On the Last Day of February 2023, the Detroit Sacred Spaces Tour Completed at the Ultimate Sacred Space, the Wright Museum
We Were All Glad of a Chance to Applaud Misha McGlown of the Irwin House Gallery
Wednesday, March 1st, 2023 at 12:10 PM
East English Village
Detroit, Michigan
The first annual Sacred Spaces tour of authentically African American art spaces has now concluded for 2023. Happily, all of these spaces remain open year around, soon to open shows for the month of March. Many gallerists and curators who opened their spaces to the public attended last night in the great rotunda of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American Museum. Many collectors who attempted the extensive tour arrived in the rotunda, a finish line for a twenty-eight day pilgrimage. We were treated to the best catering in the city, A Touch of Class. Chef Lorenzo Spratling personally supervised the event service.
I’m happy to report that I made good progress on the trail, starting with Design Studio 6, the lovingly preserved workshop of sculptor Charles McGee. I kept at the tour, until paying a visit to Behind the Red Curtain at All Things Marketplace in Corktown. I’ll have to plan better next year for the galleries on the west side of the city, including Irwin House Gallery and Norwest Gallery of Art.
I feel that I was on the fringe of the tour when I visited Gallerie Camille for I Owe You Not, This Is For Me by Darryl DeAngelo Terrell. I would say the same for the evening I visited Ephemeral: The Art of Unloving at an evergreen venue Swords into Plowshares on Grand Circus Park. I also visited Ricky Weaver, Crucify My Flesh at David Klein Gallery. I even wrote a short brief to the organizer, hoping that Bryant Tillman’s show at the Pontiac Creative Arts Center could be a late addition to the tour. Clearly, the tour will return next year with additional destinations.
The idea for the Sacred Spaces tour of African American art spaces began with Misha McGlown of the Irwin House Gallery. The gallerist had a shining moment to enjoy the admiration of the gathering, up on the stage with Director Rochelle Riley of the City of Detroit. McGlown and Riley’s team from the Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship organized the tour. The two promised in their remarks that the tour would return to Detroit next year, along with more programming for artists as entrepreneurs.
Also present from the City of Detroit team, Lacey Holmes and Jack Russo worked the gathering, letting us know what’s next for arts, culture and entrepreneurship in the city. Holmes has led an effort to resource map the city’s art assets, beginning with a mural database. The mural database works with volunteer photographers and writers. To make the database accessible to the world, the city has leveraged the interactive street art platform called CANVS. A related database documents the artists who produced the excellent street art.
Since the introduction of the Detroit mural database, more than three hundred murals have been documented. With the mentorship of renowned muralist Dr. Hubert Massey, the city plans to add two hundred murals to the count. Students and emergent artists are invited to apply to the mural teams. By the way, Dr. Massey designed and executed the mosaic mural of the rotunda, encircled by the Ring of Genealogy.
Holmes and Russo are currently working with Sidewalk Detroit to design alleys and turn them into art activated destinations. The city-led team has placed six alleys into the design process. The city has empowered the beautification of alleys by clearing two thousand alleys of rubbish and wild vegetation. Moreover, the city has clamped down on the issue of illegal dumping, keeping trash out of the alleys and lots.
In another sign of the great networking Tuesday night, playwright and filmmaker Anthony Brogdon made the scene. Brogdon is in rehearsals for his show, They Did It, based upon his essays on rich and wealthy African Americans in the Nineteenth Century. The show opens March 31st at the Detroit Public Theater for a weekend run, with evening shows and two matinees. Brogdon’s films are available for streaming on Amazon Prime, including The Great Detroit and Business in the Black.
I hadn’t visited the Wright in over fifteen years. The last time I visited, I attended a graduation party for students who had earned business degrees at Davenport College. I have not forgotten that the rotunda first served as the place of honor for Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young, who laid in state in early winter 1997. For several days, his admirers and his opponents alike paid their respects.
The Wright protects a collection of Young’s artifacts, especially honoring his service as a Tuskegee Airman. Tuesday night made a good moment to reflect on the escalation of Young’s historical status. As voted on by the State of Michigan legislative houses, a statue of Young will replace the statue of Michigan Territorial Governor, Lewis Cass in the nation’s Capital building. The Sacred Spaces tour of African American art destinations completed at perhaps the most sacred of all the Detroit destinations.