Zingerman’s Art Show at the Ann Arbor Public Library

Decades of our handcrafted artwork to see and buy

If you’d have told me 44 years ago that the new little Deli we were a couple of months from opening would one day have an annual art show at the Ann Arbor Public Library, I’d have given you one of those skeptical raised-eyebrow, “there’s no way” looks that some of you know so well. We were hoping for many things when we were getting ready to open our doors for the first time in March of 1982, but I’m pretty sure that an art show wasn’t on anyone’s list. That said, nearly half a century later, it’s a significant element of what makes Zingerman’s magic. If we had started out using stock photos instead of hand-drawn illustrations, Zingerman’s would be a very different business today.

Ian Nagy has been illustrating for us for well over 30 years now. He is not, of course, the only artist who has contributed their skills to making the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses (ZCoB) a more artful place. But he has created so much great work over the years, and his beautiful, amazing, remarkable art skills have become so deeply associated with what we do that maybe I’ll start telling people who ask that Ian is actually “Mr. Zingerman,” not me!

In truth, it’s almost certain that anyone reading this enews will have seen some of Ian’s amazing art over the years. There’s something special, though, about being able to see a lot of Ian’s art in one place at the same time, not on a label, newsletter, t-shirt, or poster, but rather hanging on the wall, gallery-style, all at the same time, the way great art is so often shown.

“The Art of Zingerman’s: A Feast for Your Eyes—Second Course” is at the Ann Arbor District Library’s downtown location. You can come see it any day of the week from 10 am to 8 pm. The show is an exceptional exhibit of over 100 pieces of Zingerman’s artwork. It’s free, open to all, and runs through February 27.

Reflecting over the last few weeks about the impending art show opening, I realized that I’m rarely very far from Ian’s remarkable art. As I type this piece, I’m sneaking a quick look at the lovely sunflower he did on scratchboard for the cover of the pamphlet “A Revolution of Dignity in the Twenty-First Century Workplace,” and the apricot drawing he recently made for “Why Democracy Matters,” which comes out next month. You will likely have seen Ian’s work all over the walls of our businesses over the years, and it’s featured in every Mail Order catalog you get in the post. It’s also on print newsletters, menus, clothing, posters, and packages. Maybe you’ve seen it on our various delivery vehicles and in Zingerman’s emails that are delivered to your inbox. I see Ian’s stunningly beautiful scratchboard drawings every time I stock or sign one of the Zingerman’s Press pamphlets or books, or hand out one of my business cards. Ian’s art is also present whenever I show someone the new Zingerman’s snowboards and skis made by the artisan producer Gilson Snow in Pennsylvania. By Ian’s own estimate, he’s created around 7,000 images, and he’s still going in beautiful fashion.

Of course, over the years, other great art-makers have joined Ian in contributing their skills to the ZCoB cause. This show also features work by two other longtime art contributors: Ryan Stiner and Phil Stead. Of this second annual show, Ian offers:

This time around, I’m happy that we are displaying work from former Zingerman’s coworkers, illustrators Ryan Stiner and Philip Stead, as well as myself. It lets us show a wider variety of interpretations of the look and feel.

This all makes me think of the late educator and business leader Diane Ragsdale. She lived in Minneapolis and was a leader at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. Ragsdale was much loved throughout the Twin Cities’ arts community. She was, it seems, a magical figure. Sadly, she passed away from cancer two years ago this week. She was 57. Ragsdale once described one of her courses as “not aimed at putting beauty in service of business. My aim is the opposite. I want leaders to put business in service of beauty.”

Zingerman’s is an organization that has made real, almost unintentionally, what Ragsdale was writing about. The library exhibit is evidence of it, but what’s more important is that we have actively employed Ian and many other artists to “help create Zingerman’s” for nearly all of the four-plus decades we’ve been doing business. Art here is not an add-on or an effect. Art is woven into pretty much everything we do. And Ian, in spirit and in illustration, has been a part of pretty much all of it for three and a half decades now.

In her final published article, Diane Ragsdale explored the idea that we’d do well to embrace “processes that will by necessity and with intention ensure that we arrive at destinations we cannot imagine, much less describe.” It sounds a lot like magic. The kind of magic that Ian Nagy has shown himself to be so incredibly adept at making—and continues to show each day. I am amazed by every piece he’s done.

Hang our art in your home