Celebrating the Detroit Artists Workshop Sunday, November 2: Scarab Club of Detroit (2-4 pm) Ron English & John Dana & Friends; Poets Robin Eichele, George Tysh, Biill Harris, Ken Mikolowski; John Sinclair & His Blues Scholars with Jeff Grand, Johnny Evans, James O’Donnell, Phil Hale, Chris Rumel & Tino Gross performing Detroit Life Sunday, November 9: Scarab Club: Closing Reception with R.J. Spangler & on English tribute to Bud Spangler and other departed Artists Workshop members Charles Moore, Lyman Woodard, James Semark, Howard Weingarden, Bill Hutton, Harold McKinney, Kenny Cox, Ronnie Johnson, George Garnertt & others with poetry by John Sinclair & others Continuing Events: MOCAD Mobile Homestead: Artists Workshop Press and DAW BOX display (Opened October 26) Detroit Historical Museum: Gary Grimshaw Exhibit (Opened October 30) Susan Hilberry Gallery: Leni Sinclair Exhibition (Opens November 22) DAW Art Exhibit at College for Creative Studies—An art and photo exhibit featuring DAW member painters Ellen Phelan, Steven Ligosky, the late Howard Weingarden and the late Bradley Jones; photographers Leni Sinclair, Emil Bacilla, Carl Schurer and others; and poster artists Gary Grimshaw, Carl Lundgren, Rob Tyner and Robin Sommers (Closed November 1) DETROIT ARTISTS WORKSHOP A 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION October 26-November 10, 2014 The Detroit Artists Workshop was founded at 1252 West Forest in Detroit on November 1, 1964 and moved after fire destroyed the original premises in May 1965 to a storefront at 4865 John C. Lodge where the Artists Workshop Press was established next door at 4867 John C. Lodge. Fifty years later the surviving members of the Detroit Artists Workshop are gathering at disparate venues in Detroit over a two-week period centered on November 1st to offer a series of free concerts, poetry readings, art exhibitions, film screenings, seminars and workshops in celebration of the 50th anniversary. We aim to honor the founders and members of the Detroit Artists Workshop and their work of the past 50 years, with a salute to members who have passed on and a spotlight on the surviving artists: the poets, musicians, writers, playwrights, painters, photographers, film-makers, graphic artists and other members who have continued to grow and develop from their roots in the DAW. This effort is being organized by the Detroit Artists Workshop steering committee chaired by Cary Loren and including John Sinclair, Leni Sinclair, Laura Grimshaw, Becky Derminer (recording secretary), Emma Velasco (fiscal officer), M.L. Liebler (poetry coordinator) and RJ Spangler (music coordinator). DETROIT ARTISTS WORKSHOP A 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION The short-lived Red Door Gallery (1963) and the Artists’ Workshop Society were the first serious alternative, avant-garde collectives and co-operative galleries to exist in the city of Detroit. This small, fiercely independent and interracial group of poets, artists and musicians were the first artists and seed spaces that inspired a cultural revolution in Detroit and beyond. The threads of this influence stretch from jazz to rock, psychedelia to heavy metal, noise and other experimental music, as well as poetry, politics, the Cass Corridor movement and the growth of Detroit’s alternative presses. It is now critical and relevant at this point in Detroit’s recent revival of the arts to shed light upon these roots and celebrate its artistic beginnings—clearly found within the Artists Workshop collective, Detroit’s first avant-garde. To understand the arts of Detroit, there’s no better place to start. The Artists Workshop Society was an artist-run collective founded on November 1st, 1964 by John Sinclair, Magdalene Arndt (a.k.a. Leni Sinclair), Charles Moore, Robin Eichele, George Tysh and ten others, who rented a house at 1252 West Forest for use as a gallery and performance space near the campus of Wayne State University. Free poetry and jazz performances were featured every Sunday afternoon. They also produced their own books, journals and workshops introducing avant-garde poets, artists and musicians to Detroit, many for the first time. To learn more about the Workshop, visit the website at detroitartistsworkshop. DETROIT ARTISTS WORKSHOP: ROOTS AND BRANCHES A 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION MOCAD and the Mobile Homestead present “The Detroit Artists Workshop: Roots and Branches,” an exhibition featuring art, photography and productions by members of the Detroit Artists Workshop. An opening reception was held Sunday, October 26th at the Mobile Homestead from 2-4 PM. Work will be on view through December, 2014. In conjunction with this exhibit, MOCAD, the Mobile Homestead & the DAW will be publishing Workshop Box #2, a limited edition anthology in a boxed format. The Workshop Box will include reprints of several Artist Workshop Society books from the ’60s including; The Fugs Songbook (by members of the Fugs, edited by Ed Sanders), Revolutionary Letters by Diane DiPrima, The Book of Humors by James Semark, Sit Up Straight by George Tysh, “The Poem for Warren Stringfellow” by John Sinclair and The Book of Runes by Robin Eichele. Flyers, ephemera, music and a DVD of the 40th anniversary event at the DIA will also be included in this 50th anniversary keepsake. Elements from Box #2 including the originals will be featured in the Homestead display. Featured artists include photographer/filmmaker Emil Bacilla; poet Robin Eichele; graphic artist Gary Grimshaw; artist Stephen Ligosky; artist Eizo Nishura; photographer/filmmaker Leni Sinclair; photographer Carl Schurer; poet Ken and artist Ann Mikolowski of the Alternative Press; painter Howard Weingarden; and collagist/poet Jerry Younkins. Original books, flyers, experimental & documentary films and ephemera will also be on view. Please note: Part One of Roots & Branches was on display October 4th-November 1st at the CCS Center Alumnae galleries.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 11:22:42 +0000