A selection of upcoming fall 2022 art happenings in metro Detroit and beyond

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Paul Verdell: Forty Acres is on view at the Library Street Collective through Oct. 8.

The fall arts season is here. Here are some of the events we’re looking forward to — be sure to check venue websites for the most up-to-date information.

Detroit Month of Design

Through Sept. 30: This annual monthlong celebration of Detroit’s UNESCO designation as a “City of Design” returns with the theme of “United By Design.” As usual, the festival takes place in various venues across the metro area, and this year features more than 65 indoor, outdoor, and virtual events. Highlights include “Sewing the Threads of Detroit’s Fashion Community: Business of Fashion” (Sept. 14 at the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center), “Black Footwear Forum and Celebration” (Sept. 16-18 at the newly reopened HBCU Pensole Lewis College), the Cranbrook architecture alumni show (Sept. 16 at Cranbrook Academy of Art), “Art on the Avenue” (Sept. 17 along the Historic Avenue of Fashion), and “The Mind of a Muralist” (Sept. 18 at the Marygrove Conservancy; see our feature on panelist, muralist Ijania Cortez, in this week’s issue), among others.

Eastern Market After Dark

Sept. 15: After a two-year hiatus, Eastern Market After Dark is back with live music, art, fashion, and open studios. Shed 2 of the market will highlight Detroit’s North End community in partnership with artists Philip Simpson, Donna Jackson, Bryce Detroit, Reshounn Foster, LaDonna Little, the Underground Music Academy, and more. The Detroit City Marching band, music collective d.Cipher, and Laura Earle’s FET!SH fashion show are among the evening’s programming.

Art Prize

Sept. 15-Oct. 2: Artists from all over the world compete for more than $250,ooo in prizes in a juried show on display all across Grand Rapids. Sure, it’s a bit of a hike from metro Detroit, but worth the trip if you haven’t visited G.R. lately.

Ralph Fasanella: Portraits of American Life

Sept. 16-Oct. 22: Exhibition of portraits and scenes from labor activism, urban neighborhoods, counterculture, and more by the New York-based artist.

Womxnhouse Detroit

Sept. 17-Oct 23: Norwest Gallery owner Asia Hamilton’s childhood home has been completely reimagined with installations by women artists. This year the house has everything including photography, film, poetry, painting, performance art, sound installations, and beyond.

Hair Wars

Sept. 18: This annual hair show combines hot models and hot cars, including more than 200 creations, in addition to a dance party.

Confluent: Detroit Art and the University Art Collection

Sept. 22-Dec. 9: Featuring Detroit artists Anita Bates, Jeanne Bieri, Darryl DeAngelo Terreel, Sergio De Giusti, Mariam Ezzat, Mary Fortuna, Marcia Freedman, M. Saffell Gardner, Laura Makar, Sandra Osip, Tom Pyrzewski, John Rizzo, and Donita Simpson.

DIY Street Fair

Sept. 23-25: Annual festival features art vendors and live music, including national acts like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Haley Heynderickx, and Flobots, in addition to local acts like Passalacqua, Summer Like The Season, Checker, and more.

Funky Ferndale Art Fair

Sept. 23-25: The 18th annual fair returns to the streets of downtown Ferndale, featuring more than 100 artists working in painting, sculpture, jewelry, mixed media, and more.

West of Center: Art That Pushes Boundaries

Through Sept. 24: Exhibition juried by sculptor Sergio de Giusti, featuring 50 works in all media created by 40 artists from across the country.

Tunde Olaniran: Made a Universe

Through Sept. 25: Flint-based singer and songwriter Tunde Olaniran gets their film debut with Made a Universe, which they wrote, directed, scored, and starred in. The film is a cross between a horror movie and a music video and is accompanied by an exhibit of set recreations foreshadowing the impending doom. (See our feature on Tunde Olaniran in this week’s issue.)

Gyona Rice: Head in the Sand

Through Sept. 25: Gyona Rice discusses Black women’s identity through natural hair in a series of prints exploring the resistance of mainstream beauty norms.

The Bright Night Show

Through Sept. 25: An examination of the nocturnal with eight artists exploring symbols, costumes, and intimacies associated with the night. Participating artists include Allison Scout, Austin Brady, Christian Mickovic, Michael Polakowski, Steven Shik, Nick Pizaña, Trevor Jahner, and Yeager Edwards.

Fall in Love with Figurative Art

Through Sept. 30: Art Leaders Gallery will feature figurative artwork from several world-renowned artists throughout September, including Anna Razumovskaya, Hessam Abrishimi, Kerri Warner, Pietro Adamo, Gabe Leonard, and more.

We exChange: An Assemblage of Possibilities

Through Oct. 1: This three-phase, year-long collaboration loosely inspired by the French surrealist art game exquisite corpse and the Black science fiction writer Octavia Butler sees 12 metro Detroit visual and literary artists create new works influenced by images and words from the prior phase. A gallery talk will be held at 6 p.m. on Sept. 22.

