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 Director's Letter
Every time I leave my third-floor office and go down to the DIA galleries, I encounter a new adventure, a learning opportunity, a moment of delight, and an empathetic connection with others. Engaging with the collection and sharing it with our friends always brings new insights. During the last decade at the DIA, we have created experiences that help each visitor find personal meaning in art. In the upcoming years, we would like those moments of personal meaning to become shared experiences with others. The DIA team is very excited about this approach because sharing the museum experience gives it a deeper significance and is more meaningful for the participants. Furthermore, I also like to think that the more we share the more we have. At the DIA, we want you to feel ownership of the collection, be inspired by the art, and feel connected with others.
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Director Salvador Salort-Pons with World War II veteran Mort Harris.
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Detroit Industry, West Wall (detail), 1932-33, fresco; Diego Rivera, Mexican. Gift of Edsel B. Ford
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Let me tell you about one of my own personal experiences of sharing at the DIA. A couple of weeks ago I was wandering through the galleries with a friend, Mort Harris. Mort is a Detroiter and a WWII hero who flew B-17s (known as the flying fortress), completing thirty-three successful missions over Nazi-occupied Europe (An extraordinary accomplishment on its own but beyond that, during one of them, he "landed" on the North Sea-something he does not recommend). Together, we admired Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry frescos, and he pointed out to me the kind of planes that are painted on the west wall of the murals and how much it cost at the time to fly one. I thought it was pretty unbelievable that someone in 2016 could provide me such information based on his own direct experience.
We then continued into our late nineteenth-century galleries. We stopped in front of the portrait of Postman Roulin that Vincent van Gogh portrayed when he was working in Arles, in the south of France. I started to talk about Van Gogh, his revolutionary brushwork, his inspirational sense of color, his choice to paint Roulin many times, and other matters related to the history of art. My friend listened to me and said, "Ah! yes, Vincent van Gogh, this is the artist whose brother [Theo] financially supported him so he could paint." Mort's comment made me look at Van Gogh's art in a radically new light, a human one: Theo's generosity and love for his brother enabled Vincent's amazing works to exist today, allowing him to become perhaps the most famous artist in the world.
In the same generous vein of Theo van Gogh, the DIA has recently been blessed with the philanthropy of many corporations, foundations, and individuals who helped save our world- class collection throughout the city of Detroit's bankruptcy process. My friend, Mort Harris, was one of those extraordinary philanthropists. Thank you, Mort, for caring so much for our community and especially for sharing with me Theo's perspective of Vincent van Gogh's story. Our collection has gained a deeper and more profound meaning for me. I now make sure to quietly say "thank you Theo" every time I enjoy Van Gogh's inspirational colors and brave brushwork.
Salvador Salort-Pons
Director
Detroit Institute of Arts
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Exhibitions DETROIT AFTER DARK
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE DIA COLLECTION October 21, 2016-April 23, 2017
Albert and Peggy de Salle Gallery of Photography
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Iggy Pop, Bookies Club 870, 1980, gelatin silver print; Sue Rynski, American. Museum Purchase, DeRoy Photographic Acquisition Endowment Fund
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Glittering skylines, quiet streets, raucous night clubs, and corner bars are just some of the images that appear in this exhibition featuring works from the DIA's permanent collection. While most of the photographers are from Detroit, the exhibition also includes rare after-hours views by Robert Frank, such as his 1955
City Hall, Detroit. A small supplement of work from Paris and New York, taken between 1920 and 1960, are on view in a small adjacent gallery, establishing Detroit's part in a visual tradition and history shared with other great cities and the photographers who have shaped the genre of night photography.
Russ Marshall photographed nearly empty city streets and auto workers filing into the Pontiac Assembly Plant on the night shift in black and white. Jon DeBoer trained his camera on Detroit's architecture to produce the stark contrast between brightly lit buildings and the night sky, also in black and white. Scott Hocking captured the same contrasts, but in color, in his industrial skylines and otherworldly imagery from his "Detroit Nights" series.
