The newest show at Public Pool needs you to finish it!

Saturday, June 1st was the opening of “U-Build It!,” a group show at Public Pool in Hamtramck. Artists Mary Fortuna, Andrew Thompson, Shoshanna Utchenik and Michael McGillis have each created an interactive art space to enable attendees to participate in the creative process, working to expand on the provided framework over the course of the show.

Thompson has provided a set of rules governing the interaction between a wide array of drawing implements and an initially bare wall of the gallery. Participants are exhorted to draw the longest line they possibly can, within the specific rules.

Andrew “Andy T” Thompson and his wall of lines.

Don’t forget to sign your name by your line!

Fortuna hung the bare bones of a large mobile and an assortment of pieces bearing her classic hand-stitched stylings to finish it. Grab your favorite piece and tie it into place, but remember mobiles need balance…and you might too!

Fortuna (right), with her mobile-in-progress.

Remember to maintain aesthetic and gravitational balance if you get on that ladder!

Utchenik created a series of low-fi dollhouses, but it’s up to you to fill them. A detailed-if-cryptic set of instructions and a fun mélange of multimedia materials are provided for the creation of “Love Machines” to populate these empty environments.

Utchenik and her daughter making some modifications to one of the dollhouses.

Now that’s mini-minimalism!

Finally, McGillis has assembled the makings for a series of honeycombed window boxes across the gallery’s street-facing windows. Grab what moves you and install it for the world to see!

McGillis had an amazing solo show, “Reckoning A Peripheral Wilderness,” at Public Pool last year.

Let your inner window-dresser out to play!

The opening was very much swinging, with enthusiastic participants building out the show before my very eyes. If you missed the initial action, there is still the chance to view and expand on the show every Saturday this month, from 1-6 p.m. I have no doubt that by the closing event on June 29th, we will be looking at a very different installation than the one I started with. Exciting to see art that continues to unfold within the gallery setting!

Public Pool: 3309 Caniff St., Hamtramck; 313-405-7665; apublicpool.com