Description

Connecting the Dots, the first comprehensive collection of writings on the Heidelberg Project, attempts to get to the heart of Guyton's project by considering it from a number of fascinating angles—including legal, aesthetic, political, and personal.

In its twenty years of existence, the Heidelberg Project has inspired awe in visitors from around the world, drawn praise from the international art community, and provoked extensive discussions in its own backyard. In 1986, Tyree Guyton created the project with the idea of visibly transforming the environment of his decaying neighborhood, which was marred by crime, prostitution, and gangs. Using the materials around him—cast-off toys, discarded car parts, and other debris—along with his trademark brightly colored polka dots, Guyton eventually transformed several houses and vacant lots on Heidelberg Street into the city's most recognizable art environment and one of its leading tourist attractions.

Because of its unorthodox nature and large scope, Guyton's art has often met fierce opposition in his own neighborhood while garnering raves from around the world. Connecting the Dots explores this tension in "Art or Eyesore?" by landscape architecture expert and Harvard lecturer John Beardsley and in Detroit News reporter Michael Hodges's essay, "Heidelberg and the Community." Former Detroit Free Press editor and publisher Neal Shine adds a piece on Sam Mackey, Guyton's grandfather and the artist's inspiration for the project.

In addition, a complete legal perspective on the Heidelberg Project is presented by attorney Daniel S. Hoops, and the city's position on the project is explained by Marilyn Wheaton, former director of Detroit's Cultural Affairs Department. Wayne State University professor of art history Marion E. Jackson also offers an aesthetic analysis of Guyton's project, and Detroit native Aku Kadogo discusses bringing Guyton and his project to Sydney, Australia. Connecting the Dots concludes with an "inside view" of the Heidelberg Project in a piece by Jenenne Whitfield, the project's executive director.

Connecting the Dots presents these essays along with a thoughtful introduction by Wayne State University professor of English Jerry Herron and an artist's statement by Tyree Guyton. Numerous photographs of Guyton's artwork are also included in this full-color oversized volume. Artists, art historians, and those interested in Detroit cultural affairs will enjoy this comprehensive and intriguing book.

Author(s)

Tyree Guyton
Tyree Guyton is a sculptor, painter, and mixed-media artist from Detroit, Michigan. He is internationally known for his work on the Heidelberg Project, an outdoor installation on Detroit's east side. His work was also featured in an Emmy-award winning 1999 documentary entitled Come Unto Me: The Faces of Tyree Guyton.
» Listen WJR Interview with Tyree Guyton


Selected Awards: Best Known Artist in Metro Detroit — Detroit Free Press (2001), Spirit of Detroit Award (1989), "Michiganian of the Year Award," (1991), "Michigan Artist of the Year" (1992)


Selected Exhibitions: The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI: Artists Take on Detroit (2001), Centro do Memoria e Cultura dos Correios, Salvador, Bahia (Brazil): Inter Cambio (2001), Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY: City Rhythms (2001), Delaware Art Institute (2002)

Reviews

“The Heidelberg Project raises issues of art, politics, community development, underdevelopment, conflict, anger, and love. Connecting the Dots does a fine job of presenting this complexity with care and objectivity.”

— Carol Becker, Dean of faculty at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and author of Surpassing the Spectacle: Global Transformations and the Changing Politics of Art.

“The essays in Connecting the Dots are intelligent and varied. Illuminated by their viewpoints, Guyton's Heidelberg Project shines like a jewel in the still-wounded city.”

— Thomas McEvilley, department chair of art criticism and writing at the School of Visual Arts (New York) and author of From Breakthrough to Cul de Sac: Recent Developments in the Social History of Art

“This [Heidelberg] Project is a whole lot of things all at once—legal tangles and art-historical squabbles, neighborhood battles and demolitions, spiritual journeys and catfights, 'art' maybe, and life, surely life, that this project forces to an intensity that, regardless of one's view, is impossible not admire. That's the conflicted route, maybe the only route, that will really get you to Heidelberg Street.”

— Jerry Herron, Wayne State University professor of English and author of AfterCulture: Detroit and The Humiliation of History (Wayne State University Press, 1993)

News and Events

Friday February 8, 2008 - Saturday May 24, 2008

The Street Sense: A 20 year retrospective of Tyree Guyton and the Heidelberg Project

The Street Sense, a 20 year retrospective of Tyree Guyton and the Heidelberg Project exhibition that is currently at Wayne State University's Elaine L. Jacob Gallery will open at the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum February 8 and run through May 24, 2008. Copies of the recently published book on the Heidelberg Project, Connecting the Dots: Tyree Guyton's Heidelberg Project, will be available for sale at the museum. Please see the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum web site for more information. More Info...

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Downloads

• Press Release
• Tyree Guyton Bio