The Sanilac Petroglyphs

Posted on by farlane

Sanilac Petroglyphs

Sanilac Petroglyphs, photo by Leon Baker

M. Rebekah Otto of Atlas Obscura has an article about the Sanilac Petroglyphs:

The drawings were carved into the sandstone in Sanilac County but remained hidden by dense forests until the devastating fire exposed them.

The glyphs are carved into a large rock on the ground that is forty feet long and fifteen feet wide. Carved between 300 and 1,000 years ago, the drawings were likely made by the Hopewell or Chippewa Indians. They depict flying birds, other animals, and a man with a bow and arrow – lasting testaments to a former way of life.

Archaeologists have not determined the purpose or use of the drawings, though some have speculated that they were a destination for vision quests, as the rock is isolated near the fork in river. Shaman and holy men may have used the rock as a record of their visions, depicting animals that came to them in dreams.

Today the site is often closed to the public because the soft sandstone erodes easily and the figures are slowly fading away. Call the Sanilac Petroglyphs State Historic Park to get access before visiting.

Read on for more, visit the Sanilac Petroglyph State Historic Park website at the State of Michigan, and also check out this 2011 Detroit News article about the difficulty of preserving this unique bit of Michigan history.

Leon writes that the holes are from stolen petroglyphs. View his photo bigger and see more in his slideshow.

Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo exhibit coming to the DIA

Posted on by farlane

Detroit Institute of Arts: "Detroit Industry" Murals, South Wall--Detroit MI

Detroit Institute of Arts: “Detroit Industry” Murals, South Wall–Detroit MI, photo by pinehurst19475

Michigan Radio Reports that the Detroit Institute of Arts is planning an exhibition that highlights Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and the year spent in Detroit. Between April 1932 and March 1933, Rivera created the Detroit Industry murals at the DIA and the museum will also show works created by Kahlo during that time.

The show is scheduled to run from March 15, 2015 to July 12, 2015, and you can click through to Michigan Radio for more including a film of Rivera working on the murals. Also check out photos of the Rivera Court murals at the DIA.

About this photo, pinehurst19475 writes: This section of the South Wall depicts line workers assembling tires, axles and wheels with a factory tour in progress. The Rivera murals were recently named a National Historic Landmark.

View the photo background bigtacular and see more in his Wayne State and the Cultural Center slideshow.

More art and more Detroit on Michigan in Pictures.

The Scarab Club

Posted on by farlane

Scarab Club Detroit

Scarab Club Detroit, photo by Vasenka Photography

The Scarab Club explains that:

The Scarab Club was founded in 1907 by a group of artists and art lovers who enjoyed meeting regularly to discuss art and socialize. The desire to form an arts organization in Detroit during the first third of the 20th century was partially intertwined with the birth of automotive design and the evolution of advertising art inspired by the burgeoning automobile industry. Although generally viewed as a heavily industrial city, Detroit’s artistic community thrived from the success of the automobile.

Many of the original founding members of the Scarab Club consisted of automotive designers, advertising illustrators, graphic artists, photographers, architects, and automobile company owners. Scarab Club members inspired each others’ artistic spirit by entering their artwork in the Annual Exhibition of Michigan Artists held at the Detroit Institute of Arts under the auspices of the Scarab Club from 1911 to 1928 and the DIA from 1929 to 1974.

The club’s themed costumed balls, which began in 1917, were a significant social event in Detroit. Life Magazine covered the 1937 Ball featuring a two-page photo spread. The Detroit News and The Detroit Free Press published two pages of photogravures of costumed guests beginning in 1917.

The energy of the Club continues to the present day, hosting events like the costumed Scarab Club balls, art lectures & openings, live music and more. Read on at scarabclub.org where you can check out some of their photos of the building and the artwork and a great timeline of the club. I dug up an old video of one of their costumed balls that was themed “Inferno” that’s pretty cool.

Check out Vasenka’s photo background bigtacular and jump into his slideshow for more great shots from this cultural treasure.

More art on Michigan in Pictures.

Twin Turbines

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TWIN TURBINES

TWIN TURBINES, photo by marsha*morningstar

Art is all around us. Check out Marsha’s photo from Blissfield on black and see more in her ARTSY slideshow.

More art on Michigan in Pictures.

Deco Dance: Leaping Gazelle by Marshall Fredericks

Posted on by farlane

Deco Dance

Deco Dance, photo by MichaelinA2

One of Michigan’s most renowned artists was Marshall Fredericks. He’s well known for the Spirit of Detroit sculpture, but this artist who spent much of his life in Michigan created many public works. Wikipedia’s entry for Marshall Fredericks has this to say about Leaping Gazelle:

This sculpture was the first commissioned work for which Marshall Fredericks was paid. In 1936, the sculpture won first prize in a national competition, and as a result, Fredericks became well known as a public sculptor. Since the gazelle is not native to Michigan, Fredericks made four animals that are, and placed them around the gazelle on Belle Isle. These animals are the otter, grouse, hawk and rabbit. Fredericks sculpted the gazelle in a characteristic movement called wheeling, which is when an animal quickly changes direction while being pursued by a predator.

The Leaping Gazelle is one of the most duplicated of Fredericks’s sculptures.

This particular sculpture is located near the entrance of the Detroit Zoo, one of many Fredericks sculptures on the Detroit Zoo grounds.

