Discover Detroit Art

Art Night
2024-02-21 20:00 - 2024-02-22 01:00, 2024-02-28 20:00 - 2024-02-29 01:00, 2024-03-06 20:00 - 2024-03-07 01:00, 2024-03-13 20:00 - 2024-03-14 01:00, 2024-03-20 20:00 - 2024-03-21 01:00, 2024-03-27 20:00 - 2024-03-28 01:00, 2024-04-03 20:00 - 2024-04-04 01:00, 2024-04-10 20:00 - 2024-04-11 01:00 (America/Detroit) and 12 more dates | Russell Industrial Center, 1600 Clay St, Detroit, MI, United States

Yoga Class: Deep Relaxation with Lauren J. Williams
2024-02-25 10:00 - 11:00 | PLAYGROUND DETROIT Gallery, 2845 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48207, United States
Attend a foundational slow yoga experience led by Lauren J. Williams and view Brando Altman’s solo exhibition, “Stripped.”

Join us for a restorative yoga experience led by Lauren J. Williams, and view Brandon Altman’s solo exhibition, Stripped on Sunday, February 25th at 10am at 2845 Gratiot Avenue.
RSVP to attend. Capacity is limited.
This yoga class is fully guided with an emphasis on breath work, meditation, and slow movement. This is your invitation to offer yourself a moment of peace as you connect with your mind, body, and spirit. Whether you are a new or seasoned practitioner, this class is perfect for you!
B ring your own yoga mat, and bring something cozy for meditation.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Lauren J. Williams is a yoga guide and professional ice skater with over a decade of experience who is passionate about social justice, inspiring creativity, and healing. She has spent years practicing yoga instruction in the Detroit community throughout various recreation centers, studios, and college campuses.

A BOUT THE EXHIBITION
Stripped is Brandon Altman’s solo exhibition (February 10-March 9) of his mixed-media series, “Stripped,” explores the concept of fragmentation leading to wholeness. As an outsider artist, his practice utilizes painting, collage and assemblage, often including using vintage source images from the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Utilizing thrift store ephemera, he collages and paints multiple small works. Then, he tears apart these completed pieces, intuitively reassembling them onto a larger piece, often using horizontal, layered linework. This creates an infinite field of spontaneous compositions, some harmonious and some disparate.
Altman’s practice often includes using vintage source images from the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. “It’s an era that elicits Anemoia, or the nostalgia for a time one never experienced. It was the first time that the tears in the American fabric started to show, including civil unrest and creative exploration that awakened popular youth culture. We never reckoned with it, thus are still feeling the effects today. This disillusionment of the American Dream remains a consistent theme in my work which can be seen in both the figurative paintings and abstraction.”

THE REDD EXPERIENCE
2024-05-17 19:00 - 22:00 | PLAYGROUND DETROIT Gallery, 2845 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48207, United States
Immerse yourself in a world of vibrant hues, creative energy, and sensory delight at The Redd Experience to inspire & tantalize your senses.

A One-Night Art Experience and Exhibition by REDD Q

Explore a stunning collection of photographs of the visual artist, REDD Q. Known for his bold use of color and striking compositions, REDD Q.’s creations captivate and inspire.
AI conceptualization of a surreal REDD fantasy world comes to life accompanied by these larger than life framed photographs. Limited edition print photographs will be available for purchase, allowing you to take home a piece of The Redd Experience.

DRESS CODE (Strictly Enforced)

Wear Red: Join in the fun by dressing in your most eye-catching red attire! Guests are encouraged to wear red from head to toe, embracing the theme of the event and adding to the vibrant atmosphere. You are a piece of the immersive experience once you walk through the door.
Best Dressed Contest: The guest with the best red outfit voted on by attendees will receive a special gift.

Sensory Experience by Sophiyah Elizabeth:
Prepare to be transported to a state of bliss with a sensory experience led by Sophiyah Elizabeth. This immersive journey will incorporate sound bowls, energy clearing techniques, and other sensory elements designed to promote relaxation, balance, and inner harmony. Allow yourself to be fully present and open to the healing energies of the Redd Experience.

