Preview: Hamtramck Neighborhood Arts Festival this Saturday, Oct 20th – Knight Foundation
Arts

Preview: Hamtramck Neighborhood Arts Festival this Saturday, Oct 20th

Hamtramck is a diverse neighborhood, on a constant, gradual shift from Polish immigrant roots toward a thriving artist colony, and more recently, a strong Middle Eastern population.

This Saturday, October 20th, Hamtramck will become a living museum for an afternoon-into-evening celebration of the arts. The neighborhood-wide schedule of events kicks off at 1 p.m. and includes studio tours, gallery shows, live music, artist talks and more, stretching into the evening, all within reasonable walking distance of each other.

A map of the event route, including studio crawl, which can be found online (see link below) or at Public Pool on the day of the event.

The event was organized by two artists and fixtures of the Hamtramck gallery scene, Steve Panton, who runs 2739Edwin out of his studio, and Steve Hughes, who helped to found Public Pool. Public Pool (3309 Caniff St., Hamtramck; 313-405-7665) should be the first stop for interested denizens of the festival who wish to pick up a map and schedule of events, and also to view George Rahme’s excellent show “Fire Over Water,” currently on display there.

A detail from one of Rahme’s works, “POW!” Rahme will be leading a cut-and-paste collage workshop where he discusses and demonstrates collage technique, at 3 p.m. in the Public Pool space.

Other gallery events include the Hatch Member Show and open studios. Artwork by ‘jide Aje, Carl Wilson, Kate Paul, Laura McIntyre, Bob Piatek Chris Schneider, Jack Summers, Matt Feazell, Suzanne Baumann and Shoshanna Utchenik, as well as “From Here on Out,” an exhibition by Toby Millman and Andrew Thompson in the 2739Edwin gallery space. During the afternoon, Thompson will be at work on his piece “Hamtramck Redact” (see video above).

All in all, it promises to be a wonderful Saturday and celebration of art and Hamtramck, two lovable institutions that have been going strong together for decades, and show no signs of stopping anytime soon. For more info and updates, check out the event’s Facebook page. Seeya on the street!