Art in Michigan: A Guide for Collectors, Curators and the Curious (Digital Edition)

From Heidelberg to the Good Shepherd "In 1999, Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer ordered the demolition of three houses at the sprawling and internationally famed art installation, “The Heidelberg Project.” In response, Tyree Guyton, the artist behind the installation, announced a new project in which his trademark polka dots would spread out from Heidelberg Street until they covered the whole city. He was good to his word." (Steve Panton) Kalamazoo: Great Name, Terrific Art Scene "That legacy of cultural renown and obscurity remains a part of Kalamazoo’s identity. About a two-and-a-half hour drive from downtown Chicago and an almost straight shot west of the Lake Michigan community of South Haven, the Southwest Michigan city has much to recommend it." (Alison Cuddy) Collectors Not Consumers How ArtClvb is Working to Replace Mass-Produced Decor with Real Art by Living Artists "Detroit has long been one of those cities that outsiders love to underestimate right up until it produces something impossible to ignore. Cheap space, stubborn ingenuity and a deep bench of artists have made it fertile ground for creative experimentation. Because the city has never enjoyed the dense web of commercial galleries and legacy collectors that shape art scenes on the coasts, Detroit has developed another specialty: building its own infrastructure. " (K.A. Letts) Cranbrook For Life How a Farm Outside Detroit Became an Art, Design and Education Mecca "What does an ideal learning environment look like today? As our lives and many of our interactions have become virtual, the character and quality of the spaces in which we learn are even more important." (Dirk Denison) Polka Dots, Windmills and African Beads The Legacy of Detroit’s Art Environments "Far from Detroit’s revitalized downtown, tucked away in neighborhoods beyond the city’s center—and in the nearby enclave, Hamtramck—quirky, playful spaces thrive. The Heidelberg Project, Hamtramck Disneyland, and MBAD’s African Bead Museum are filled with whimsical creations that rewrite their respective neighborhood’s histories by both clashing with and reflecting their surroundings." (Roopa Chauhan) The Great Beauty Why Michigan Attracts Chicago-Area Artists for Residencies "Within a few hours’ drive from Chicago’s bustling metropolis are miles upon miles of pastoral, laid-back environments rimming the opposite side of Lake Michigan that are ideal for creating art. These swaths of western Michigan have served as ground zero for visual and performing artists to set aside time for their craft for decades now." (Kristine Hansen) What Else Could a Museum Be? Mike Kelley’s “Mobile Homestead” "Bordering the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), there sits a work so strange and self-aware that even calling it a “work” feels slightly inadequate, or at least incomplete: Mike Kelley’s “Mobile Homestead.” At first glance, the idea of discussing an artwork inside a museum risks sounding tautological, the kind of sentence contemporary art institutions inadvertently generate by merely existing." (Abel González Fernández) Outliers "The legendary stomping grounds of Paul Bunyan have no shortage of space—or of people who wanted enough of it to do their thing. Some Michigan artists and designers have more ample room and means than others. Yet many often embraced thrift, held close a connection with the state’s spectacular natural setting, and possessed a masterful sense of past and place, whether Michigan’s industrial legacy, natural treasures or distant influences both rustic and sleek." (Michael Jackman) Masterpieces for the Middle Class History of Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian Homes in Michigan "Nearly all of the thirty or so Wright-designed homes are still standing in Michigan, a mix of public sites that offer tours as well as private residences that are—depending on their steward—open for overnight stays or guided tours." (Kristine Hansen) Complex Savior How Anthony and JJ Curis are Remaking Detroit "Religious parallels are unavoidable in speaking of the Shepherd, the contemporary arts space that, since opening in the vacated Church of Annunciation in 2024, has been the centerpiece of a breathtakingly ambitious cultural district on the east side of Detroit." ( F. Philip Barash) The Art Geography of Michigan "The breadth of Michigan’s art culture comes as a pleasant surprise—you would expect Michigan’s "galleric populi" to mostly saturate the lower palm of the state "hand" since Detroit, Ann Arbor and Flint find their homes there. And, as much as Detroit does dominate, Michigan’s taste for the artistic is peppered throughout the entire state. No county is too small nor too thinly populated to house some sort of creative nexus; vast collections and quirky thematics spring up in rural counties where one might not expect to find them."