonal rows of triangles in multicolored tropical floral prints with red, pink, and blue being the dominant colors. The border is a scrappy narrow strip of multicolored squares in tropical (or tropical adjacent) prints with a muted peachy pink binding.

Concept: The concept of this piece was born when Claire extended the submission for the art show. I wanted to create a piece specifically for the art show and decided on a quilt block since I had limited time and space to bring stuff from Florida and Michigan.

I chose Spongebob because I talk about the show in nearly every virtual art class and the Pineapple Block is a real quilt block and I just HAD to go with that play on words; bonus points that the block is square. Sadly, I had no pineapple fabric to go with it but I am happy that I stuck to my guns and completed the block. “Perseverance” would be a great title because it took five tries and I nearly gave up after accidentally ripping block attempt #3 in half.

My heart was set on the pineapple block and it is the first time I ever made that particular quilt block.

I am very proud of how it turned out and even though the color scheme is somewhat different than the other two pieces I submitted (the first two have a dark colored background whereas this one is light blue) what they all have in common is that each piece has many multicolored parts and an unexpectedly deep message for something so lighthearted and fun.

I enjoyed making each and every piece and am honored to be considered for the 2026 Disability Pride Art Show.

Kiss of Life

Elijah Glaze

DIgital

8×10″

2022

Image description: Vibrant colors of a mother and her child, with the mother kissing the child’s forehead. The child’s brain appears containing bright colors as well.

Concept: A mother is shedding a kiss onto her child’s forehead and breathes all forms of human emotions and knowledge into the child’s brain, giving him the meaning of life. This piece expresses the importance of parenthood and how love, teaching, and patience, can shape one for the next generation.

@liy_kinley

Ebony Love

Elijah Glaze

DIgital

8×10″

2023

Image description: A man bends on one knee to proclaim his love to a woman.

Concept: A fun and colorful Afro-centric peice of love and dedication. It shows how the numerous concepts of love had molded many African Americans from past, present, and future.

@liy_kinley

Cotton Candy

Ciara Ault

Digital

8×10″

2026

Image description: A winged cat with purple, pink, and bluish fur and wings. BIg blue eyes, smiling amongst the clouds, which matches its fur.

Concept: I wanted to make something cute, bubbly, and friendly. My cat reminds me of “cotton candy”–sweet and fluffy.

Cherry

Ciara Ault

Digital

8×10″

2026

Image description: A small brown turtle cliging to an oversized cherry attached to a cherry stem. He has cherry juice on his face and his tongue is out–happy eating the cherry. Background is an evergreen.

Concept: I created this piece for my sister. My sister is moving away and we celebrated the turtles birthday before she left. I created a mini portrait of the turtle so my sister can “see” it every day while away.

Confetti Horse

Megan Braun

Collage

8.5×11″

2026

Imagine description: Magazine collage with small, colorful pieces of the head and neck of a horse. Pieces are cut to shape to make the mane, eye, mouth, and nostril. The background is made up of larger pieces, with dark blue at the top and light blue at the bottom.

Concept: I had seen collages made out of smaller pieces. I liked these collages and wanted to do one with smaller pieces. I decided to try using bigger and smaller pieces in the same collage. I thought it turned out well, and I am happy with this piece.

150.00

Please email for purchasing inquiries:
megan@meganbraunart.com
meganbraunart.com
@MeganBraunArt

Badlands 87-9

Sandee Solloway

Photography

8×12″

2026

Image description: Rocky Hills of Badlands National Park.

Concept: Show the beauty of the odd rock formations in Badlands N.P.

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Belle Isle

Sandee Solloway

Digital Pinhole Photography

8 x 10

2026

Image description: Belle Isle Casino seen through nearby flowers and weeds.

Concept: Mixing of natural and human-made creations.

Growing Sideways

Meredith Dunn

Collage

11×14”

2026

Image description: This artwork depicts a yellow sunflower in front of a green background. The flower itself has bright yellow petals emerging from brown rings that make up the center of the flower. The very center consists of many small black circles, indicating the seeds. Behind the bright yellow petals are darker yellow petals that add depth to the piece. This artwork is made entirely in collage form, meaning the individual pieces of paper are visible yet they also blend together to create the illusion of a single image. Each section of the sunflower is outlined in black marker for emphasis.

Concept: Growth is rarely a straight line. For those of us living with invisible disabilities, it is rerouted, interrupted, and rebuilt — often from whatever scraps are left over. “Growing Sideways” is made entirely from fragments of discarded paper, each piece carrying its own texture and history, layered together until something whole emerges. Collage felt like the only honest medium for this subject. You cannot make it without working with imperfection, without finding the image hiding inside the irregular edges and the torn corners. The process mirrors the experience. The sunflower is the internationally recognized symbol for hidden disabilities — chosen because it signals, quietly, that something unseen deserves acknowledgment. This piece is for everyone whose complexity is invisible to the eye but written into every layer of who they are.

50.00

Venmo @Meredith-O-Dunn
@the_mer_studio

Barn Swallow

Aidan Strasser

Acrylic on canvas

8×8

2026

Image description: An acrylic painting of a barn swallow flying with a ribbon tied around its neck. The ribbon trails off the edge of the canvas.

Concept: The scene of a barn swallow flying with a long blue ribbon tied around its neck, the end of the ribbon trailing off and tethered to something unseen, came to me in a dream. It was such a vivid image I felt I needed to paint it.

galaxygenet.carrd.co
@Galaxygenet