Equally represented are Detroit's musicians and legendary night clubs. Marshall took photos of jazz greats at Baker's Keyboard Lounge and the Vanity Ballroom in the 1980s and 1990s. Sue Rynski caught Iggy Pop performing at Bookies Bar in 1980 and Patti Smith and Fred Sonic Smith performing at the New Miami Bar in 1981. Doug Coombe shot individual pictures of Jack and Meg White at the Gold Dollar in 1999. Hip hop artists Awesome Dre, Guilty Simpson, and Nick Speed, among others, collaborated with Jenny Risher to create dynamic portraits set against some of Detroit's famous landmarks.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue available preorder from the
Museum Shop.
Above:
Gotham, Detroit, 2014, pigment print; Jon DeBoer, American. Museum Purchase, Coville Photographic Fund
Back to top OFRENDA ALTARS October 21-November 6
Special Exhibitions Galleries Central
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Rendering for
Sewing Together Generations
ofrenda
by
Angela Hibdon and Rosemarie Loukas
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The fourteen
ofrendas, altars that honor those who have passed away, link family and heritage through highly decorative and creative displays inspired by Mexican traditions marking the Day of the Dead (
Dia de los Muertos). The altars are a means for people to pay respect to and remember those who have passed away in a highly personal way, using the deceased's favorite foods, mementos, pictures, sugar skulls, and flowers as decorations.
The Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico, other Latin American countries, and Mexican American communities in the United States.
Ofrenda means offering in Spanish, and the altars here, made by artists from around Michigan and one from Ohio, are dedicated to grandparents (great- and great-great-grandparents as well), parents, and siblings. As Mexican-born Detroit artist David Martìnez Rabadàn, whose work is in the exhibition, says, "This tradition is one that resonates with every Mexican and touches us deep into our soul as we reunite for two days with the family and friends that we miss so much."
In a true blending of cultures, Ann Arbor artists Parisa Ghaderi and Neda Khalafi, both born in Iran, have borrowed from that country's rituals in a tribute to the sudden death of a family member. Other altars call attention to deaths caused by Alzheimer's disease or by the pollution of Detroit's Delray neighborhood.
On Sunday, November 6, members of the Mexican Consulate explore the rich history and traditions of Day of the Dead
ofrendas at 3 p.m., followed by conversations with artists about the meaning of and inspiration for their works in the exhibition. The program is suitable for families with children eight and older. Click
here for other Day of the Dead activities at the DIA.
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New On View
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| Top: Thalassa, 2011, plywood, steel, paper; Swoon (Caledonia Curry), American, b. 1977 Bottom: Swoon preparing Thalassa for installation in the Woodward Lobby. |
Flying high above the Woodward Lobby is Thalassa, a massive twenty-foot-tall, 400- pound sculpture of the ancient Greek goddess of the sea, created by the New York street artist Caledonia Curry, known as Swoon. The work is best seen from the Great Hall. Constructed of plywood on a steel frame and covered with paper cutouts and prints, Thalassa is suspended from the ceiling. Her bodice is adorned with images of sea creatures and colorful swathes of fabric. Long paper ribbons cascade beneath her like tentacles reaching into the sea. The underside of the figure is embellished with numerous paper and Mylar hand- and laser-cut decorations, and the tentacles are made from rope hung with a variety of paper, cloth, and plastic materials. Thalassa was originally commissioned by the New Orleans Museum of Art after the Deep Water Horizon oil rig explosion that resulted in a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "I'm a Floridian, and very much an ocean person. I was shocked at how much I grieved that spill," the artist says. Thalassa's overwhelming presence and the vibrancy of its organic forms speak to Swoon's interest in environmental concerns, climate change, and ecosystems that surround cities such as Detroit. Born in Connecticut in 1977 and raised in Florida, Swoon moved to Brooklyn to study painting and printmaking at the Pratt Institute. While she was influenced by classical and Renaissance art, it was graffiti and street art that inspired her, and she began pasting life-size prints and paper cutouts of human figures in Manhattan and Brooklyn. She believes her work and that of other street artists is part of a "healthy practice in a healthy city... [where] people are part of the visual creation of their neighborhoods." Swoon's installation at the DIA coincides with a community mural project in Detroit's Jefferson-Chalmers district, executed with the assistance of several local artists, and an exhibition at the Library Street Collective gallery. Back to top |
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Detroit Film Theatre
Two special Thursday events mark the DFT schedule this month:
Andrea Doria: Are the Passengers Saved? and an evening with actress Piper Laurie. The Detroit premiere of a film about the legendary Ann Arbor band The Stooges also plays in October.
