African American Artists Open the Sacred Art Spaces of Detroit for Black History Month.
I'll Need an Entire Month to Visit All the Destinations on the Sacred Spaces Tour
Thursday, February 2, 2023 at 8:30 PM
Yorkshire Woods Neighborhood
Detroit, Michigan
We are two days into Black History Month. African American artists in Detroit have decided to celebrate the month by making history. The artists have brought in powerful partners, including the Detroit Department of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship and the Ford Foundation.
A full month of observances planned, the month will conclude with an amazing evening at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. I’ve got my free ticket already. I advise you to ask for a ticket right now before the event sells out. I’m looking forward to dressing up with the Griots and the Queens in the Ford Freedom Rotunda.
It’s important to note that this acoustically amazing chamber served as the place where Mayor Coleman A. Young laid in state as thousands of Detroiters and visitors paid their respects. That’s a tribute that I won’t forget. By the way, it’s important to note that a statue of Mayor Young is on a path to replace one of Lewis Cass in the nation’s capitol.
The rotunda at the Wright is an example of a Sacred Space dedicated to African American history. I’m ahead of the game on the second day of the sacred month. Last night, I visited the opening of McGee: Urban Synthesis in the studio where he worked for four decades. Last week, I attended the opening of He Is Clover, a show by Sabrina Nelson honoring the memory of her father.
I found the Nelson show at Live Coal Gallery, the conversion of an ordinary living space in a duplex into an art center. The gallery functions as an outreach of The Red, a museum dedicated to the art of children. Artist Yvette Rock wastes not an inch of space in the two story home on Clairmount, near Woodward.
I lucked into the opening for Austen Brantley and his one person show at the Carr Center in the Park Shelton building. The opening of the show awaited my visit a mere five minutes walk from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Brantley celebrates the beauty of the African-American woman. And many beautiful African American women attended the evening to celebrate the creations of Brantley.
Studying the official website for the month long event, I see that I have more than twenty more sacred spaces to visit, which will require much of my evening time in February. And yet, I feel privileged to be made welcome so far into the worlds of Brantley, McGee, Nelson and Rock. I hope to encourage many others to set off on their own personal pilgrimages before the end of the month.
