Visual artists of Michigan music scene take spotlight in event organized by Ann Arbor photographer

This story is part of a series about arts and culture in Washtenaw County. It is made possible by the Ann Arbor Art Center, the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Destination Ann Arbor, Larry and Lucie Nisson, and the University Musical Society.

Organizer Chuck Marshall describes his upcoming event, GIG – The Art of Michigan Music, as “a showcase for the visual artists in Michigan music,” including poster artists, concert photographers, album cover artists, and more.

The second annual GIG will be held from noon to 11 p.m. on Nov. 8 at ART 634, 634 N. Mechanic St. in Jackson. This year’s event, dubbed The Visual Experience 2025, is a streamlined version of 2024’s three-day GIG festival, which Ann Arbor resident Marshall calls “a little disjointed” due to its length.

The consolidated GIG includes an exhibit featuring the work of 24 artists and three up-and-coming Jackson College students, a market where their work will be available for sale, workshops and educational panels, and an evening rounded out by live music.

GIG’s 2025 featured artist and event poster designer is Detroit-based Jacob Rosenberg. Marshall says Rosenberg’s penchant for “big, bold colors [and] very interesting, unique designs” leads to “fantastic” art.

Marshall also recommends checking out the work of Jena Hovey, a “well-respected” photographer from Lansing who produces “a lot of great concert photography using negative space,” and Cidney Bundon, a Detroit-based photographer and graphic designer with an “old-school look” to her photos. Bundon has “a great eye for capturing the live music scene in Detroit, especially the underground bands,” Marshall says.

A handful of workshops and panel discussions will also be offered at this year’s event, including sessions on networking, social media, and advertising. A schedule of these sessions is available on the GIG website.

Panels on graphic art and photography will bring together a variety of artists – including Concentrate’s own managing photographer, Doug Coombe – to discuss their artistic processes and how they’ve made their way in the industry.

Live music will begin at 7:00 p.m. with performances by Paper Lanterns, Mazinga, and Carbon Decoy. The full music schedule is available here.

Marshall says he spent the last year “scouring” the state for visual artists to feature at the exhibition.

“We’ve got a lot of great artists that are in Michigan,” he says. “We unfortunately can’t get them all into the show, but we‘ve got a good representation, I think.”

The resulting show will feature artists from Muskegon, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Lansing, and Detroit, as well as Jackson, “so we thought Jackson [would] be a nice hub,” Marshall says.

The idea for the show grew out of a 2016 exhibit at the Ann Arbor Art Center that Marshall curated.

“We brought it back and we decided to make it more than just an art show,” Marshall says.

That “we” refers to the friends and colleagues who have pitched in over the years to make Marshall’s vision come to life. Many of them now sit on the board of the Art of Michigan Music Foundation, including the Manchester Underground’s Steve Girbach, Brenda Marshall (who also happens to be married to Marshall), and Lori Stratton of the Stratton Setlist.

Marshall himself has been, by his own account, “involved in music for pretty much [his] whole life” – as a musician, photographer, writer, and event planner/curator. He and Brenda Marshall are the creative forces behind Life in Michigan, an online publication devoted to “exploring the unique sides of Michigan through extraordinary stories,” according to its website.

With GIG, Marshall wanted to provide artists a chance to share and sell their work — without taking a huge cut in commission.

“If you go to a gallery, you’re rarely ever going to see some of these great posters or these great concert photos that folks take. And if you do, then they charge a huge commission,” he says.

“There should be better ways to get this art out there, because you see a lot of the imagery, but you don’t know who created this album cover,” Marshall adds. “You don’t know who shot that photo sometimes. You don’t know who created the poster for the show you’re going to go to.”