Thursday, June 25, 2009



Why the heck should you go to Wyandotte?
The ‘dotte Arts Project presents its third annual summer festival July 8th-11th.
The ‘dotte Arts Project, the ‘dAP, is cooking up another stellar festival of emerging arts and art demonstrations during the Wyandotte Street Art Fair, July 8th- 11th. The festival will be on the old theatre lot at First and Elm.
The City of Wyandotte provides its own power, has an extensive recycling program and is soon to be home to four windmills. To continue in the self-sustainable spirit of Wyandotte our music stage is solar powered for the second year! Equipment provided courtesy of Cresit Energy of Wyandotte. Last year the ‘dAP stage was run completely by solar power which saved not only energy but the city thousands of dollars in money for electricity to run the music stage. The batteries ran on stored power one of the days which was stormy and overcast for most of the day. The ‘dAP is honored to showcase such a forward thinking company with products that work so well! For more information go to http://www.cresitenergy.com/

Live art demonstrations including some great works such as a huge mural by a myriad of artists. The Henry Ford Pottery and Ceramics club will be throwing pots and making other ceramic objects during the festival. Children will be invited to make shirts on site too!
Mark Bommarito sculpts with found objects and the objects he found for this outdoor sculpture are gas station signs. He created it as a social commentary about our oil appetite and what it’s doing to our foreign relations. It’s going to be 15 feet tall!
The City of Wyandotte provides its own power, has an extensive recycling program and is soon to be home to four windmills. To continue in the self-sustainable spirit of Wyandotte our music stage is solar powered for the second year! Equipment provided courtesy of Cresit Energy of Wyandotte. Last year the ‘dAP stage was run completely by solar power which saved not only energy but the city thousands of dollars in money for electricity to run the music stage. The batteries ran on stored power one of the days which was stormy for most of the day. The ‘dAP is honored to showcase such a forward thinking company with products that work so well!

The Roosevelt High School Art Club, Alumni and Tawnya Au, the art teacher in charge of it all, will be working with kids of all ages to paint t-shirts. Part of the proceeds for this will go to help the arts at Roosevelt High School. “It really makes us happy to do this”, says Jeremy E. Hansen, co-chair of the ‘dAP, “because it melds with our mission to promote and proliferate the arts of Wyandotte.” Robert Stanzler is a man who supports the arts and is doing it in a big way by donating all the shirts and the silk screening of the design on them. He is the person in charge of Detroitmfg.com .
Friday and Saturday there will be a full schedule of stunt bike riding by Ron Thomas. Ron Thomas attended Roosevelt High School is now a professional BMX stunt rider and owns Rise Above Entertainment. Thomas will be performing on Friday and Saturday at 1pm, 5pm and 8pm in the ‘dAP area.
The best part of the festival are the over 30 emerging artists selling their wares. This is the highlight and purpose of our festival to promote emerging artists. Many of these artists are beginning their art careers and some of them are on the cusp of hitting the scene in a major way. The work varies from low brow to traditional with a mixture of jewelry and some funky craft making in between.
“We strive to embrace the arts at all levels,” says Aimee Rodriguez, co-chair of the ‘dAP, “One of the best ways to ensure that art continues in any community is to sell their work especially the work of artists who are just now trying to figure out what they want to do.”
The music stage is going to feature some of the best local acts that metro-Detroit has to offer. The headlining performance will be Dan Miller (of Blanche and Goober in the Peas). Some other great highlights include Silver Ghost a side project of ex- guitarist and vocalist of the Von Bondies, Marcie Bolen. Also included are some acts more local to Downriver including Hiding in Thailand, Dune Buggy Attack Battalion and Jura.
The music line up varies with the Friday line up being that of a more rockin’ nature and Saturday will feature a indie, folk, bluegrass feel. The Friday and Saturday line ups were set up by The Crofoot which is working with the ‘dAP on many projects to come. Go to http://www.thecrofoot.com/ .
2009 is the first year the ‘dAP is going to have an artist create the t-shirt design. We are proud to announce that the first design will be created by Audrey Pongracz. Pongracz is on fire this year being voted Best Local Artist by Real Detroit Weekly and she was also elected one of Six Artists to Watch Under 30 by the Metrotimes. Pongracz started her art gallery career at River’s Edge Gallery in Wyandotte. She continues to show at River’s Edge Gallery and at 323 East of Royal Oak.
Pongracz has shown with the ‘dAP since its inception in 2007. She is extremely supportive of the ‘dAP and the ‘dAP mission to promote emerging artists.
We are honored to feature her design this year. The squid is a cephalopod that inks to protect itself from predators which is similar to what many artists do when they paint or create. The image created features a squid is hugging the ‘dAP as a submarine. We hope artists continue to embrace the ‘dAP because we certainly embrace and want to help them!

This year the ‘dAP will prove to top its first two years with vim and vigor July 8th-11th at the corner of Elm and First in downtown Wyandotte during the Wyandotte Street Art Fair.

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