Detroit Visit

I spent this Memorial Day in Detroit and had so much fun. I was able to see Trish & Tony, enjoy a Tiger's game, eat breakfast at Café Muse, sushi at Ronin, and of course—chicken and waffles.

Brush Park

Located just blocks away from Ford Field and Comerica Park, Brush Park is a neighborhood filled with beautiful Victorian style homes. My favorite had to be the Ransom Gillis Mansion originally built in 1876. The house has gone through drastic changes through the years and has been documented by photographer Camilo José Vergara as seen here.

















Ransom Gillis Mansion now and in 1876

James Scott Mansion

The James Scott Mansion is a Richardsonian Romanesque style house built in early twentieth century and destroyed by a fire in the 1970s. If you're in Detroit, it's located in the Cass Corridor at the SE corner of Park and Peterboro.

Humble Design

Ana Smith and Treger Strasberg formed Humble Design last year to provide families coming out of homeless shelters with functional and welcoming home interiors. Ana explains, "We'll meet the family at the space and find out what their likes and dislikes are. Then, we start the gathering process." By scouring Craiglist, garage sales, and thrift stores, the ladies of Humble Design are able to take unwanted household goods and turn them into much needed items for their families. They also strive to be completely green by reusing mistinted/returned paint. "We're trying to make Detroit the amazing city we know it can be. One family at a time," said Treger.

Both Treger and Ana are busy moms and it's very inspiring to see all that they have accomplished in just one year. To see photos and stories of some of the families they have helped visit their website here.

If you live in the Detroit area and have any extra mattresses/boxsprings/frames consider donating to Humble Design, it is one of their biggest needs. Ana and Treger might even stop by in their big white truck to pick it up for you!

Greening of Detroit Volunteer Day

It's not everyday that painting a liquor store means doing some good for your city. As part of our work volunteer day, we painted an abandoned liquor store in order to convert it into a garden shed. We had a lot of fun working with Greening of Detroit. They are doing a lot of cool projects all over the city and it was nice to be a part of one of them.

Handmade Detroit

Lish Dorset (pictured right) and Bethany Nixon (pictured left) became friends over a mutual love of hand made crafts. Dorset explains, “I’ve always been making things and when I came back to the area after college it was hard to find like minded folks with my interests.” Then she met Nixon, a fellow art enthusiast. They started to form meetings with other crafters, where they discussed sewing tips, their love of vintage, and everything handmade. In 2005, they formed Handmade Detroit, a community for local artists.

Through their hosting of craft fairs and events, crafters from all over Michigan are able to meet and sell their work. Some crafters use these events to test their products and see if they can make a personal business from them. Dorset explains, “We’ve been able to help people test out whether or not they want to get into a business. They starting selling and realize that people like their work and what they are doing. Nixon added, “It’s been a great thing to see a lot of our vendors do so well.”

To meet theses fine ladies of Handmade Detroit as well as other vendors including Chris Gorsky, visit the Maker Faire this Saturday and Sunday at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI.

Turning Motown into Growtown

Detroit is in the unique situation of having too much land. In the 1950s Detroit's population soared to 1.8 million people. Now the city is faced with a population decrease to about 900,000 residents. The question on everyone's mind is what to do with the vacant lots. One popular idea and movement is to turn the empty spaces into urban gardens.

Urban Farming was founded by Detroit singer and former Prince protégé Taja Sevelle. The organization is dedicated to turning vacant land over to food production, providing a healthier diet to city people who either go hungry or have poor nutrition.

I had the pleasure of working with Urban Farming to plant a garden in a vacant lot on Knodell Street near the Linwood neighborhood. Volunteers work to plant the garden and the nearest fire department waters the garden if rain water is not enough. Residents are allowed to help themselves to whatever they need. Detroit has no major supermarkets and few stores that carry fresh produce so a garden movement like Urban Farming can be essential to the community.

To learn more about Urban Farming read this Guardian article entitled "Detroit gets growing" or this Guernica article entitled "Food Among the Ruins."

Artist Profile: William Irving Singer

I had the opportunity to meet and photograph painter William Irving Singer back in May. I wanted to share the results of our session as well as his perspective on being a young artist living in Detroit:

Detroit may not be first place that comes to mind for a recent college graduate to start his career, but it is for painter, William Irving Singer, 24. “It's a great place to get started," he told me while giving a tour of his large $238/month studio in the Cass Corridor near downtown. "Detroit's got a bad rep, but spend a month here, and you'll realize it's not as bad as people say." Singer found that Detroit also has a lot of open doors when it comes to finding a studio and locating supplies. “My landlord made it easy for me to move in and was open to my suggestions.” Singer was also surprised at how many friends and neighbors stopped by his studio to drop off antique books and photographs for inspiration. “You can really do what you want here, and people will support you."

To view Singers work visit www.wirving.com or stop by Stella Cafe in the Fischer Building to see it in person.

Bansky in the D!

I've been on a guerrilla art kick ever since seeing Banksy and Shepard Fairey climb onto roof tops and run from police in the new documentary, Exit Through the Giftshop. UK graffiti artist Bansky has tagged walls all over the world and recently came to Detroit! He left three pieces here two that have already been destroyed, and the piece shown below has been taken down by Gallery 555 for preservation.

Lunch at Le Petit Zinc

Trish and I had to check out the new French bistro in Detroit after seeing it featured in the New York Times and on Dateline. The food is amazing! We munched on a delicious sandwich and a chocolate crepe. Definitely a new favorite!

Fisher 21 Body Plant

The Fisher 21 Body Plant was built in 1906 and produced car bodies until the mid-70's. The plant has since remained vacant.

The Fisher Building

Detroit has a lot of really great architecture. The Fisher Building has to be my favorite and I'm fortunate to work right next door to it. The Art Deco skyscraper was built in 1928 by Albert Kahn and has been surprisingly well preserved. There are so many great details in the building that I love including gold engraved elevators & letter boxes, catacomb like tunnels that connect the buildings underground, and amazing light fixtures.


















An inside view of the light fixtures by William Zbaren.

Detroit Ice House

Artists Greggory Holm and Matthew Radune covered an abandoned house in ice to draw attention to the nation's housing crisis. They picked the house, which had been up for demolition, from Detroit's land bank. In return, they agreed to pay the back taxes on another foreclosed house so that a Detroit woman could move in. They have since finished their project and have stopped icing the house, but Trish and managed to visit the house before the sun took too much away.

To learn more about the project or to see amazing photos of the house fully iced, visit these sites: http://icehousedetroit.blogspot.com/ & Detroit News

Ford River Rouge Complex

Today we visited the historic Ford River Rouge Complex in Dearborn, MI. We got to see Ford F-150s built on the assembly line and historic footage of 1930s painters Charles Sheleer and Diego Rivera visiting the site. It was the perfect thing to do on a cold winter day.

The Heidelberg Project

Since 1986, artist Tyree Guyton has converted abandoned houses on Detroit's Hidelberg Street into an outdoor artwork environment. Despite the thousands of visitors the street receives, the city of Detroit has condemned and demolished two of the project's buildings. To learn more about this amazing project visit the site: http://www.heidelberg.org

Slows Bar BQ

We had a fabulous lunch today at Slows Bar BQ in the Corktown district of Detroit. The restaurant opened in 2005, and got their namesake from the Slow Food Movement. The ribs and brisket we had came from an Amish farm, one of the many ways Slows implements sustainable practices.