Nicole Macdonald continues to honor Detroiters with new series

Artist Nicole Macdonald will continue her Detroit Portrait Series with a new patch of paintings, this time dedicated to Detroit's literary heroes.

According to a press release, "each of the poets and publishers depicted in the series have made a significant contribution to the city of Detroit, through the establishment of independent writing presses, outreach organizations, and their role as educators ­­ in an academic setting and beyond."

Depicted figures include Naomi Long Madgett, Bill Harris, Lolita Hernandez, Terry Blackhawk, Melba Joyce Boyd, Philip Levine, Mick Vranich, Dudley Randall, Robert Hayden, and Sixto Rodriguez.

Catch the new paintings when they are unveiled at an event starting at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 20 at Eastern Market's Shed 3. The event will include poetry readings by Madgett, Harris, Hernandez, Blackhawk, and Joyce Boyd. After the exhibition ends in a month, the paintings will be installed in the boarded ­up windows of the liquor store on the corner of Trumbull Ave. and the I­-94 service drive in Detroit's Woodbridge neighborhood.

Previously, Macdonald installed paintings in the windows of an abandoned warehouse at Grand River Avenue and Maybury Grand Street in Detroit. 

Read our interview with Macdonald from last year here.