Our newest Call for Artists! Thanks Everybody!

We are now looking for artists for the Wyandotte Street Art Fair! We are looking for forward thinking artists and crafters. Our goal is to funk up one of the largest and oldest art fairs in the state of Michigan!

Continuing in the spirit of both River's Edge Gallery and Biddle Gallery (two of the longest standing for profit art galleries in Michigan), the purpose of the 'dotte Arts Project, the 'dAP, is to help make Wyandotte a venue for the arts of metro-Detroit. We have artists from all over but our focus is on metro-Detroit. Some of these artists are self taught and others are graduates of our local art schools and community colleges. Please enjoy everything the 'dAP area has to offer including photography, jewelry, painting, sculpture, pottery, printmaking, film making, craft making and more.
Each year the 'dAP pushes the envelope with the artists shown, artist installations and the music performed. We intend to reach deeper and deeper into our communities to reach the art that is not only awesome but relevant to all of us.
Jeremy E. Hansen and Aimee Rodriguez, Co-Chairs of the 'dAP, take seriously their committment to emerging arts year after year. "Detroit and its' surrounding communities are often ignored on the list of art happenings on the national map," says Rodriguez," but the truth of the matter is that ours is a community of artists that is just as talented as all the rest. The best way to prove it is to show it and that's what we want to accomplish. The more art happenings we have the more art ready the public becomes and the more artsy the area becomes to the national stage!"
The 'dAP not only shows during the Wyandotte Street Art Fair they have also branched to additional shows throughout the year in galleries and other places throughout metro-Detroit. This is done to spread the good word about Wyandotte and all of Downriver. Keep an eye out for them! "I have grown up all my life Downriver and love it," says Rodriguez,"we have a primarily hard working blue collar community. Some view that as something bad for reasons beyond my understanding. Some think we are devoid of creativity, this is simply incorrect. Our arts community is just as vibrant and encouraging as all the others!"
Many of the children of these blue collar workers are attending art schools such as Wayne County Community College, Henry Ford Community College, Wayne State University and College for Creative Studies! Each of these colleges and universities specializes in a vibrant arts program. These are the artists that make up a large part of the 'dAP. The 'dAP is for artists who are working towards an art career. It's not for people who travel the country year round hopping from one art fair to another to make their living. These are people who are staying in this community and want to support their local art community just as much as they need the support from their community.

I had an awesome time and was so thankful to all of the artists who were putting themselves out there for us. We really appreciated it. The art was awesome too! I did not see one person selling one thing that was cheap or crappy and that is a testament to the talent I see out of each of you. When I was working at the silent auction table the people in the Pike Room were asking about all the work. The people who came there to just see the bands were bidding. The caliber of the work offered was so great for such a tiny venue. Since everyone gave me their info in advance I was able to spread the good word. I got to speak about each of you. But as always there is always at least one person who asked if I made all of it. HAHA! I giggled as I always do and told him about you all in the Ballroom. He ended up winning a bid and buying some stuff as well. He was so proud of his purchase and said he never saw anything like what we did before!Thanks for all the donated items too! They were amazing and everyone who came by it was extremely complimentary about it. Dan McGowan of The Crofoot was so impressed by the work displayed! He was so proud to have each of you there. He also hopes that the music going on downstairs last night will not deter you from doing another event that won't house a dance party down on the first floor!Each of you brought your lamps and I was so thrilled once everything was set up how ambient it all was. You guys did such an amazing job with your preperation and also the flexibility of each of you in that space. I cannot say enough how impressed I was! I love that some of you used the window sills and the bar and the chairs. Great show!

The music was beyond awesome! Tone & Niche started out the show and were totally amazing. Frontier Ruckus was just so phenomenal and Misty Lyn and The Big Beautiful closed out the show most sweetly. Look for these bands to be at our Summer Festival! DJ Bouget brought on the funk look for her at some of the openings at River's Edge Gallery!

And now that you all are thinking about what festivals you are going to be in please keep the 'dAP part of the Wyandotte Street Art Fair (July 8th-11th) in mind. The application is on http://www.wyandottestreetartfair.org/ It is one of the biggest art fairs in the state of Michigan! We are so fortunate to get a space to share with artists and crafters of our choosing to showcase art from around here, amidst a backdrop of national art fair artists. Thanks for being a part of it all!

More artists and who gave us a shout out this week!

The fundraiser is the day after tomorrow. This is super exciting. It's going to be a blast not to mention I can't wait to hear all the bands Misty Lyn and The Big Beautiful, Frontier Ruckus and Tone & Niche! My favorite DJ Bouget will be spinning the funk, I know I am an organizer but it's going to be a tough time getting me away from her booth. SO if you need to find me I will probably be getting my funk on with her!