Unspoken Lore

Through Oct 2: New work and a retrospective of paintings by Linden Godlove. Godlove’s vivid portraits, whimsical tableaus, and swirling abstracts stir introspection and discovery.

27th Letter Books; 3546 Michigan Ave., Detroit; 27thletterbooks.com.

Van Gogh in America

Oct. 2- Jan. 22: This exhibit celebrates the DIA’s status as the first public museum in the United States to purchase a Vincent van Gogh painting (his Self-Portrait from 1887). It includes more than 70 authentic Van Gogh works. (See our feature on Van Gogh in America in this week’s issue.)

Tony Rave: Michael Jesus Crisis

Through Oct. 8: Tony Rave confronts cultural iconography worship and the association with whiteness and “purity” with his exhibit of cherub figurines and Jesus on the cross painted with blackface.

Paul Verdell: Forty Acres

Through Oct. 8: In his forthcoming exhibit at Library Street Collective, Paul Verdell presents a new series of colorful large-scale paintings accompanied by a collection of works on paper.

Jamar Lockhart: In Living Color

Through Oct. 9: Detroit artist Jamar Lockhart explores the intersection between color and feeling with this abstract show at Norwest Gallery.

Prodigy

Through Oct. 15: This mixed media group show includes ten emerging artists meditating on the future of art through sculpture, oil paintings, pyrography, and more. Artists include Terrell Anglin, Loralee Grace, Quadre Curry, Halima Afi Cassells, Kaleigh Blevins, Marlo Broughton, Erik Smith, Nonnie Williams, Marlon Ivory, and Nigerian artist Rotimi Godwin who will be making his U.S. debut.

Julian J. Jones: MARKINGS

Through Oct. 15: Solo exhibit of abstract quilted work interspersed with gestural oil pastel drawings inspired by traditional African American quilting. Artist talk will be held on Sept. 22.

Playground Detroit; 2845 Gratiot Ave., Detroit; noon-5 p.m. Thursdays through Saturday; playgrounddetroit.com.

Color, Texture, Depth

Through Oct. 15: Acrylic and ink paintings by Elizabeth Schwartz.

Finding Value: A James Charles Morris Exhibition

Oct. 15-Nov. 13: Digital collages from the self-taught artist.

Opening reception from 6-9 p.m. at Norwest Gallery of Art; 19556 Grand River Ave., Detroit; norwestgallery.com.

Bern Merlo: Abstract Dreams

Through Oct. 21: An exhibition of colorful abstract paintings by Southfield artist Bern Merlo.

Color | Ink Studio; 20919 John R Rd., Hazel Park; 248-398-6119; colorinkstudio.com.

Detroit Punk: Dead and Alive

Through Oct. 22: Exhibition detroitUNDERGROUND 69 explores the design of the “first wave” of Detroit punk rock in a Sharpie-scrawled gallery meant to mimic the punk dives of the past like Bookie’s Club 870. An “in the round” design talk is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. on Sept. 14.

Perspectives in Contemporary Woodworking

Through Oct. 22: Features work from Forrest Hudes, Breanne Johnson, Seth Keller, and Dawson Moore. Related events include a spoon-making session with Moore from 6-8 p.m. on Sept. 23 and a gallery talk from 6-8 p.m. on Oct. 8.

Quintessa Matranga: Tables and Chairs

Through Oct. 29: Paintings and sculptures by the San Francisco-based artist.

Sabrina Nelson: I Had a Prayin’ Grandmother

Through Nov. 3: The Detroit artist presents her latest multimedia installation in Birmingham.

Fire in the Theater!

Nov. 4-Dec. 3: This 2019 Knight Arts Challenge winner is a multi-media theater performance around and on top of a huge table that investigates free speech — past, present, and future.

St. Anthony’s; 3553 W. Vernor Hwy., Detroit; ahostofpeople.org. Tickets are $15-20. Only 25 seats are available per night.

Cranbrook Museum of Art

From Nov. 5: Cranbrook’s Fall season includes three exhibits by Detroit-based artists: Scott Hocking’s Detroit Stories, James Benjamin Franklin’s Full Circle, and Bakpak Durden’s first solo museum show The Eye of Horus.

Cranbrook Art Museum; 39221 Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Hills; 248-645-3320; cranbrookartmuseum.org. Admission is $10 except on Thursdays when it’s free.

Conscious Response: Photographers Changing the Way We See

Through Jan. 8, 2023: Black-and-white and color photographs from the 1950s to the present day, including works by Diane Arbus, Dawood Bey, Bruce Davidson, Roy Decarava, Robert Frank, Kenro Izu, Gordon Parks, Doug and Mike Starn, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and more.

5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-833-7900; dia.org.

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