When I asked for suggestions for Detroit
Keegan suggested I check out
the Heidelberg Project! Before we went there we tried to go to the
abandoned zoo on Belle Isle but we couldn't figure out how to get through the gate. But its ok, because the Heidelberg Project was just as cool! We were driving around looking for it and I knew we were in the right place when I spotted this place!
The project was started by the artist Tyree Guyton in the 80's. He painted and decorated abandoned houses in his neighborhood. It supposedly transformed the area from a place where people were afraid to walk through to a place that seen thousands of visitors a year. The project is now involved with bringing art to kids in schools and community projects.
Nothing says folk art like a creepy baby doll!
I really enjoyed walking around the neighborhood and seeing all the installations. After we left I found out you can schedule a tour. I wish we had!
Check out the polka dot house on the right!
The stuffed animal house was my favorite!
The toys in the broken windows were creepy.
As we left we stopped in the information center and bought some cards. The Heidelberg Project was definitely worth a stop!
AMAZING!
ReplyDeleteWow that looks freakin' awesome!
ReplyDeleteI love our country..so many awesome things to see!!! There really is something great in every town!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure I am amazed...but it is interesting.
ReplyDeleteWOW! creepy houses, would love to visit there!
ReplyDeleteSo cool! I'm so glad you were able to check it out. Folk art is the coolest. This kind of reminds me of Salvation Mountain in the Southern California desert (you might know if it from the movie Into the Wild). Maybe someday I'll make it up to Detroit to see this.
ReplyDeleteSalvation Mountain is somewhere I would LOVE to visit! If you like folk art you need to go to the museum of Appalachia! It is INCREDIBLE and there is a whole folk art building!
DeleteNeat - lots of photo opportunities there!!
ReplyDeleteI have seen pictures of this place but had no idea where it was! Unsolved mystery solved! How fun would it be to ride on a speedboat full of dirty stuffed animals!!! Sign me up!
ReplyDeleteMy great grandparents lived in that neighborhood around 1900-1930; I think one of those houses (maybe the 1st photo with the faces) was actually their house. I'll go through some of my mom's photos and see if I can find a photo. Wouldn't it be interesting to see how that neighborhood looked then vs. now?
ReplyDeletewow! i would love to see a before picture!
DeleteI talked to my mom and she said their house was actually around the corner from that first one and is torn down now. (I will still look for the 'before' photos tho.) But she told me all about the neighborhood and how there were speakeasies there. Her family owned a saloon right across the bridge from Belle Isle but they closed it during Prohibition. I remember going to Belle Isle as a kid (this was in the 80s) and riding rides there and seeing the zoo.
DeleteThat's really cool! I would love to see that, especially the homer slipper with a babies head in it.
ReplyDeleteHoly Moly! I have never seen anything like this before. The house with all the dolls stuck on it is incredible. It must have taken them so long to get them all on there.
ReplyDeletethe artist still comes by, i wonder if he adds and takes away! i'm sure the stuffed animals and stuff can't last long in their long winters!
Deletethat is really pretty cool, i like the ark
ReplyDeleteurban hounds
POLKA DOT HOUSEEEEE
ReplyDeletethis is so amazing— i'd love to visit.
You know that scene in Labrynth, when Sarah wakes up in the junkyard right outside the castle and that junk lady starts stackin her treasures on her back?..... Yeah, that scene.
ReplyDeletehaha, oh yeah i know that scene! it always makes me feel like one of those junk ladies. then i try to ignore it so I don't feel terrible about myself! HA!
DeleteOh wow!!! I'm bucket listing that!!! LOVE the record house and all of it actually! Awesome idea.
ReplyDeleteThat is frickin amazing, I want to check it out.
ReplyDeleteAdrienne
What Lola Wants
Oh man, looks like you guys had fun! Too bad about the abandoned zoo, I should have been more specific on where the hole in the fence is. haha. We haven't visited the Heidelberg Project yet, it's on our to do list for our summer visit. I just saw on Mantra's FB page that they are closing for good! Such a shame, they had the coolest mid century stuff in there!
ReplyDeleteI tried to look up where the hole might be online but couldn't figure it out! we might have looked harder if it wasn't so cold!
DeleteThat is so funny! And crazy! I love it though. That couch looks like it was once really amazing!
ReplyDelete<3
i thought so too! i would love that couch!
DeleteAn entire neighborhood of freakiness? This is so awesome.......I like the stuffed animal house the best
ReplyDeleteThat is just my kind of project, I LOVE folk art. Been enjoying the photos from your kitschy travels :)
ReplyDeletei love it too!
DeleteThis is so cool!! And this is yet again another reason I need to move to the US. There's nothing this awesome in the UK
ReplyDeleteGah! SO bummed I missed out on the record house!!!
ReplyDelete