Let's see we've gotten a kind response from the press too! Thank you Real Detroit, Motorcityblog, The News Herald and to all the artists who promoted themselves and this event. There are still flyers available at River's Edge Gallery and at Cass Cafe!

Anyway here is a few artists we are featuring!

Terry Walsh

Nature and my Cherokee heritage play a big part in the creation of my art. I work in many forms, drawing, painting, weaving, sculpture.

The purses you see here,some are hand~dyed, a process called IKAT. They are 100% wool and handwoven. The purse with the canyon images is inspired by my beloved Moab, Utah. The last purse, is made from scraps of material.
Originally , from Kentucky, the times I spent outside as a child gave me the greatest pleasure. I call my art 'expressionistic realism'. My creations are driven by high emotional responses to occurences in life. The deeper I feel about something, the more powerful my art forms are.
I also enjoy the feel of material and have a passion for creating one of a kind pillows. My maternal grandmother was an avid quilter.
I attended the University of Cincinnati and transferred to the University of Toledo. I received my Bachelor of Art with art as my area in 1992, and obtained my Multi~Age Licensure in Teaching Art in 2002. I was artist~in ~residence at the River Raisin for the Arts for one year. I taught painting , drawing and a portfolio class at Monroe High School, Michigan for 5 years.
April/May of 2008, I showed my work at Mondo's in Moab, Utah for 6 weeks. Two paintings and a bronze/limestone piece was shown at The Cat's Lair Gallery for an additional 6 months. I have shown extensively in Toledo, Ohio and had a one person show at Tillman Gallery. Most recently I placed 1st in the pastel division at the Bedford Art Exhibit, Michigan.
I believe there is a spiritual thread that runs thru all, water, rock, the Earth, the four~leggeds, the birds, people. It is my greatest desire to stay positive and keep my link of that chain strong. All life is good, and we are blessed.

Next up we have Shawn Young of Shionne Designs

Shionne Designs is owned and operated by native Detroiter Vershion D. Young. Since its inception in May 1996, Vershion has created one of a kind designs in beaded and metal wearable art for a national clientele. With no formal education in jewelry design, her creations have captured the attention of jewelry fashionistas and local retailers who are searching for unique designs in our "cookie cutter" world. Currently, her works can be found at the Detroit Institute of Arts gift shop and the Ann Arbor Art Center gift gallery. As a "one woman" operation, Vershion designs daily and is working on new techniques to bring forth new inspirations in wearable art for women and men. When Vershion isn't beading something, she's the loving wife of John Young and a doggy mom of two, Jazzmin and Rameses.

We also have artist/ jewelry maker Casey Jankowski--Norma Nothings! (I love her artist statement--a good sense of humor is the best!)Casey Janowski-The do-gooder, art teacher, preschooler's best friend, painter and crafter. Art taught me I could go places when I was in 3rd grade and I won first place in a Rice-a-Roni contest and a trip to Disneyland. Maybe that was my biggest art accomplishment, maybe it wasn't.I studied art in college where I painted until 4 am on most nights. Receiving my art degree, I am not that starving artist that I always dreamed to be, thank you bills, but I still have fun. I have done a lot of my “serious” art in the past, when you are in that troubled teen and early twenties, party stage. Everything is so dramatic and deep. That has taken a back seat because life is good. It's a new phase.My norma. collection has been my first consistent “series”, if you will. It all began playing Detroit Roller Derby in 2006 where I acquired the nickname “norma”. I met a lot of crafty ladies through there and got the urge to start making little stuff. From there I was brought an old vintage Montgomery Ward's catalog from the 40's for a craft night and VIOLA, norma. was born.Back in August of 2008, I made a little keychain with a camera for my better half and from there it was non-stop. I took a leap and entered the DIY Street Fair in Ferndale where to my surprise, got a tent. It started just with jewelry, your earrings and pendants and some keychains. Now I have incorporated these images into little art plaques and paintings. Some of them contain a bit of my sense of humor. The photos of the 40's and 50's were strange, no doubt about it. They have crazy ads in the magazines of those days and looking at most of them will bring a little confused chuckle to anyone who sees them, so why not bring that humor to the jewelry and art. My process is not genius. The dark wood looks nice as a backdrop for the old photos. Some of the jewelry pieces incorporate other textures like leather and I hope to find even more ways to expand my ideas.I have no deep thoughts on my process or motivation. I am not inspired by the wind or black holes. I see a weird picture and I think of something that this person/animal would NEVER think of and I put them together. I add a little bit of paint and my wish is that it makes someone giggle. You can see some more of my stuff at fartsyarts.etsy.com.