Connect with fellow art enthusiasts, creatives, and supporters of the arts as you explore the Redd Experience together. Share your thoughts and reactions to the artwork, engage in meaningful conversations, and forge new connections with like-minded individuals who share your passion for creativity and expression.

Tickets will be available to purchase at the door.

Join us for an unforgettable evening of art, music, and sensory exploration at The Redd Experience. Come prepared to be encased in a world of red and leave feeling inspired, refreshed, and uplifted.

We can’t wait to see you there!

"The Colour of Ink" Film Screening + "Water & Light" Artist Talk
2024-07-25 18:00 - 20:30 | PLAYGROUND DETROIT Gallery, 2845 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48207, United States
Ink is our primal medium. It has always been with us, inscribing the evolution of humanity. The Colour of Ink uncovers the medium’s mystery.

You’re invited to a special Film Screening and Artist Talk in celebration of the summer exhibition, “Water & Light: Instruments of Magic,” with artists Marta Abbott and Elizabeth Schmuhl.
Suggested donation: $10 (Film Screening)
Artist Talk to follow.
ABOUT THE FILM:
The Colour of Ink uncovers the medium’s mystery and power through the eyes of Jason Logan, a visionary Toronto inkmaker. Marta Abbott is also in the film, included in the exhibition.
Working with ingredients foraged in the wild–weeds, berries, bark, flowers, rocks, rust–he makes ink from just about anything.
Jason sends custom-made inks to an eclectic range of artists around the world, from a New Yorker cartoonist to a Japanese calligrapher. As the inks take on a life of their own, his playful alchemy paints a story of color that reconnects us to the earth and returns us to a childlike sense of wonder.

“Water and Light: “Instruments of Magic,” exhibits work by artists Marta Abbott and Elizabeth Schmuhl, serving as proof through deep knowledge and understanding of the visible and invisible works of the natural world, that magic is real.
Using essential elements often unexamined from the natural world that surround us, both artists highlight the importance of Water and Light by conjuring and bringing forth unique properties that reveal them as instruments of magic. As individual artists creating work with natural inks that rely heavily on water and light, they use their mutable properties such as intensity, consistency, shape, and hue to create artwork alchemy, transforming these elements that exist naturally without a single fixed form.
The series of work in “Water & Light: Instruments of Magic,” contains living material which has undergone a moment of transformation or transmutation through its use as an artistic medium. Both artists utilize their gained knowledge and exploration- chaos and control- while working with natural inks.
As a result, each piece is a snapshot of the artists’ choosing to capture this in-between state that echoes the workings of the natural world, revealing its own magic. The artists both credit the result of capturing this third state as evidence of the magic they find within the ingredients they use, the process of creation, and the pieces they create.
Schmuhl (Detroit) and Abbott (Rome) are also influenced by the cities that they reside in. This additionally informs their respective bodies of work, as both urban landscapes both share a history of decay and transformation. Each artist recognizes magic as an abstract concept that exists through both personal experience and belief. The idea of the supernatural is a human construct, after all; it is an attempt to explain the unexplainable.
This belief is what propels Abbott and Schmuhl to work in the ways that they do, using elements that shape shift and are not static. The result of tapping into the magic present in this ink through their collective creative processes is an exhibition that reflects the natural world and its ever-evolving states, emphasizing the power in fragility. Shown together, the paintings created softly but strongly demonstrate the importance of the natural world and our undeniable place within it.
Instruments of Magic: Water and Light (7/12-8/10) is guest curated by Jessie Devereaux.
On view through Saturday, August 10th.
About the Curator
Jessie Devereaux, based in Brooklyn, NY, is an independent curator and creative director. Since 2006, she has curated art exhibitions independently across galleries and pop-up spaces in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Detroit. Her enduring passion for making art accessible and fostering creative collaboration drives her as a facilitator between artists and the realization of thoughtful exhibitions.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Elizabeth Schmuhl is a multidisciplinary artist who creates work that explores nature, movement, and memory. Schmuhl deeply investigates the natural world, its cycles, and entropy, all of which inform her work. By documenting her experiences, reactions, and interactions through various media, Schmuhl is able to celebrate and share the wonder and beauty she encounters. Schmuhl resides in Hamtramck, Michigan and has taught at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Wayne State University, Oxbow School of Art, and elsewhere.

