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Upcoming Events

September 8, 2026

F26 Placement Verification Forms (PVFs) Open

For all students currently enrolled in field.

Students must submit their PVF's by Tuesday 09/15/26. This will allow one week for their Field Instructor/Task Supervisor to review, approve and submit the PVF by the final due date of Tuesday 09/22/26.

September 8, 2026

Virtual Pre-Field Orientation for Online Students Starting Field in the Fall 2026 Term

Pre-Field Orientation is an opportunity to discuss the start of your Field Education experience. This mandatory meeting will go through expectations, important due dates, and help you prepare to begin your field placement.

September 8, 2026

MSW Prospective Student Information Session - Virtual

This online session will provide the opportunity to learn more about the University of Michigan School of Social Work MSW program. Topics covered will include: On-Campus Program, Online Program, Curriculum Options, Application Process, Financial Aid, and more!

September 8, 2026

Virtual Introduction to Field Education Webinar for MSW Students Starting Field in the Winter 2027 Term

This session is for all incoming Winter 2027 On-Campus and Online MSW students. Students that are being admitted into the MSW program in Fall 2026 but will not start field until the Winter 2027 term, please plan to attend this virtual Introduction to Field Education Webinar.

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Artwork at the SSW

…and acquainted with grief

Joan Snyder (American) , b. 1940

1998
Color etching, aquatint, woodcut, and linocut, hand-inked by the artist, on Rives BFK paper
Printer: Bob Townsend, R. E. Townsend Studio, Georgetown, Massachusetts
Edition: 10

SSWB 3841

In her early career, Joan Snyder incorporated all manner of material in her paintings such as herbs and vegetal matter, samples of cloth and sewing material, textural accessories such as paper mache and glitter. In addition to diverse material, her ideas often came from diverse art forms such as music, poetry and words. Snyder’s drive to experiment with materials and technique is a hallmark of her career as we see in this print. Here she references details from her earlier work in textures such as silk, velvet, fur, blossoms; and art forms such as songs, symphonies and elegy. She also experimented with printing when she made this work combining two opposite techniques, intaglio and relief. What is meant by this? Critics suggest that this comprehensive collection of material, art forms, and techniques mirror the complexity of human experience or what one writer called the lovely mess of living.

Many of her works from the 1990s, honor the memory of her recently deceased parents and friends. This print was created in response to the death of her mother, who died of breast cancer and it references a multi-media diptych of the same title done the previous year. In the earlier work, the left panel is covered with words and the right with floral like shapes and marks. This print maintains that division albeit on one sheet of paper. Words in this print such as anxiety, PMS, pain, elegy, and breast, reference personal and communal emotions as well as experiences of suffering and loss. The arc of Snyder’s career goes through feminist anger, sorrow and loss, new love, and lately, calm. Another of her paintings is called Can We Turn Our Rage to Poetry? The last and only word on the right side of this print is ‘still,’ suggesting that she believes the answer to that question may be yes.