When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, similar to many industries, the art world found itself plunged into unprecedented depths. Stripped of social interactions and devoid of in-person shows or galleries, artists grappled to redefine their place and find their footing.
Amid this challenging landscape, groups like Detroit’s new Amber Collective are striving to reunite the city’s artistic community, pooling resources and materials to unearth opportunities for both themselves and other underrepresented artists of the city.
“Out of [COVID], all of us kind of went into silos. Still doing our work, still trying to get our messages out there, but no real avenues to do that,” Dianetta Dye, a founding member of the Amber Collective, says. “I think our goal is to just kind of get back out there, find some avenues for growth and improvement and a way to have some revenue come in as well. We’re stronger in numbers than we are individually.”
Back in June of 2023, Daejona Gordon, a photographer and graphic designer, was working at Michaels when she ran into Dye, whose focus is printmaking and mixed-media art. The pair hadn’t seen each other in awhile, and began to discuss their work life at the time and the state of art in Detroit, soon adding a few other local artists to the mix.
Quickly, the group met and started the Amber Collective with six founding members, all of whom are Black femmes. On Small Business Saturday, which was Nov. 25, the collective opened a brick-and-mortar store at 19372 Livernois Ave. on Detroit’s “Avenue of Fashion." The shop is currently open Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m.- 7 p.m, featuring 15 local artists and a variety of mediums including sculptures, hand blown glass, original art cards, prints, photography, graphic design, repurposed leather jewelry, fiber art, and more.
On Monday nights, the collective hosts a group discussion and cocktail hour for artists and art lovers.
“Those have been going really well, we have a nice group of people that show up and they come out, they look at the work, we talk about art, the state of art in Detroit, some of our goals, we connect with people,” Dye says. “It’s just been really nice to kind of get together and have those candid, casual conversations, and just the camaraderie. It's been really, really nice.”
Gordon says that to her, the Amber Collective is all about support. “We were all a group of women who have been going through lots of different things in our individual lives,” she says. “It’s really about expanding our opportunities to others and figuring out a way to nurture the artists that don’t really get as much shine in Detroit right now.” As someone who is not super vocal about her own art and was beginning to create less, starting the collective encouraged Gordon to continue her creative journey.
While all six of the Amber Collective’s founding members are Black femmes and Gordon feels that is something important to highlight, the collective is open to any artists who aren’t often given a platform.
“Right now, there are only Black femme artists in our group, but if we were to come across someone who would also fit our mission, they can also join,” Gordon says. “But, I think it really is important to highlight Black femininity, because a lot of the time in Detroit or in the bigger art groups, they don’t really highlight Black femmes. A lot of them focus on men. When it comes to [race], Black people get the short end of the stick a lot of the time, so right now, I thought it was important to highlight that we are a group of Black femmes who started this. However, if other people wanted to join, it’s absolutely OK, but we started this.”
Adding to this point, Dye adds that it is essential for everyone to tell their personal stories unapologetically through their art, especially when those stories aren’t always told mainstream. She says that all of the members have similarities as people and in their work, but they are very different in many ways as well.
“So many times we’ve been somewhat passive about telling our story and I’m encouraging the group to be a little bit more militant about it, to talk about some of those painful things and to highlight some of the rough edges of our work. I think it’s important, kind of cathartic, and it draws us closer together,” Dye says. “A lot of our stories are similar and different all at the same time. We have age differences and our backgrounds are different, we all may be of a certain race, and we’re femmes, but there’s a lot of diversity in all of us.”
Within the shop, Dye hopes to spread this mission to everyone with her project “Remembering Ancestors,” a series of cards and bookmarks that currently feature old photos of her family. She wants to have outside people bring in their own old family photos as well, so that she can create special personalized items for them, to have themselves, or to give relatives on birthdays and holidays as a way to stay connected to ancestors and people who have passed away.
Looking forward, Amber Art Collective also hopes to find other revenue streams through fundraising and grants, plus connecting with other art organizations, not only in Detroit, but in other states as well. Additionally, the group’s goal is to continue getting more artists involved, do group shows, and offer workshops to teach people about dying, printmaking, drawing, painting, sculpture, digital photography, and more.
Since opening the brick-and-mortar store, the collective has been in an experimental phase, able to find their shortcomings and figure out ways to improve. In the coming weeks, the group will be discussing if they will close the full-time store on Jan. 5, so they encourage people to visit soon. If the store closes, the group may take a couple of months to replan and reopen in the same space or a new one. Regardless, the collective will keep in contact with the connections they’ve made so far to continue expanding with more programming and pop-ups.
From Dec. 26 through Jan. 1, the shop will be open everyday for a big Kwanzaa celebration, with an open mic event on Friday, Dec. 29 for performers. In 2024, the collective hopes to host activities centered around Black History Month and Women’s History Month.
To stay up to date on The Amber Collective’s journey, you can follow @amberartscollective on Instagram.
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