Marta Alexandra Abbott is a Czech-American artist based in Rome, Italy. Marta uses organic and botanical materials to extract and to describe that which is essential to the human experience of non-human nature, of awe, and of beauty. Her work combines concept and intuition, control and chaos. She seeks to answer age-old questions in contemporary ways, with eyes scanning earth and sky, seeking that which connects them.

Mapping Detroit Microgrants
2024-08-07 19:00 - 21:00 | PLAYGROUND DETROIT Gallery, 2845 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48207, United States
This community conversation and workshop will collectively map the micro-grant opportunities Detroit has offered to cultural workers.

Hosted by the Post Center Art Center and PLAYGROUND DETROIT-
For thousands of years, Detroit has been core to Michigan’s cultural industry—a $15.4 billion and 100,000 job industry across the state (larger than transportation ($13 billion) or utilities ($10 billion)). Yet since the COVID-19 pandemic (2020), access to microgrants (under $10,000), space, and mentorship for early professional artists in Detroit plummeted. Several Detroit-centered foundations, for example, redirected resources to other industries with no indication that their critical investment to the cultural industry will return.
Without these resources, cultural workers across art, music, dance, dance, film, entertainment, and photography will leave for other cities, threatening the future of our city’s cultural ecosystem.
This community conversation and workshop will collectively map the microgrant opportunities Detroit has offered to cultural workers before and after 2020.
Attendees will walk away with an actionable network for new and/or forgotten funding resources, and takeaways will be published online to re-invigorate funders to offer microgrants in the city.
About the hosts:The Post Center Art Center (PCAC) identifies, connects, and resources the art spaces in the United States outside of New York City and Los Angeles. Founded in 2022 by Detroit-based artist Daniel Sharp, PCAC’s first initiative is to build an accessible, searchable map of 1,000 art spaces across the Midwest, South, West, Noncontiguous, Native Nations, and U.S. Territories.
PLAYGROUND DETROIT is a Contemporary Art Gallery and Creative Talent Agency in Detroit, Michigan, located at 2845 Gratiot Avenue.
Image copyright: Common Field, What Now? Towards Artist Led Movements, 2022.

Super Bloom: Quinn Faylor X Detroit Month of Design 2024
2024-09-07 18:00 - 21:00 | PLAYGROUND DETROIT Gallery, 2845 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48207, United States
“Super Bloom: Quinn Faylor’s exhibition showcases their creative practice working across disciplines during Detroit Month of Design 2024.

Join us for Super Bloom, an immersive gallery experience by Quinn Faylor presented by PLAYGROUND DETROIT. Super Bloom is an exhibition of meticulously crafted 3D sculptures and paintings ground in vibrant abstraction and imaginative worldbuilding.

Created through processes including CNC and lap joinery manufacturing, the sculptures’ lively colors and dynamic forms draw viewers into an exhilarating realm, inviting reflections on personal identity as an assemblage of continuous parts.
These works explore the embodiment of queerness and celebrate the extraordinary potential within relationships. The symbolic lap joinery in these sculptures emphasizes balance and trust. These forms represent both personal and collective growth into new spaces.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Quinn Faylor is a queer non-binary multidisciplinary maker based in Detroit, Michigan. They were born and raised in Petoskey, MI and have a Bachelor of Arts and Ideas in the Humanities from University of Michigan (2016). In the Fall of 2016, they moved to Detroit and began their practice.
They have various public murals across Michigan, as well as in San Francisco and Tokyo. In 2022-23 they were an artist in residence with City Walls (Detroit, MI). In 2022, they were an artist-in-residence with the Glen Arbor Arts Center (Glen Arbor, MI) and the Salt Spring Arts Council (Salt Spring Island, BC).
Faylor is a 2024 recipient of the Emerging Artist Fellowship from PLAYGROUND DETROIT.