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Andrea Doria: Are the Passengers Saved?
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On July 25, 1956, the Italian passenger liner
Andrea Doria collided with the ship Stockholm near Nantucket Island off the Massachusetts coast.
Pierette Simpson, a nine-year-old Italian girl coming to America with her grandparents, was among the 1,660 survivors of the wreck. This
film, released for the event's sixtieth anniversary, recounts Simpson's return to her native village of Pranzalito and documents the hidden truth surrounding the tragedy. Interviews with survivors and naval experts throughout Italy and the United States are accompanied by re-enactments of Simpson's departure from her village and arrival in the New World. Simpson, now a resident of the Detroit area, discusses the film along with director Luca Guardabascio following the Thursday, October 6, screening. Lifeboat #1 from the
Andrea Doria has been fully restored and will be on display at the entrance of the film theater. Tickets for this special event are $20.
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Detroit native and three-time Oscar® nominee
Piper Laurie (left) returns to her hometown for a special evening to benefit the Detroit Film Theatre. Laurie started out in the early 1950s in colorful costume dramas, then moved on to do acclaimed work during the "golden age" of live TV. She received her first Academy Award® nomination for her role as Paul Newman's girlfriend in
The Hustler, and later garnered nominations as the mother of telekinetic prom queen Sissy Spacek in
Carrie and the mother of a deaf woman in
Children of a Lesser God. Her Golden Globe®-winning turn in David Lynch's television series
Twin Peaks won her a new generation of fans. Her 2011 memoir,
Learning to Live Out Loud, is a rich portrait of an amazing life that she shares following the showing of a compilation of memorable on-screen moments. Tickets are $15.
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Gimme Danger chronicles the rise and demise of Ann Arbor's legendary band
The Stooges (left). Director Jim Jarmusch combined concert footage with animation and engrossing reminiscences, uncovering priceless anecdotes about the band's evolution, right down to the way
Iggy Pop's fascination with Egyptian pharaoh movies influenced his stage presence. A hit at the Cannes Film Festival, the film is having its Detroit premiere at the DFT the weekends of October 28 and November 5. A photograph of Iggy Pop, along with images of the Detroit music scene, can be seen in the exhibition
Detroit After Dark, opening October 21.
For more DFT information, including dates and times, or to purchase tickets, click
here.
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Awesome Fun A weekend of songs and poems with Detroit-born singer-songwriter Audra Kubat, an animated thriller about a boy who can mysteriously escape his body, and a rollicking puppet performance marking the Mexican and Mexican American Day of the Dead celebrations are highlights of October's slate of Detroit Institute of Awesome programs.
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| Audra Kubat |
Learn how to transform ideas and feelings into music during two songwriting workshops led by Kubat on Saturday, October 8. Each session concludes with a performance of the newly created songs. The workshops are appropriate for families with children at least five years old. On Sunday, October 9, Kubat partners with the InsideOut Literary Arts Project in a performance of recently composed and written songs and poems. This event is suitable for families with children of all ages who love music and poetry.
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| Phantom Boy |
Phantom Boy, the month's Animation Club presentation on Saturday and Sunday, October 15 and 16,follows the adventures of Leo, a young boy who transforms himself into a phantom able to float through the streets of New York City. He teams up with a New York policeman to save the city from a criminal who has taken control of the power grid. DIA events celebrating the Day of the Dead designed especially for kids kick off Saturday and Sunday, October 22 and 23, with a rowdy group of skeletons that explore the history of Mexico and its traditions through puppetry, live music, and dance. Performances, suitable for families with children five and older, are in Spanish, but can be enjoyed by all. The event coincides with the opening of the museum's exhibition of ofrenda altars that pay respect to and remember those who have passed away. Other kid friendly events include a cultural demonstration of Aztec traditions, including an ofrenda created on the floor, the weekend of October 29 and 30. In November, Day of the Dead activities conclude with dance performances on Saturday, November 5, by Ballet Folklórico de Detroit, a Mexican group based in Southwest Detroit, featuring traditional dances and costumes from various regions of Mexico. The performances are suitable for families with children of all ages. On Sunday, November 6, artists discuss their ofrendas, an activity for families eight and older. Every DIA Awesome weekend includes family-friendly guided tours, art-making workshops and, on Sundays, drawing in the galleries. Activities are free with museum admission, except for the Animation Club screenings, which are free for members and $5 for the general public. Back to top |
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NEW IN THE SHOP The DIA Museum Shop offers book signings, demonstrations, tastings, and a special members' shopping evening during the next two months, all listed on a new shop calendar of events.
