If you were to have visited the 3600 Block of Heidelberg Street in Detroit around 1986, you would have likely encountered a young artist beginning the project of a lifetime. Found object assemblages and painted patterns were quickly transforming a neighborhood that had experienced mass disinvestment, turning grassy lots and abandoned homes into an enclave of creativity.
Soon, an immersive, vernacular art environment emerged and was at once an amalgamation of everyday materials and what seemed to be a mystical translation from another realm. The creator behind the sprawling installation—which continues today—is artist Tyree Guyton, who dubbed what would become his most famous work in his home neighborhood of McDougall Hunt, The Heidelberg Project.
Spanning nearly four decades and several blocks, the ever-evolving environment has become a destination for tourists and locals alike as Guyton’s spiritual philosophies reach every inch of the property. There’s the iconic polka-dot house, another covered in long paintings of shoes, a collection of portraits on car hoods, and countless sculptures and assemblages that seem to take on a life of their own. Because the works are exposed to the elements, maintenance and upcycling occur regularly at the project, as the artist adds to an existing piece or transforms materials anew…