Lauren Williams, By the Sea, 2026, acrylic on canvas, 52 x 52 in

Participating Artists: Jerri Burks, Sherri Bryant, Chantell Donwell, Chris Evans, Lewis Foster, Nick Granch, Eric Green, Ronald Griggs, Ashley Hawkins, Shawn Jackson, Joseph Lucas II, Richard Marshall, Ryan McDonagh, Thomas McMillan, Nathaniel McNeal, Dameon Miller, Keisha Miller, Angela Rhodes, Dale Roberts, Randy Rodriguez, Renee Rogan, Phillis Rogers, Hugh Rollocks, Lauren Samuels, Thomas Saunders, Marear Smith, Rodney Stephens, Marquise Taylor, Lorenzo Waters, and Lauren Williams 

Curated by Rashaun Rucker 

Exhibition Dates: August 6 – September 12, 2026 

Location: PASC Detroit Gallery, 9301 Kercheval Ave, STE 2, Detroit, MI 48214 

Whimsy – n. a playful or amusing quality  

PASC presents We Need More Whimsy, a group exhibition featuring PASC artists from all three PASC studios. This exhibit invites viewers to rediscover lightness amid a world often weighed down by uncertainty and unrest. Curated by Detroit-based artist Rashaun Rucker, this exhibition ushers in human desires for joy, imagination, and wonder. Through vibrant colors, unexpected forms, and a spirit of experimentation, these works encourage viewers to embrace moments of delight as acts of resilience. In challenging times, whimsy is not a retreat, but a resource — a reminder that laughter, curiosity, and fun are necessary tools for navigating the world around us.

Marear Smith’s “The Detroit Lions Den” presents a lush, playful landscape rendered in vibrant color, where an imaginative lion navigates the land and invites viewers to construct their own narratives about the unfolding scene. Similarly, Lauren Williams’s “By the Sea” is a large-scale painting offering an immersive idyllic landscape filled with rolling waters, fruit trees, winding roads, figures, and dynamic leading lines that evoke a sense of joy and movement. Together, these artworks and others in the exhibition embody the curatorial vision: to evoke a space of respite and happiness, offering viewers a moment of restorative reflection within our contemporary world.

Rashaun Rucker is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice includes photography, printmaking, sculpture, and drawing. An accomplished artist and alumnus of North Carolina Central University and Marygrove College, he has earned a Master of Fine Arts in Print Media from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Rucker creates a diverse range of works, including photographs, prints, objects, and drawings, and has been honored with over 40 national and state awards for his artistic endeavors.  His work is represented in several public and private collections. 

Launched in 2021, PASC is the first progressive art and design studio and exhibition program in Detroit and Wayne County dedicated to supporting artists with developmental disabilities and mental health differences to advance artistic practices and build individual careers in the art and design fields. PASC is a program of Services to Enhance Potential (STEP), a non-profit service organization founded in 1972 that provides services and support for more than 1,400 individuals with disabilities and mental health differences across Southeastern Michigan.