Three book signings take place in October. Margaret Thomas, co-author of the popular Detroit's Eastern Market: A Farmers Market Shopping and Cooking Guide, will be autographing copies of the book's new third edition on Saturday, October 22, from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. On Friday, October 28, Ivan Shaw signs copies of his book about Horst P. Horst following his 7 p.m. lecture. on that photographer's work in collaboration with Vogue magazine. Around That Time: Horst at Home in Vogue will be available for purchase the night of the lecture or can be preordered to be picked up that evening. Bill Rauhauser's book 20th Century Photography in Detroit is a must have for anyone interested in fine art photography or Detroit history. He'll be signing his book, a collection of Detroit photographs taken during his sixty-year career, on Saturday October 29, from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The first ever members' shopping event is Thursday, November 3, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., kicking off the semi-annual Members Double Discount Days. Members get the first look at merchandise for the upcoming exhibition Bitter|Sweet:Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate, opening November 20. The evening also features trunk shows, tastings, and gift wrapping. It's a great opportunity to stock up on holiday gifts. Members should enter through the Farnsworth doors. Preregistration is required. Click here for more information or to register. Back to top |
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News and Notes County Days
County Days, the days of free transportation to and from the museum for residents of the tri-county area, are coming up in October for Oakland and Wayne counties. Buses pick up participants from multiple locations in each county. Spend a leisurely few hours looking at art, participate in an art-making workshop, or grab a quick snack before hopping on the bus back to where you parked your car. Oakland County day is Saturday, October 8, and Wayne County day is Saturday, October 15. (Macomb County day was October 1.) Pickups at the various county locations are 9:30 and 10 a.m. and the buses leave the DIA at 2 and 2:30 p.m. Admission to the museum is free, as is the bus transportation, but advanced reservations are necessary. Call 313.833.4005 or visit the DIA website to sign up. Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate Tickets
Member tickets for the DIA's next special exhibition, Bitter|Sweet: Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate, will be available beginning Thursday, October 20. When introduced in Europe in the eighteenth century, the new hot beverages caused a near revolution in drinking habits and social customs, as well as sparking demand for specialized vessels, such as coffeepots, tea canisters and chocolate pots, all part of this exhibition. Members see the exhibition first and free. Admission is on a timed basis, and complimentary tickets must be reserved in advance by visiting the DIA website, calling 313.833.7971, or visiting the museum box office starting October 20. There are no ticket handling fees for member's orders. Tickets for the general public go on sale Tuesday, November 1. Volunteer Service
Did you know that 669 DIA volunteers contributed 62,711 hoursof service from July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016. Volunteers can be seen throughout the museum at the information desks, giving tours, assisting in the museum shop, and ushering at the DFT. They are also at work behind the scenes keeping the gallery flowers fresh, organizing fundraising events, providing support for various museum departments, and giving talks about the museum collection out in the community. Based on the estimated value of volunteer time provided by the Independent Sector, a coalition of nonprofits, foundations, and corporate giving programs, volunteer service equals nearly $1.5 million of in-kind support to the DIA. Back to top |
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| Detroit Institute of Arts
5200 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48202
www.dia.org
313.833.7900 Comments or questions about the newsletter? Please contact us: [email protected] ADMISSION
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$8 seniors (62+)
$ 6 youth (6-17)
The museum is free for members and residents of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties
Contact the Membership HelpLine at
313.833.7971 or [email protected] For group sales (15 or more) contact 313.833.1292 or dia.org/grouptours
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