Art in Detroit is a Sweet Honey Flowing from a Rock

Trying to Remember Everything About Detroit Arts from Fifteen Years Ago

September 1st, 2022 at 8:00 AM

First, thanks to our patrons. Let us dedicate today's post to them, long time readers of my writing. Today's post touches on the practice of patronage.

Today's illustration is by Joel S. Dombecki , an artist born in Detroit who migrated west of the Mississippi. He is the brother of the somewhat famous Leo Dombecki , a master of the Sitar. Leo took his music lessons at Gus Zoppi, a music store on Eight Mile in Hazel Park. The first exhibition I ever attended presented the wood carvings of Gerald Dombecki, their father. Yes, Gerald Dombecki is the brother of Joan "Bobber" Juntunen, a craft artist and my mother.

Detroit Art is like sweet honey in the rock. A beehive should make a home in an apiary or a Langstroth bee box. In a box, the bees can count on care from a beekeeper. In a rock, the queen bee and her colony have to fend for themselves. Detroit Art happens although it's not Chicago, L.A. or New York City. Detroit Art has to fend for itself.

Detroit has collectors and gallery owners who help artists earn money in exchange for their art. I remember when Bill Murcko himself supported my efforts to publish a periodical for The Scarab Club of Detroit Michigan ... I failed I believe because I was bull-headed and lacked an absolute commitment to the discipline of publishing.

One favorite has opened a gallery in Ferndale, the timeless Lulu Cameron ... Lulu has a few works on sale at Ellen Kayrod Gallery , a gallery dedicated to the works of artists of all ages. It is located in Hannan House on Woodward Avenue.

Rob Maniscalco promotes the Detroit art scene, although he has taken his family to Charleston. But he hops on the plane to organize exhibitions or to juror shows in Detroit. Maniscalco recently opened and closed a successful show at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial ... He still wins commissions to paint the portraits of doctors and judges and trophy spouses in Detroit.

But there is not enough bee keepers! Yesterday, I reconnected with my love of the deceptively simple work of Carl Oxley ... I found two murals, pretty much left to the wild. Oxley's work looks like simple painted wood cuts from a child's toy chest.

Indeed, Oxley wears his imagery as an art object, often hung as a medallion from his neck. When I met him in person at an art show organized by Ed Gardiner , I believe he wore a hand carved, hand painted Monkey medallion around his neck. Gardiner had opened a gallery in the lobby of an office across from Huntington Place, the convention center that will soon host the Detroit Auto Show . I remember his declaration to me at Oxley's opening. "I have complete creative control of this space." That's so Detroit, repurposing a lobby as an art gallery by the sheer dint of ones hutzpah.

So that's why I felt Deja vu when I studied the Woodbridge Community Detroit mural. It features a happy giraffe staring down Trumbull. And what does a giraffe have to do with Woodbridge? Well, consider that a guest house in Woodbridge, the Lorax House, has a hand carved Lorax in front of it. In Woodbridge, anything artistic can happen. Near Wayne State, Woodbridge offers reasonably priced, solid housing in historic homes. And that attracts artists. I acted in my first speaking role on camera, filmed in a Woodbridge house. The film had to be made as an audition to film an episode of InZer0, produced by Jamie Sonderman ..

I didn't identify the Detroit giraffe as one of Carl Oxley's motifs until yesterday. I got off the Jefferson 9 bus at Chalmers and Jefferson. I discovered a mural left on a closed dry cleaners. About eight panels exhibited the different styles of Detroit artists. A painted giraffe rose out of the shrubbery underneath a sunburst. Since the mural provided a panel giving the painter's credit, I finally connected Carl Oxley to his giraffe! This made my afternoon. I posted a few Facebook Reels to his attention. He shared the reels with his audience. We were brought into conversation.

I also remembered the work of Detroit Expat artist Mark Sengbusch . As many Detroit artists must do, it seems Sengbusch has decamped to Brooklyn, where chasing down an illustration commission must be easier. I got to know Sengbusch through C-Pop Gallery. Plus Sengbusch showed up frequently on the front cover of the Detroit Metro Times .

But I understand Sengbusch. As a writer, teacher, photographer and technologist, I have been an artistic migrant. I've stayed in Albany, Saratoga Springs. New York City, Washington, Atlanta, New Orleans, Berrien County, San Antonio, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Muskegon, Houghton - Hancock, Lansing, Streator and Princeton Illinois in pursuit of my self expression. That's not a complete list. And now I'm almost a month in Detroit, where I began my tenure in the world.

Yesterday, I walked the eastern most portion of Kercheval in Detroit, discovering Post, an artisan gallery housed in a former post office. I was given the tour by Megan, a travel writer who went everywhere in America as the companion of a long distance truck driver. Now back home in Detroit, she keeps the gallery looking fresh and the art moving out the door to new homes. Megan had just made a birthday brunch for her mother, who was sitting at a handsome table made of reclaimed wood. I'm guessing the handsome person dining with mom was Megan's brother.

Detroit is a untapped mine of reclaimed wood. New Orleans mines it, selling it to repurposing artists. Everyone knows the signs that say, "Be Nice or Leave?" Dr. Bob has a yard full of planks from torn down shotgun shacks. Post reclaims wood. The Post building houses a wood shop. In the shop, Mutual Admiration makes custom frames in that woodshop, available from sale at Megan's cash register.

Is any honey sweeter than honey found in the crevice of a rock? Is any art more powerful than the art that shouldn't exist?

Welcome to Detroit Arts!