More artists and events for the 'dAP!

One week from today is our event at The Crofoot in Pontiac!

This is so exciting!

Jeremy and Aimee will be at the Russell's Open Studio's hanging out with SLAW, Mark Arminski, Audrey Pongracz and Robert Stewart on Saturday night. We'll be hanging out with artists and promoting our event March 27th! Also be sure to swing by River's Edge Gallery tonight for the Opening for Audrey Pongracz, Tim Pewe and the new exhibit (E6 Emerging + Experience) in the Patricia Izzo Fine Art Photography Gallery.

Jeremy E. Hansen is not only a promoter of the arts and gallery director, he's also an artist and is in the new show at Cass Cafe in Detroit, Targets and Trajectories! Check it out for sure!

Without further delay the newest artist we are looking to highlight is Bethany Nixon, Reware Vintage. Nixon works on the council for Handmade Detroit and is a hard core crafter!Bethany Nixon of RewareVintage.com makes a wide variety of reconstructed crafts from vintage materials, but is most known for (and especially enjoys upsetting record collectors by) cutting up vinyl and using it in her record notebooks and earrings. She also uses vintage materials and found objects to make one of a kind jewelry, pouches, and purses. Check out her Rewares at http://rewarevintage.com/

Happy St. Patricks Day and more artists

Happy St. Patricks Day everyone and please drive safe!

This week is going to be huge for Audrey Pongracz not only is her new series "Birdless" going to be highlighted in an opening at River's Edge Gallery she is also going be at the Russell Industrial Open Studios Event all weekend! Audrey was one of our first artists to be featured in the 'dAP two years ago. We feel so fortunate to have her with us!

Audrey will be the first artist to design a t-shirt for the 'dAP. There will be three t-shirts available for purchase at the summer festival during the Wyandotte Street Art Fair (July 8th-11th)!

I have another fundraiser artist to highlight, Tony Roko.

Here's a blurb about Roko from his website http://tonyroko.web.officelive.com/default.aspx

"Self taught, and never having any direct influences from what art historians and scholars would consider “High Art”, Tony has always been fascinated with the readily accessible art of American pop culture. Comics and animation such as Fat Albert, Mad Magazine, and Loony Tunes have been some of Tony's earliest artistic influences. Also impacting Tony from an early age were various Urban Artists, such as Ernie Barns (the world renowned artist from "Good Times") and credits more recent inspiration to William H. Johnson (African-American Painter of the Harlem Renaissance). Today, Tony is fast becoming one of the Motor City's most sought after and emerging artists. His work can be found at some of Detroit's premiere exhibitions and most influential galleries. "

We are super excited to feature Roko, he is the first local artist to be featured at Lotus Gallery of Plymouth and gets high remarks from some of the most critical art patrons in Detroit. Roko will feature his newest group of paintings called "Gesture Paintings" at the Fundraiser.

Also Roko will soon be showing in the River's Edge Gallery of Wyandotte!

Fundraiser Artists and other art happenings!

The event that we're putting on at The Crofoot on March 27th is getting closer and closer. And our artists are really getting antsy to show their work! Here is another preview!
Beth Amber is a woman of many talents: film maker (Amber Villain Films), Rock & Rummage Organizer, art show curator of The Belmont and budding fine artist! Here is a statement from Beth Amber about her work, "Lately I have been inspired by film and music. My work has been directly affected by the knowledge I have acquired within these mediums. Being an independent film maker has allowed me access on a more personal level, which my work has definitely been affected by.
The paintings I am bringing will be Fair Weathered 2009 my newest piece inspired by the movie fur and Gray Matter 2008 inspired by the movie Gray Gardens. I am also bring some of my signature pieces including Drip Girl, created in 1998 after a complete makeover in my personal situation.As far as the photography side goes, I will be including my Art of Violence series which I have been developing since 2002. It is the series of work that reflects my personal views on society and there willingness to accept violent situations in a very lightly matter. I wanted to show in this series the possibilities that the darkest moments of life, there is light and art.I have also been working on a journal series of 60's pin up and classic horror collage. These series has brought my work in a full circle and has taken me to many different levels."
Talking Squid, Taryn Boyd, has a mantra of "Stylishly Recycling T-Shirts Since 2006."


All of my work is made from 100% recycled t-shirts. I enjoy pushing the boundaries of my material and transforming into new and modern products. I am most known for my designer recycled t-shirt rugs which are soft, luxurious, modern, and eco-friendly with a sleek and urban design. I also make tote bags, clutches, headbands, and pet accessories. You can view more of my work @ http://www.talkingsquid.etsy.com/.