Also, I’ve been meaning to post a really cool exhibit that’s currently at the Dennos Museum in Traverse City titled Sketches to Sculptures, Rendered Reality: Sixty Years with Marshall M. Fredericks:

An exhibition of 31 small sculptures and 36 related drawings and sketches that showcases the creative process of Fredericks both as designer and sculptor. From simple pencil sketches to presentation drawings, the creative mind of Fredericks is on display as he transforms two-dimensional ideas on paper into three-dimensional sculptures. While many of the drawings in this exhibition resemble the final sculpture they would become, others only hint at elements of their outcome or point to a different outcome entirely. This exhibition is comprised of four genres that represent most of Fredericks’ work: architectural, commemorative, spiritual and whimsical. The exhibition was organized from the collections of the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum at Saginaw Valley State University.

It includes some very cool maquettes – small, scale models of the finished Fredericks sculptures that are really amazing!

View Michael’s photo on black and see more in his Design, Special Settings, Lifestyle slideshow.

More sculpture on Michigan in Pictures.

Eli & Edy Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University

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Art Museum Night

Art Museum Night, photo by AaronSnyderPhoto

The Eli & Edy Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University opened in early November. The museum features the historical collection from the Kresge Art Museum. They explain that:

This collection, which spans cultural production from ancient Greece and Rome and pre-Columbian cultures through Medieval and Renaissance art to the modern and contemporary will enable the Broad MSU to explore the art of our time through the long lens of art history. Highlights of the museum’s collection include: Greek and Roman antiquities; medieval and Renaissance illuminations; Old Master paintings; 19th century American paintings; 20th century sculpture by artists such as Alexander Calder and Jenny Holzer; and works by contemporary artists such as Chuck Close and Ann Hamilton. Collection growth and new acquisitions will focus on modern and contemporary works (post 1945).

You can search the collection at collections.artmuseum.msu.edu. The museum was designed by architect Zaha Hadid who has a fantastic photo gallery of the latest addition to MSU’s campus. You might also enjoy their virtual tours.

Check this out background big and see more including another angle in Aaron’s MSU Landscape slideshow.

More Michigan museums on Michigan in Pictures!

ArtPrize 2012 Winner: Adonna Khare’s Elephants

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Elephants 4

Elephants 4, photo by rkramer62

For the second time in 3 years, a large drawing at the Grand Rapids Art Museum has captured top honors in ArtPrize. mLive reports:

Adonna Khare, a week before the Sept. 19 opening of ArtPrize, installed her 8-foot tall, 35-foot wide drawing “Elephants,” on a second-story wall of the museum.

As ArtPrize unfolded, the artist from Burbank, Calif., continued to add daily to the original triptych, spilling over onto the museum walls with additional figures and more details, as thousands of people every day passed through the ArtPrize exhibition center.

“People would come and sit with me,” she said. “Kids would sit with me, and I could share about art.” More than three weeks later, Khare’s drawing has grown to be 14 feet tall, 40 feet wide, and her purse has grown $200,000 richer.

You can see this background big, check out a wider view of the entire piece or watch Rachel’s ArtPrize 2012 slideshow.

More art on Michigan in Pictures.

Lights in the Night over Grand Rapids

Posted on by farlane

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 30, 2012: This entry was in the ArtPrize Top Ten entries announced today. 

Lights in the Night

Lights in the Night, photo by Robby Ryke

Last night the skies of Grand Rapids lit up with 20,000 fire lanterns for the Lights the Night entry in ArtPrize 2012 (ArtPrize and Facebook pages). From everything I can find, it looks to have been an incredible spectacle.

View this on black and definitely (definitely) check out Robby’s HD video from Light the Night which is really tempting me to lift my “no videos” policy on Michigan in Pictures.

You can also see a video from high above of the fire lantern launch at mLive. See more photos from Stacy, BetsyLouWho, Jack, Lisa, Debbie, flickaway, and Kevin and please add links to ones you took or found in the comments!

September’s Full Moon … and lighting the Grand Rapids sky

Posted on by farlane

Downtown Grand Rapids

Downtown Grand Rapids, photo by NightFox Photography

The autumnal equinox happened on Saturday, making the full moon that will rise this Sunday, September 30th the Harvest Moon. It’s also known as the Wine Moon, the Singing Moon (Celtic), Barley Moon (Old English) and the Elk Call Moon.

This weekend the skies of Grand Rapids will host another interesting phenomenon, Lights in the Night. On Friday (Sept 28) this ArtPrize entry will seek to launch thousands of fire lanterns downtown. Get all the details at www.lightsinthenight.org.

Check this out on black and see more in Cory’s Grand Rapids slideshow.

ArtPrize 2012

Posted on by farlane

ARTPRIZE 2011-5780

ARTPRIZE 2011-5780, photo by RichardDemingPhotography

ArtPrize opened yesterday in Grand Rapids and runs through October 7th. Now in its 4th year, ArtPrize is the largest art competition in the world, awarding over a half million in prizes. $360,000 of this is awarded by public vote. If you’ve never experienced a city turned upside down by art, it might be a good idea to plan a trip to Grand Rapids.

This year in an effort to become a more sustainable effort, ArtPrize has added various levels of membership that include perks like priority seating and tickets & receptions to events during ArtPrize and year round.

Check it out bigger and see more in Richard’s massive ArtPrize 2011 slideshow.

Also see past ArtPrize photos on Michigan in Pictures and at absolutemichigan.com/artprize.  mLive’s ArtPrize section is a great resource as well.