Nanci LaBret Einstein grew up in the Detroit area. One of her earliest childhood memories is playing with a box of tile samples arranging and rearranging them in patterns on the floor. She never suspected that one day she would be doing a version of that same play to create a visual language. LaBret Einstein attended the College for Creative Studies graduating with a BFA with honors. Her work has appeared in a wide variety of galleries and museums throughout the country and is found in many private collections.
LaBret Einstein is proud to bring From Then 'Til Now, a survey of her past and present artwork, to the University of Michigan-Dearborn Stamelos Gallery Center. On display is an exhibition exploring the relationship of her dynamic drawings, photographs and sculptures to each other. This remarkable collection of works not only illustrates how the various mediums relate to each other, but also the relationship between the latest work and earlier pieces. LaBret Einstein creates art in various mediums that reflect and dance with each other, breathing in a unified front of color, space and line. The university is proud to present this fascinating body of work together in a space celebrating a recital of exploration.
I create art. It is what I do. You have probably heard this from various creatives. But it is my truth. It is the way I was destined to move through the world and the means that I see by. It is the way I think and make sense of life, putting words into color, line, shape, mass, and air. I create a language in varying mediums and invite you to come along with me into another plane. It is a dialect that you may learn and translate into your own vernacular. These are my means of expression that will carry you into an experience. It allows you to visit a different space in which you are invited to spend time seeing, and encounter things you perhaps wouldn’t have thought of.
My goal is to stir something within you. I hope that you not only enjoy what you are looking at, but, in some way, you are moved; to think and explore. Some reaction, some interface is better than a blank stare. I want you to hop with that line, jump into that color, twist with that form, figure out why companion shapes and color do what they do to each other. There is interaction and reaction in life, not only between humans and animals, but between objects. To be able to feel, to smile, laugh, cry, wonder, and be moved in some manner, even when it is simply a passing thought, is valid and brings value.
Marks can move us to experience wonderful things! The perspective gained and the release of understanding within each work you view is empowering. Everything you look at has power to inform and influence your next experience. Each work I create is the engine that drives making my next piece. Learning is intrinsic, sometimes subtle, but so powerful! It is expansive, exciting and exhilarating!
Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to come and see my art. Thank you for bringing the encounter full circle by witnessing and bringing yourselves into my creative orbit.
— Nanci LaBret Einstein
Opening Reception
Thursday, September 04, 2025, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Artist talk at 6:00 p.m.
Reception is free to the public, free parking in UM-Dearborn lot.
Complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres provided.
The Stamelos Gallery Center is located on the first floor of the Mardigian Library at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. For more information, see below for contact information. Anyone requiring accommodations under the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act should contact lacotton@umich.edu.
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), Serigraph print, 1974
Gift of Gilbert M. Frimet,
Collection of UM-Dearborn (1980.065)
Photographed by Tim Thayer
This powerful serigraph print from the permanent collection was created by Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), one of this century's most widely acclaimed artists.
Lawrence was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but moved to Harlem, New York, at 13. He is among the few painters of his generation who grew up in a Black community, received instruction primarily from Black artists, and was influenced by the experiences of Black individuals.
Lawrence's artwork portrays the lives and struggles of the Black community, capturing their experiences through several series focused on figures such as Toussaint L'Ouverture, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman, as well as themes related to life in Harlem and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. His style is characterized by vibrant colors and abstract forms.
In the 1940s, during a time of widespread segregation, Lawrence broke racial barriers by becoming the first Black artist whose work was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
He stated, "If at times my productions do not express the conventionally beautiful, there is always an effort to express the universal beauty of man's continuous struggle to lift his social position and to add dimension to his spiritual being."
Researched and written by:
Julianna Collins, Stamelos Gallery Center former intern, UM-Dearborn art history/museum studies graduate, Class of 2025
