Wednesday, May 25, 2011

I was saved in Detroit

Detroit gave me hope. It made me excited, inspired and ready to get shit done.

We left Milwaukee Thursday in Makeal's car and headed East to work on Monica & Harrison's house called the Treasure Nest- a spot which started off as a Power House Project (you should read about). So much happened in the 4 days we were there I'm not sure how to sum it up in words or images- especially since I am trying to get these up before I leave for Cincinnati to shoot with Sam for the Sign Painter Documentary tomorrow morning and have to be at work in 1 hour to serve drinks. The bottom line is go explore Detroit-- this is a first of many trips there for me, I can feel it in my blood.

Detroit Disneyland

Detroit Disneyland

Makeal & Dmytro
This is Dmytro, who introduced himself as Jimmy sitting next to Makeal. He started Detroit Disneyland in 1997. I'm in love with the placement of where he paints people eye's on their faces- smack dab in the middle of the cheek area. Watch a video of him here. Visit him, he is lonely.

Detroit: The Heidelberg Project

Detroit: The Heidelberg Project

Detroit: The Heidelberg Project
Here I am standing outside the polka-dot house wearing one of the amazing hats we found in an abandon house near the Treasure Nest. This is the Heidelberg Project- a city block dedicated to art houses.

Part of why we came to Detroit was to go to the "End of the World" party at our friends place called The Russell. The Metro Times, the local paper wrote an Article about the party, they even changed the cover of the paper for the first time ever for the article.

Detroit: The Rapture Party preparation

Detroit: The Rapture Party preparation
Last minute party prepping.

Detroit: The Rapture Party

Detroit: The Regurgitator - night before trial run
This is "The Regurgitator" a jet-powered G-force generator that spins you in circles really really fast. This is Ryan test-riding it for his birthday the night before the party. If I was you I'd watch this video of it in action- but make sure you watch the end.

Detroit: The Rapture Party
This marching band was the highlight of the party for me. Watch & listen to them here.

Detroit: Power House(s) tour

Detroit: Power House(s) tour

Detroit: Power House(s) tour
Harrison checking out Swoon's paste-up's, exterior of this is house shown above. You have to be careful when walking into this room because the floor is gone- just a heads up if you are ever there.

Detroit: Power House(s) tour

Detroit: Power House(s) tour
This is Courtney & Kujo in front of Richard Colman's wall mural inside the houses he worked on with RETNA who painted the exterior shown above. Courtney is also wearing one of the fantastic hat's from the empty house I mentioned before filled with treasures.

Detroit: Silvio's Botanical Explosion
This is Silvio, he referred to his yard (below) as a "botanical explosion". He is a magical man & his place is like an expansive secret garden. I feel incredibly lucky we got to spend 2 hours with him telling us about each of his sculptures.

Detroit: Silvio's Botanical Explosion

Detroit: Silvio's Botanical Explosion

Detroit: Silvio's Botanical Explosion

Detroit: Silvio's Botanical Explosion

Last but not least is the Treasure Nest located in the awesome Hamtramack neighborhood. A friend described our stay there as "urban camping" which summed up the no plumbing & pirated electricity. The first night our room didn't even have a window & Aaron built a lean-t0 shower in the backyard to rinse off.

Detroit: The Treasure Nest

Detroit: The Treasure Nest

Detroit: The Treasure Nest
Upstairs

Detroit: The Treasure Nest // fence building
fence building

Detroit: The Treasure Nest // hoodcat
Mitch in the neighborhood hoodcat

Detroit: The Treasure Nest

Detroit: The Treasure Nest // conrad
Conrad

Detroit: The Treasure Nest // fence install
Installing the fence segment I made

Detroit: The Treasure Nest
A fire burned yard waste almost the entire time.

Detroit: The Treasure Nest // Harri & Moni
Harri & Moni on the porch sorting found treasure.

Detroit: The Treasure Nest // make-shift shower
DAMMIT!! Look how cute my guy is- this was the coldest & best shower I've ever had.

If you want to see more Detroit photos go here.

8 comments:

Miss Malaprop said...

I've never been to Detroit, but these pictures look amazing! They remind me a lot of New Orleans - the mix of blight and beauty.

John said...

Glad you had such a great visit! And thanks for the footage, playing that party was a blast for all of us. Best crowd in a long, long time.

John/DPMB
detroitpartymarchingband.com

Sarah Hemm said...

Wow. Just wow!

Unknown said...

HOLY SHIT. Thanks for blowing my mind, again.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

I love this post so much! Thanks for sharing it. Detroit looks like it was so much fun.:)

Faythe Levine said...

Thanks for the comments everyone!

MissMalaprop- super reminiscent of NO for me- very similar vibe!

Anonymous said...

I'm so excited about Detroit's rebirth! It was the center of americas industrial collapse and It just go's to show that when every thing crumbles down there is a group of artistic visionary's ready to build culture from scratch.

Rose Beerhorst