More artist images and artist updates!

If you don't know already we are hosting an art music event at The Crofoot (Pike Room) on March 27th. Many of our artists have submitted some more images of their work.

Here are some little previews of what to expect from our artists!

Glass Action! aka Carey Gustafson works tirelessly with Handmade Detroit and of course on her unique glass creations. She is well known for her rock star nightlights check her out on www.myspace.com/glassaction

Kevin Beehner

Kevin specializes in pen and ink drawings and painting. He shows his work in River's Edge Gallery in Wyandotte and will also be in the 'dAP part of the Wyandotte Street Art Fair!

Bea Jacobs creates jewelry through chainmaille, wire wrapping, and knit and crochet with fine wire.

You can catch more information about her work at

http://www.chainedcreation.com/

The Poster for the Fundraiser

This is the beautiful poster created for the Fundraiser by Alix.

Thanks so much!

I am so impressed by it!

Also part of the show but not listed are Glass Action,

Lish Dorset and Reware Vintage!

Save the date!

March 27th!

Fundraiser at The Crofoot in Pontiac, March 27th!

PRESS RELEASE… PRESS RELEASE… PRESS RELEASE…WHAT: FUNDRAISER FOR THE ‘DOTTE ARTS PROJECT FEATURING LIVE MUSIC BY MISTY LYN AND THE BIG BEAUTIFUL, FRONTIER RUCKUS, TONE & NICHE, DJ BOUGET, AND 17 FINE ARTISTS AND CRAFTERS. SILENT AUCTION OF ART.
WHERE: PIKE ROOM AT THE CROFOOT 1 South Saginaw Pontiac, http://www.thecrofoot.com/
WHEN: MARCH 27th Doors open 8PM-11PM, Tickets $10 at the Door, $8 in advance at www.thecrofoot.com or http://www.ticketweb.com/ CONTACT: AIMEE RODRIGUEZ 313 676 0550, WYTOWNFEST@YAHOO.COM The ‘dotte Arts Project hosts a show of emerging artists and musicians to help raise money March 27th at The Crofoot in Pontiac. The ‘dotte Arts Project is hosting a fundraiser at The Crofoot in Pontiac on March 27th 8pm-11pm. The ‘dotte Arts Project, the ‘dAP, is looking to raise funds for the summer festival and the general running of the project throughout the year. The purpose of the ‘dAP is to promote emerging artists whenever possible. “If it’s through our summer festival with the Wyandotte Street Art Fair or if it’s through smaller art shows like this fundraiser,” says co-chair Aimee Rodriguez, “ we want to give newer artists every chance possible to encourage them into continuing creating. The ultimate goal being the connection between the artist and the buyer, that connection is where the magic is created. Nothing motivates an artist more than for some stranger to purchase their work.” The Crofoot has numerous artists and musician opportunities throughout the year. It's an extremely artsy venue which makes it the perfect backdrop for the 'dotte Arts Project fundraiser. They have art shows and one of their nights each week, Phonotropic, focuses on showcases some of the area’s best musicians. “One of our goals at the Crofoot is to connect musicians and artists from around the country, and specifically Metro Detroit. Working with ‘DAP is a great partnership, because we bring downriver artists to Pontiac and vice versa. We are very pleased with our collaboration,” Dan McGowan, the Crofoot. The fundraiser is going to feature 17 artists who are in different stages of their art endeavors including some who this is the first event of this kind that they are doing and some who do this often and are seasoned at it. The list includes Audrey Pongracz who has been with the ‘dAP since its inception two years ago; DeEtta a painter and jeweler; Shionne Designs jewelry design; Kevin Beehner a painter; Talking Squid a crafter; Roko a painter; Jennifer Proescher a crafter and jeweler; Beth Amber a painter and photographer; Terry Walsh a painting and crafter, Patricia Goodell and HFCC Pottery group; Rudy Salazar III a painter; Mike Wood a photographer; Norma Nothings Painting and Jewelry; Bea Jacobs jewelry; Glass Action; Reware Vintage; Lish Dorset and more … The music lineup is going to have a more old timey feel with indie blue grass bands Misty Lyn & The Big Beautiful, Frontier Ruckus and Tone & Niche. DJ Bouget will be spinning between the sets. The fundraiser for the 'dotte Arts Project is happening March 27th at The Crofoot in the Pike Room, doors open at 8pm. "We are so excited about this event," says Rodriguez, "because it’s a chance for us to extend our reach and help out more artists."