Who's Watching Over Detroit?

If you've been to Detroit lately, you may have notice a figure lurking on the buildings above you.

The orange men are part of the The Man in the City Project, which consists of 50+ sculptures positioned on rooftops throughout Detroit. Created by John Sauve in 2008, the orange man was originally exhibited on NYC's Highline, but has since made his way to Michigan. 

According to Sauve, The Man in the City Project is a metaphor for life that transforms the skyline and encourages people to look around. Sauve is hoping Detroiters will look up, and notice the city's amazing architecture and the stories that surrounds them.

While gaining recognition and spreading his men throughout Detroit, Sauve has also made a significant effort to connect student groups with art and the artistic process. He host workshops for kids to create their own miniature men.

You can learn more about Sauve's plans for the project and the role kids have played in its development on Michigan Radio. 

Roadtrip: Marshall M. Fredericks Museum

If you grew up going to Frederick Meijer Gardens, I'm sure you have memories of the Boy and the Bear, or as I fondly refer to him, Mowgli.

This sculpture along with numerous others at The Gardens are by Marshall Fredericks (1908-1998), an American sculptor who had a prolific career making public art.

Fredericks attended the Cleveland School of Art, and then Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield, Hills Michigan. While at Cranbrook, in 1936, Fredericks won a competition to create a fountain for Detroit's Belle Islae Park — the sculpture still stands on the island outside the conservancy. 

This launched other commissions and collaborations including schools, libraries, auditoriums/theaters, churches (Indian River Shrine) shopping malls (Northland Shopping Center, Eastern Center), public buildings (The Cleveland War Memorial Fountain, The United States Department of State Headquarters in Washington D.C., Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detriot)  and the 1939 and 1964 World's fairs in New York City. 

Over 200 works of bronze and plaster models, as well as an installation of the sculptor's studio, which outlines the process of casting, are at the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Musuem on the Saginaw Valley State University campus. Dorothy Arbury, an active board member of SVSU and a former student of Fredericks, was instrumental in opening this gallery devoted to Frederick''s work. Fredericks' estate donated the contents of his studio to the museum in 1998, following his death. 

It's a beautiful space with tall ceilings, and stone floors and walls. The pristine white of the plaster casts create dramatic silhouettes and shadows in the large room. It was very hard to resist running my hand across the smooth, clean surfaces of the plaster.

The museum is free to the public and about a 2 hour drive from Grand Rapids. You'll see a lot of familiar Frederick Meijer Garden faces in the lawn out front!