ABOUT DETROIT MONTH OF DESIGN
Detroit Month of Design returns for its 14th edition September 1-30 exploring the theme “Creative Currents.. The festival was established in 2011 to connect creatives, introduce them to new markets and consumers, expose Detroit’s design aesthetic to worldwide audiences, and highlight the reason why Detroit is the first and only UNESCO City of Design in the United States.
Taking place throughout the City of Detroit and online, the festival features a balanced combination of virtual, outdoor, and indoor experiences. Key program elements include a mix of sponsored, independently produced, and Design Core signature events that range from exhibitions, installations, product launches, lectures, panel discussions, tours, workshops, and more. Detroit Month of Design is produced by Design Core Detroit, an economic development non-profit organization housed within the College for Creative Studies.

FWB x Renaissance City
2024-09-26 20:00 - 2024-09-27 02:00 | The Russell Industrial Center
Join us for as we continue conversations on “The Digital Renaissance” at The Stu, a vibrant creative space within the Russell Industrial Center (RIC), Detroit’s renowned hub for artists and innovators.
Throughout the evening, we’ll explore how blockchain technology can align incentives for community members, fostering growth and collaboration. Engage in meaningful discussions on how these tools can reshape the future for creatives.
Enjoy pizza and beer (while supplies last), live music, and immersive live painting sessions. Creative materials will also be available for you to express your own artistic vision.

City Wild: Ian John Solomon Solo Exhibition Opening Reception
2024-11-23 18:00 - 21:00 | PLAYGROUND DETROIT Gallery, 2845 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48207, United States
“City Wild” examines the relationship between Detroit’s land, infrastructure, residents & greater Michigan’s protected natural spaces.

City Wild, Ian John Solomon’s debut solo exhibition, opens to the public on Saturday, November 23 from 6-9pm at PLAYGROUND DETROIT.
This series of work examines the relationship between Detroit’s land, infrastructure, residents and greater Michigan’s protected natural spaces. Collage, portraiture and landscape make overlooked critical connections visible between a city and the climate haven it resides in while gallery space is used as a vehicle for art to meet action.
According to the artist, “Michigan and the City of Detroit, particularly Black Detroit, are often at odds. It’s not uncommon to hear prideful tones exclaim, “I’m not from Michigan- I’m from Detroit!” From culture to demographics, there are a wealth of validations to this claim, however this exhibition hopes to entice Detroit to take stake in greater Michigan’s natural spaces to act as better advocates, stewards and protectors of our natural resources.Meditating on his family’s East Side block, Ian focuses on capturing the infrastructure, materials and environmental politics of ‘home.’
Through collage, landscape, instant film and steel— City Wild takes a photo-interdisciplinary approach to bridging spaces that can often be at odds, an invitation to view Detroit through a natural lens.“From the Artist- “I have an artistic practice of investigating and embodying the environment. As a journalist I fact-find from patterns that ecology and environment offer. As an artist I seek a deeper understanding of self, community, desire and ancestry through connecting with the spaces I inhabit. Using self portraiture, collage, sound and craft I often bring spiritual explorations of space, ecology and self actualization into the tangible.

Self-portraits empower me to place myself within space and imagine new ways of personal being. I utilize collage to dissolve the barriers of connection subjects and spaces face allowing ideas and entities to be seen in entirely new ways. Sound invites a deeper, more immersive communication and collaboration with spaces while hand crafted objects with organic materials function as adornment, totems and bridges between body and land.My art practice is in tandem with a community practice of introducing Black Detroit’s to Michigan’s natural spaces. I founded the organization Amplify Outside with a mission to deepen my communities connection with the natural world around them. While this organizational mission at times faces logistical restrictions, my artistic practice facilitates limitless re-imaginings of a personal, communal and ancestral bond to land.”
Ian is the Founder of Amplify Outside– a Detroit based organization with a mission of connecting Black Michiganders with Michigan’s outdoor spaces. He hosted a PBS Great Lakes Now TV segment, “Ian Outside” showcasing The Great Lakes and served as the Communications Manager for the Detroit Parks Coalition. “ I have been grateful to become a resource for my community as it pertains to anything environmental and “outside” in Detroit and Michigan.”
On view through December 21.
Viewing HoursThursday- Saturday 12-5PM

