Shaffer recreates a scene after the performance of “Beauty and the Beast,” showing the behind-the-scenes workings. The DIA was jumping this weekend with the Motor City Puppet Blast, part of the 2014 Puppeteers of America Great Lakes Regional Festival, which took place all weekend, July 25-27, with a packed program for the delight of puppetheads, […]

Wenzel with plant. All photos and video courtesy of the artist. Self-deprecation is a prime tool in the stand-up comedy arsenal, and it provides a strong counterpoint to the practice of making fun at the expense of others. However, comic Brian Posehn (best known for his turns on “Mr. Show,” “The Sarah Silverman Program,” “The […]

The hand-modeling table, featuring an eclectic range of workers and works-in-progress. Ladybug Studios hosted their monthly drop-in workshops on Saturday. The event takes place on the third Saturday of every month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and invites community members, novicesand potters of all experience levels to explore making clay creations, under the patient […]

A packed crowd made camp in New Center Park, to assure themselves space for the show. Very apropos of the season, and much in line with their mission of site-specific, Detroit-based Shakespeare performance, Shakespeare in Detroit staged the Bard’s timeless comedy, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” as dusk fell over New Center Park on Saturday, July […]

Some of the works on display in the Art Quilt Exhibition, which opens on Wednesday, July 16th. The Saginaw Art Museum reopens its doors to welcome visitors into a newly renovated and rejuvenated space, hung with the best of its 2,000-piece collection, nearly 100 pieces of which have been conserved in the recent floor-to-ceiling overhaul […]

Kevin Joy and his North End mural-in-progress. Kevin Joy meets me in front of his massive mural-in-progress on the side of Red Door Digital Design Studio. The piece stretches more than 120 feet along the side of the building, at the gateway of the North End neighborhood, and is a veritable who’s-who showcasing Joy’s arsenal […]

This summer, Campus Martius, perhaps best known for providing wintertime extracurricular fun in the form of its popular ice-skating rink, has expanded into a whole new season, with a host of summertime activities open and free to the public. Local detailing on one of the public pianos. The partnership between the City of Detroit, Opportunity […]

“She Towers Above,” the titular piece from Fortuna’s solo show at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center in May of 2013. In artist Mary Fortuna’s own words, she’s had the habit of “making stuff” for as long as she can remember. Playing, for her, was mostly making dolls and doll clothes, puppets, stuffed animals and toys, […]

An evening with Beck’s Morning Phase. On Saturday, June 28th, The Fox Theatre hosted a stop on Beck’s tour in support of his new 2014 release, Morning Phase, a companion piece to the 2002 album Sea Change, and Beck’s second best-selling album in a two-decade long major label music career. Beck’s opening set, a near-complete […]

Image courtesy of the Detroit Institute of Arts I had the privilege of viewing the DIA’s newest special photography exhibit, featuring the Detroit-based work of fashion photographer and filmmaker Bruce Weber, in the company of a team of Detroit high school students, taking a rain break from their summer job watering trees. The kids live […]

“Andrea,” by Robert Sestok. The effect upon entering The Factory—a warehouse painstakingly converted into a three-day opening extravaganza due to efforts martialed by Cass Corridor artist and art scene mainstay Robert Sestok—is perhaps best considered as admission into a total experience of large works, rather than a dissection of each individual contribution from the more […]