Creative Culture Detroit

THE CLASSROOM

2009-11-25T23:50:00.000-08:00

This was a group show featuring the work of 6 CCS students and one other artist.

Michaela Mosher - Fine Art Sophomore

Kieran Martin - Fine Art Senior

Danni Wu - Illustration Freshman

Dan Dirito - Photography Sophomore

Shani Anne - Photography Sophomore

Will Gibbons - Product Design Junior

and

Nick Fert - Graffiti Artist

Michaela Mosher gathered these people together. Danni Wu created the poster.

The gallery is new to Royal Oak this year. It had a previous location on Van Dyke Rd.

The Future is the brainchild of Kay and also houses permanent space for Casper Milquetoast's artwork.

Kay allows any and every artist above the age of 18 to show in the gallery for free.

She also has musicians and poets perform almost every night. Shani Anne also played her ukulele and sang covers of songs and originals. See her here: Shani's Youtube Channel

Admission is usually $6, $2 going to the artist of the guest's choice, $2 to the manager of the night, and $2 to the gallery.

The gallery is really struggling to pay the rent, and does not know if it will make it past April, when their lease ends.

Coming Soon in January: The Classroom II: Women

The show was loosely based on Learning:

Learning as Experience.
Learning as Looking.
Learning as Connections.
Learning as Made.

Shani playing. (Nick Fert's work on the far left)

Danni Wu

Dan Dirito (left) and Nick Fert (right)

Danni's Charcoal Drawings.

Shani Anne.

Michaela Mosher.

Dan Dirito.

Kieran Martin.

Will Gibbons.

CONSTRUCTS - org contemporary

2009-11-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

"org contemporary presents

CONSTRUCTS: Investigations of Formal Construction in Contemporary Image Making

saturday, november 14, 2009 through friday, december 4, 2009
opening reception saturday, november 14 from 6-10pm

org contemporary is pleased to present: CONSTRUCTS: Investigations of Formal Construction in Contemporary Image Making. Participating artists are Ryan Parker, Ai Krasner and Gretchen Batcheller, three recent graduates of the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia. All three artists work demonstrates a concise understanding of historical methods, yet employ that knowledge towards the creation of work that engages in the current dialog surrounding formal construction in contemporary image making.

Ryan Parker’s prints, drawings and wall installation work constructs architectural space to be explored and experienced. that architecture, however, is always the starting point for his own visual language as an image maker. The specificity of the works ambiguity allows for an experiential contemplation

Ai Krasner’s work exists in the intermediary space between painting and sculpture. She is exploring the borders between the two genres as well as those of image and materiality, object and surface.

Gretchen Batcheller’s paintings stem from a deep-rooted interest in the relationship between structure and place, rational and irregular. She is taking abstraction beyond modernism's pursuit for a pure painting and inserting a cultural and contextual framework.

CONSTRUCTS is curated by Brian Barr, a Detroit native. Barr received his MFA from The American University in Washington, DC He currently lives and works in Detroit. He has exhibited his own work extensively throughout the country; this is his first major curatorial project.

org contemporary specializes in solo or two person exhibitions of local and national contemporary artists. They are located on the third floor of building 2 at the Russell Industrial Center in Detroit, MI.

gallery hours: by appointment" - org contemporary's facebook event

This is the piece by Ai Krasner ^

^Ryan Parker is a quiet guy, very friendly, and very energetic in his words and actions. He works with silk screening, patterning, and repetition. He uses line, architecture, shape, dimensionality, and layers to create intricate buildings, hallways, dungeons, rooms, and streets. But they are by no means solid landscapes or interiors. His images are of the architecture of the mind. The risk taking, the mystery, the depth, the intrepid confusion of our ideas and how they are "construct"ed in our mind's eye. In his travels he has seen Piranesi's Prison Etchings and has been recently been influenced by modern street spray paint art, the layering aspect evident in his work. The piece above was my favorite of the show. It was done about 4 hours before hand, and I hope he doesn't mind me saying so. A man after my own tune, work does not always need to take massive amounts of time. I talked with Gretchen about this and she agrees. Her paintings take months to come together, but 6 can be produced in two weeks. The massive amount of time is spent thinking about the piece, taking in influences, reading literature, contemplating. These ideas will come out in the piece, it is unavoidable. Ryan's work is smooth and so intensely deep. The piece above works with the corner of the wall to throw the viewer forward into the depths. Pure Beauty of form, and a real sense for the space and atmosphere.

^Gretchen Batheller (in the salmon coat) has an instantly recognizable warm personality. She is very excited about her work, and will discuss it with anyone. One of the things that she strives for in her work is to make people stay with a painting, for to her that is the biggest compliment. Her paintings vibrate with color and energy. They are comfortable, but extravagant, pleasant and vibrant, an energetic view of the world outside her window. Gretchen paints cityscapes from her memories of places, of car trips. Using a collection of photos to give herself an idea of what she wants to come across, but not taking directly from them, she paints layer by layer, section by section, each building off of each other and morphing into something that may not have been the original idea. While painting she will turn the canvas around, to mix things up for herself, so that she isn't caught up in her own world, but rather relates to others who would be looking at the painting for the first time. Her paintings are the anti-blink of memories. They are the mind's video still. If you were to only remember one millisecond of vision: this motion, this color, this complex intelligent blur would be it.