ABOUT IAN JOHN SOLOMON
Ian John Solomon is an interdisciplinary artist from Detroit, Michigan. After receiving his B.A. in broadcast journalism and a stint as a congressional reporter in D.C., he found his love for community activism and storytelling required a more expansive modality. Ian’s interdisciplinary lens based practice explores themes of self, queer identity, ancestry, community and ecology. Deeply motivated by environment, Ian uses land as foundation and guidance for artistic expression and questioning. Ian is an Emmy-award winner, and has exhibited his artwork across Michigan.
He most recently completed a fellowship at Ox-Bow School of Art in Saugatuck, MI. He is a recent graduate from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2024 with an MFA in Photography, and recipient of the Emerging Artist Fellowship 2024, which provides financial support and professional mentorship for artists to develop their individual practices and identifies, elevates and promotes Detroit-based artistic excellence.
Hosted by PLAYGROUND DETROIT, selected artists receive an exhibition and financial stipend to support them at a critical point in their career. This program is supported by the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan

Outside at Home: Environmental Justice Panel Discussion
2024-12-21 14:00 - 16:30 | PLAYGROUND DETROIT Gallery, 2845 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48207, United States
From outdoor recreation to environmental justice, there’s a wealth of opportunties to get engaged in environmental efforts around Detroit.

From outdoor recreation to environmental justice, there’s a wealth of opportunties to get engaged in environmental efforts around Detroit.
Join us for a panel discussion moderated by featured artist Ian John Solomon featuring four local organizers sharing resources and their experiences building intentional community through Detroit’s natural spaces.
Featured Panelists:

Kamau Clark, We The People MI
Antonio Rafael, Black to The Land
Rachel Felder, Detroit Outdoors
Aja Edward, DNR Community Engagement

Moderated by Ian John Solomon
This event is the Closing Reception for Solomon’s solo exhibition, “City Wild” on view.
ABOUT THE ORGS
We The People MI
Whether we’re from the Lower or Upper Peninsula, the shores of Lake Erie or Lake Michigan, most of us pitch in for each other and hope to leave things better off for those to come. But today, certain politicians and their greedy lobbyists hurt us all by handing kickbacks to the rich, defunding our schools, blocking free, universal health care, destroying our environment, and threatening seniors with cuts to Medicare and Social Security. They try to divide us from each other at work and in our communities because they know we’ll all flourish when we go all in for all of us.
By joining together, we can rewrite the rules, and make Michigan a place where everyone thrives and leads full, satisfying lives.
Black to the Land
Black to the Land is a coalition of Black, Brown, and Indigenous nature enthusiasts, intent on helping our people to actively engage in meaningful outdoor experiences.
Detroit Outdoors
Detroit Outdoors is a network of Detroit-based institutions working to expand access to a variety of outdoor recreation opportunities.
Department of Natural Resources Michigan
DNR forest resources professionals maintain healthy forests, manage wildfire, maintain responsible harvesting certifications and improve wildlife habitat.

