Trash turned treasure at the Lincoln Street Art Park & Sculpture Garden

The mission of Recycle Here!—Detroit’s grassroots recycling center, which has evolved since its private inception in 2005 into a fully-funded city program—appears to be transparent. Namely, recycling. But even a brief, business-oriented visit to the main location (1331 Holden Ave Detroit, MI 48202) reveals an organization dedicated to salvage of an altogether different nature. Trash-turned-art is a grand Detroit tradition, with found-material installations such as the Heidelberg Project gaining international recognition for the artistic interpretation of materials at hand. The Lincoln Street Art Park & Sculpture Garden, which was founded in 2011 through a successful kickstarter campaign, has created symbiotic relationship to Recycle Here! and made a place for the public to enjoy some of the fruits of these salvaged materials.

“Frank the Dinosaur”–a popular recent addition to the garden, is made entirely from salvaged materials.

One of John Sauvé’s distinctive figures, set against the train tracks on the South side of the garden.

I don’t know much, but I know a Robert Sestok sculpture when I see one…

The garden is tucked away from the main street of Trumbull, on the back side of former Lincoln plant that serves at the main location for the Recycle Here! network of facilities. Heralded by elaborate murals, street art, and salvaged sign remains (apt to change their message when the mood strikes), the “Ghetto Louvre” has an array of shifting content, and features work from many prominent Detroit artists. Whether you’re on a mission to save the world, out looking for a free artwalk, or need a place to host a bonfire, the Lincoln Street Art Park & Sculpture Garden is always open, and worth a visit.

Painter Marianne Burrows is responsible for both the garden’s pheasant mural and the management of the kickstarter campaign that partially funded the park’s creation.

The garden’s content is continually changing, with the most recent addition being three tire sculptures that folks from CCS originally submitted for Art Prize.

Come on down!