Cranbrook

2009-11-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

I went on a trip with Mira Burack and our soft sculpture class to Cranbrook.

Cranbrook is located in a little oasis off of Woodward in Bloomfield Hills.

It is a middle school, high school, and graduate school all specifically focused on art.

It was intended by the designers of the program that students would attend Cranbrook for grade school, go to College for Creative Studies for undergrad, and then return to Cranbrook for their graduate work.

The graduate program at Cranbook has no classes, every student is independant, while working in a communal environment along side a resident artist.

Cass Cafe

2009-10-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

The Detroit Frontier:
"Paintings inspired by the Metro Detroit landscape"

Darcel Deneau, Nicole MacDonald, Laura Macintyre,Taurus Burns, Clinton Snider, Bryant Tillman

Aaron Marker Solo Show @ U245 Gallery

2009-10-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

BEFORE THE CRASH

Art Battle @ CCS

2009-10-19T06:54:00.001-07:00

Inkface playing in the decorated cafe:

Second Place:

Third Place:

FIRST PLACE:

CCS Faculty Sabbatical Show - Center Galleries

2009-10-17T07:06:00.000-07:00

Nancy Mitter:

Lester Johnson:

CCS Alumni and Faculty Hall - Robin Summers FA '66 - "My Hands Against the Sky"

2009-10-14T17:18:00.000-07:00

Art Detroit Now (cont.)

2009-10-07T05:36:00.001-07:00

Vanessa Reynolds @ Golden Gate Cafe

2009-10-07T05:28:00.000-07:00

Fireweed Universe-City

2009-10-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

The group Fireweed Universe-City got together this saturday to clean out some of these houses. Robinwood, a street located off of Woodward near 7 mile, had two-three occupied houses, while the rest (30-40) are abandoned/arson-ed/forgotten.

Fireweed Universe-City is a grassroots movement to transform a devestated, burnt-out Detroit city block into a sustainable, eco-friendly, intentional community that will be the grounds for urban farming, residential and creative space for artists, healers, musicians, and like-minded, forward-thinking, progressive individuals, families, small businesses, and the surrounding community already in place. Fireweed is a plant that grows in the forest after fires wipe out an area... it revitalizes the land, allowing for new growth to happen, and it's leaves are spiral shaped, like DNA... quite fittingly, we are the FIREWEED OF DETROIT! For more information contact the group through Facebook.

Art Detroit Now

2009-10-05T07:24:00.000-07:00

Art Detroit Now is a collaboration between over 50 galleries in Detroit and the surrounding areas. Over the weekend of October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, these galleries opened their doors to guests for free.

RUSSELL INDUSTRIAL CENTER - Open Studios

- The Hatch: A Hamtramck Art Collective

- Painter's Studio

- Glass Studio

- Detroit Industrial Projects - Almost Famous, a Shortlist

- Gilda videotaping: find this video and many others on her Youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/GildaSnowden

- Megan Jones' Studio

- Artist talking to perspective buyers

- Andy Kem's Studio

- Painter working because he "got bored"

- Vagner M. Whitehead - Gold Code - ORG gallery

- Visitors getting lost in the Russell. A giant foam gold ball.

- Wound, a sewing studio. Hit this place up twice because they had hot apple cider.

- Detroit Photographers' studio.

- Brian Barr's new studio

- A. Sikora

- Paul R.'s Glass studio

- Michigan Hot Glass

LEMBERG GALLERY - Ferndale

G.R. N'NAMDI GALLERY

DELL PRYOR GALLERY

WORK: DETROIT

- CCS Graduate Liza Poszywak's Painting is there, second from the right.

MOCAD

CCS CENTER GALLERY - Artist Discussion

Cave Gallery // Sept. 18th

2009-09-24T14:58:00.000-07:00

Friday night was the opening for an exhibition at the Cave Gallery in the Russell Industrial Center. The show was curated by Mike Smith. There was a nice variety of work that included video and installation.

The work seemed like the type to meditate to; each piece begged to be viewed for more than a moment. The discussions were full of life and everyone was radiating a genuine thirst for something beyond common.

The People's Arts Festival and Cave Gallery

2009-08-31T18:45:00.000-07:00

This weekend we visited the Peoples Arts Festival and the Big Bang Radiation Sickness at the Cave gallery:

It was a beautiful day to look at art, enjoy the music and grab a bite to eat. The art was interesting reflecting the the eclectic art scene of Detroit.

Easily the high light of the visit was visiting the Cave Gallery's exhibition, "Big Bang Radiation Sickness" featuring new works by Vince Troia.