Richmond will become an outdoor gallery of great art this May, when the Detroit Institute of Art’s Inside/Out program comes to the city.
City Manager Jon Moore said this year marks the first that Richmond has hosted the program. The Richmond City Council approved its participation in the 2024 DIA Inside/Out program on Dec. 18, 2023.
“We are really looking forward to it May through October — that coupled with our new social district also. It will bring some art to the community’s downtown area,” Mayor Tim Rix said.
Council briefs from the Dec. 18, 2023, meeting indicate that Macomb County Board of Commissioners Chairman Don Brown had the DIA reach out to Moore and Rix regarding the program. Moore said the process to participate in the Inside/Out program began last fall.
The DIA’s Inside/Out program delivers and installs reproductions from the DIA’s collection to outdoor venues throughout metro Detroit. From May through October, residents of Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties can view the reproduction art in their own communities. The DIA created the Inside/Out program after the regional millage was passed. The program’s goal is to connect with residents and create art experiences beyond the museum’s walls, increasing engagement between the museum and its audience.
The DIA determines how many pieces of reproduction art each participating community will receive, based on available locations in the community. Once a community participates in the Inside/Out program, the DIA waits a few years before hosting art in that community again.
Moore and Recreation Director Margo VanHove met with DIA Community Engagement Manager Emily Weiss to tour the city in November 2023, seeking potential sites for reproduction artwork. The art can be mounted on buildings for display, or freestanding displays with posts and frames can be used. The DIA takes into consideration input from the community as well as the type of location for the art when choosing which reproduction art pieces to install.
Moore said the city received notification that the program application he and VanHove completed had been approved in early February. He also said he and VanHove recently attended an orientation meeting for the 2024 Inside/Out program.
The DIA is scheduled to have the art installed by Memorial Day weekend in May.
“I think they did a nice job of selecting art for our community. They select it based it on their site visit,” Moore said.
The city of Richmond will receive the following art reproductions:
• “Chevy” by Edwin Henry Landseer: At Macomb Orchard Trail
• “Indian Summer” by Jasper Francis Cropsey: At Beebe Street Park’s Community Center
• “Bank of the Oise at Auvers” by Vincent van Gogh: At Lois Wagner Memorial Library
• “The Fisherman’s Wedding Party” by Thomas Moran: Desert Storm Memorial
• “A Day in June” by George Wesley Bellows: Downtown
• “Poultry Yard” by Melchior de Hondecoeter: Downtown
• “Girl and Laurel” by Winslow Homer: At Gierk Park
• “Still Life: A Letter Rack” by Edwart Collyer: At city hall
• “Rounded Flower Bed” by Claude Monet: At Bailey Park/Historic Village
• “Fourteenth Street at Sixth Avenue” by John Sloan: Roosevelt Civic Auditorium (AUD)
• “Mother and Child” by Solomon Irein Wangboje: Veterans Park
“There will be art through the community. We are hoping that our own people will enjoy a taste of the DIA if they have not been there before, and we are hoping it does bring people into our community. Other communities have had it in the past and enjoyed having it in their community, we are looking forward to it here also,” Rix said.
Nicole Tuttle is a freelance reporter for The Voice.
