On a Friday Night, I Made the Rounds Of Detroit's Arts & Culture Scene
David Barr's Show at Collected Detroit Should Travel as a Collection
Friday, March 8th, 2024 at 5:24 PM
Bar Rotunda
The Book Tower
Detroit, Michigan
Ah, I sit here at the still point of the turning world. I even purchased a coffee from Sasha, a pleasant bartender who has drawn me into conversation a few times. Sasha seemed to think it important to reveal herself to me. She has moved to recovery from an opiate addiction. She also shares custody of a child from a short marriage.
Before coming to the Bar Rotunda, Sasha worked a series of beers and shot bars among the fringe towns of downriver Detroit. The lobby has increased in business, so we had little time to talk today. I love a great chat with people in the industry because I was happy and fairly broke when I washed dishes and waited tables in college. I was mediocre at table service at best and that limited my income. I was so much better at factory work, and my father encouraged me to do these real jobs.
In my first job after college, I was assigned to the McGraw Glass Factory. I had the run of the factory for six years. I was truly happy at that job, and I wish it had never ended.
Collected Detroit
Metropolitan Museum of Design Detroit
Near the Masonic Temple
Detroit Michigan
I'm enjoying exploring the art history of Detroit that happened just before my birth. To save time, I'll just share with you a text message I just sent.
Jim, I didn't know you were Leslie Ann Pilling's uncle. L.A.P. is the curator in black described in #Detroited. I walked into the David Barr exhibition & said, "Jim Pallas sends his love." And she filled in the back story. We talked about Little Dog Laughed, too. Very nice. Totally repaired, rocking again, ringing a bell and a cowbell again, Little Dog Laughed looks wonderful. Robert Onnes and an intern from Wayne State did a marvelous job over the winter.
I've tried to weedle myself into L.A.P's coterie for about a year and one name drop, yours, opened the floodgates. And when I said, "Jim Pallas sends his love", I discovered how truly I was speaking. Recently, you sent her half a heart, an art object of your creation.
Later on Friday at 9:12 PM
Across Woodward from the Detroit Artist Market
Detroit Michigan
I am standing under the portico of the Ecumenical Theological Seminary, trying to stay dry. My coat cannot absorb more rain without causing me discomfort. The red sandstone of the cathedral shows the effect of acid rain, a plentiful commodity because of the fumes of cars driving the nearby freeway. I am pretty sure that sandstone comes from the quarries of the southern tip of Copper Island in the Upper Peninsula.
The bus promises to arrive in under Five minutes according to the Transit App. I'm glad to be going home. I had to show up at the Detroit Artist Market show tonight. My friend Jim Grogan exhibited as part of the College for Creative Studies scholarship show. The school appointed him as a distinguished alumnus. I showed up and a house photographer posed us for pictures. As I still reflect light, I'm glad that I have photographers around to take my likeness.
First Presbyterian Church — The Ecumenical Theological Seminary.
At 2930 Woodward Avenue in the Brush Park neighborhood, mid-city Detroit, Michigan.
Built in 1889 in the Romanesque revival Richardsonian Romanesque style.
A Contributing property in the Brush Park Historic District, a Michigan State Historic Site, and on the National Register of Historic Places.