Detroit Art Projects
As a city, Detroit has endured many economic and social hardships. It faces poverty, declining industry and an ongoing home foreclosure crisis, among other issues. The city faces a difficult reality, but art projects are one way that creative people in Detroit can engage and connect with their city. Art can also help to raise awareness for the complex issues facing Detroit as it seeks to become a vibrant, economically viable metropolis.
Other People Are Reading
-
Architectural Drawing
-
Detroit's architecture offers many opportunities for art projects based on drawing. Detroit has an iconic city skyline dotted with recognizable buildings such as the GM Renaissance Center. A view of the Detroit skyline along the city's riverfront is a breathtaking subject for a cityscape drawing. Detroit also has many buildings that are vacant or in a state of ruin. Much like crumbling ruins of ancient civilizations, many people find these to be beautiful subjects to sketch, draw or paint. One example is the Michigan Central Station, which was designed by the same architects who built Grand Central Station in New York City.
Photography
-
Artists who enjoy exploring urban decay will find many appropriate photography subjects in Detroit. As factories are abandoned and buildings crumble, they leave haunting but beautiful forms for novice and professional photographers alike. Photography has a long tradition of bringing awareness to social problems such as poverty and blight, so Detroit art projects based on photography give artists the chance to educate the world about the realities facing the city. Art projects should not only focus on the city's challenges, though; artists can also use photography to showcase the city's positive changes and developments.
-
Sculpture
-
Detroit is known as the Motor City due to its history of being a manufacturing powerhouse, but many of its current problems can be attributed to the decline of the American auto industry. Artists can explore these issues through sculpture. Industrial materials such as metal scraps, glass from old factory windows and discarded car parts provide materials for meaningful sculptures about manufacturing's role in Detroit's past, present and future. Artists can also make art projects related to Detroit's home foreclosure crisis. Sculptures dealing with this topic can poetically use architectural elements such as vinyl siding, wood beams and copper pipes.
Graphic Design
-
Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm emphasized design as a way for Detroit and the state as a whole to improve its economic situation. Graphic artists can make Detroit art projects that use design to advertise the city's positive attributes. Posters, logos and neighborhood street flags are projects by which designers can express their creativity and actively work to beautify Detroit's image at the same time. Websites, travel agents and government offices all need effective graphic design to convey the city's spirit to visitors and new residents. Designers and painters can also work together to create street murals. These examples of urban art help revitalize blighted neighborhoods and discourage graffiti.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images
