More than 300 drawings, made between 1880 and 1910, of Great Lakes ships have been donated to Bowling Green State University's Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, part of the Center for Archival Collections.The drawings are by Vincent Douglas Nickerson, born in 1843 in Euclid, Ohio, who became a cabin boy at the age of 9 on a ship sailed by his father.

The collection was donated by Ellen Drouillard Boruff of Bloomington, Ind., who inherited it from her grandfather, William R. Rearick, a friend of Nickerson's and also a marine artist.

"One of our strengths is Great Lakes maritime history," said collections' archivist Robert Graham, "so this is a perfect complement to existing collections. It gives us a depth that wasn't there before. To find a body of work from a late-19th-century marine artist of this magnitude is really special."

The BGSU historical collections staff is compiling a detailed inventory of the drawings and identifying the ones that may require conservation.

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David Pett's drawings are in the lower level of the Way Public Library through mid-January. Pett says his graphite and pastel pencil sketches focus on people who go through life unnoticed. The library is at 101 E. Indiana Ave. in Perrysburg.

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Scrap4Art will sell bulk items at $4 per bag through the end of the year. December hours are 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday.

In January, Saturday hours, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., will resume. Scrap4Art is a nonprofit materials-exchange program that promotes the creative reuse of recycled and repurposed materials.

During December, it is not accepting donated goods and materials because the store, at 1501 Adams St., is being reorganized. Information: 419-720-2978.

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People who have mild memory loss and their caregivers are invited to the next Meet Me at TMA, 1:30 p.m. Jan. 7 in the Toledo Museum of Art. A docent-led tour will explore the topic It's Not All Black and White. Museum parking is $5.

Information from the Alzheimer's Association, Northwest Ohio Chapter: 419-537-1999.

The museum will close at 4 p.m. Dec. 31 and will reopen Jan. 3.

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A photography contest open to people in northwest and north-central Ohio has a deadline of Jan. 28 and exhibit dates of Feb. 4 through March 3 in the Tiffin Art Guild & Gallery, 178 S. Washington St., Tiffin.

Cash prizes include $150 for best of show, along with several other categories. The entry fee of $25 pays for up to four photos. Entry form at tiffinartguild.org and 419-443-0478.

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Once Upon a Time: Prints and Drawings that Tell Stories, is on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit, through June 24.

Works from the museum's collection are featured, including David Hockney's etchings from Six Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm; a volume of Moby Dick with illustrations by Norman Rockwell; a copy of the 15th-century Nuremberg Chronicle; Wassily Kandinsky's Klange; Henri Matisse's Parsiphal; Jim Dine's Picture of Dorian Gray, and many more European and American works on paper spanning several eras.

Items for News of Art should be sent two weeks before the event to tlane@theblade.com.