Camp Van Dyke, Inkjet Collage on Natural Cold Press, 28 x 28 inches, 2024

ABOUT THE EXHIBTION
“City Wild,” is Ian John Solomon debut solo exhibition examines the relationship between Detroit’s land, infrastructure, residents and greater Michigan’s protected natural spaces. Collage, portraiture and landscape make overlooked critical connections visible between a city and the climate haven it resides in while gallery space is used as a vehicle for art to meet action.
Meditating on his family’s East Side block, Ian focuses on capturing the infrastructure, materials and environmental politics of ‘home.’ Through collage, landscape, instant film and steel— City Wild takes a photo-interdisciplinary approach to bridging spaces that can often be at odds, an invitation to view Detroit through a natural lens.“
According to the artist, “Michigan and the City of Detroit, particularly Black Detroit, are often at odds. It’s not uncommon to hear prideful tones exclaim, “I’m not from Michigan, I’m from Detroit!” From culture to demographics, there are a wealth of validations to this, however, this exhibition aims to entice Detroiters to take stake in greater Michigan’s natural spaces to act as better advocates, stewards and protectors of our natural resources.
“I have an artistic practice of investigating and embodying the environment. As a journalist, I fact-find from patterns that ecology and environment offer. As an artist, I seek a deeper understanding of self, community, desire and ancestry through connecting with the spaces I inhabit. My art practice is in tandem with a community practice of introducing Black Detroit’s to Michigan’s natural spaces. I founded the organization Amplify Outside with a mission to deepen my communities connection with the natural world around them. While this organizational mission at times faces logistical restrictions, my artistic practice facilitates limitless re-imaginings of a personal, communal and ancestral bond to land.”
Ian is the Founder of Amplify Outside– a Detroit based organization with a mission of connecting Black Michiganders with Michigan’s outdoor spaces. He hosted a PBS Great Lakes Now TV segment, “Ian Outside” showcasing The Great Lakes and served as the Communications Manager for the Detroit Parks Coalition.“ I have been grateful to become a resource for my community as it pertains to anything environmental and being ‘outside’ in Detroit and Michigan.”
ABOUT IAN JOHN SOLOMON
Ian John Solomon is an interdisciplinary artist from Detroit, Michigan. After receiving his B.A. in broadcast journalism and a stint as a congressional reporter in D.C., he found his love for community activism and storytelling required a more expansive modality. Ian’s interdisciplinary lens based practice explores themes of self, queer identity, ancestry, community and ecology. Deeply motivated by environment, Ian uses land as foundation and guidance for artistic expression and questioning.
Ian is an Emmy-award winner, and has exhibited his artwork across Michigan. He most recently completed a fellowship at Ox-Bow School of Art in Saugatuck, MI. He is a recent graduate from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2024 with an MFA in Photography, and recipient of the Emerging Artist Fellowship 2024, which provides financial support and professional mentorship for artists to develop their individual practices and identifies, elevates and promotes Detroit-based artistic excellence. Hosted by PLAYGROUND DETROIT, selected artists receive an exhibition and financial stipend to support them at a critical point in their career. This program is supported by the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan.
ABOUT PLAYGROUND DETROIT
PLAYGROUND DETROIT is a contemporary art gallery and creative agency based in Detroit, MI established in 2012. As a social enterprise, the mission is to support and develop opportunities for creative professionals, artists and residents in order to enhance and sustain Detroit’s creative economy.

Closing Reception + Artist Talk: Dustin Cook on "Contours"
2025-02-01 14:00 - 16:00 | PLAYGROUND DETROIT Gallery, 2845 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48207, United States
Join Dustin Cook for his Closing Reception with an in-person conversation and Artist Talk about “Contours.” on the last day of his exhibit.

Join featured artist, Dustin Cook for his Closing Reception with an in-person conversation and Artist Talk about “Contours.”

Dustin Cook (b.1995) is an artist living and working in Detroit, Michigan. As an abstract artist, his work is a vibrant exploration of color, energy, and the interplay between form and atmosphere.

“My artistic process is driven by a playful and intuitive approach. Using bold, clean lines and geometric precision, I create compositions that dance with rhythmic vitality, inviting the viewer to immerse themselves in a world of dynamic abstraction.”

The shaped canvases in his solo exhibition, “Contours” redefine the traditional canvas, creating abstract pieces that are as much about the physical form as they are about the interplay of color and texture. Dustin Cook’s abstract paintings invite the viewer to find their own meaning within the interplay of color and form.

“Color plays a pivotal role in my work, acting as a conduit for expressing the rich and varied emotional qualities found in nature and the urban environment. I employ a vibrant palette that harmonizes contrasting hues, creating a sense of harmony and tension within the canvas. By harnessing the power of color, I aim to evoke the essence of different atmospheres, whether it be the tranquil serenity of a flowing river or the pulsating energy of a bustling cityscape.”

His art aims to evoke a sense of joy, wonder, and contemplation. I strive to create visual experiences that invite viewers into a realm where color, energy, and form coalesce, transcending the boundaries of the tangible world. Through the language of abstraction, he seeks to capture the dynamism of our surroundings, drawing inspiration from the beauty of nature, the boldness of architectural forms, and the pulsating energy of urban life.

This is the last day to view the exhibition in-person.

Art Night Detroit x Stu 202 Window Art
2025-02-19 20:00 - 2025-02-20 01:00 | The Russell Industrial Center
Come by Stu 202 for a evening of window art and hacker energy as we launch the new artnightdetroit.com website!
