The Concert of Colors is perhaps the greatest artistic event of the year in Detroit. It’s an amazingly refreshing summer highlight! The Detroit Institute of Arts is at the epicenter, transforming our grounds and building into “the town square of our community, a gathering place for everyone,” per the DIA’s vision. The institution becomes a platform that unites metro Detroit’s diverse communities, through music and dance from around the world, creating a dialogue where participants embrace freedom of expression.

The National Endowment of the Arts’ Chair Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson joined us this year at the opening event in the DIA’s Kresge Court on July 20. Her remarks to the crowd emphasized the importance of living “artful lives.” That idea encompasses not just the creative work of art professionals, but all of us who want to express ourselves creatively—through making, doing, teaching, and learning. Furthermore, as Chair Jackson shared, it is paramount we tell our stories on our own terms, and that we do it not only in museums, concert halls, and theaters, but in our homes, community spaces, and any other place where ordinary life unfolds.

From a personal perspective, this notion of the creative process being a universal endeavor in everyday’ s life is a crucial part of our educational activities and personal growth. “Making” is as important, or even more important, than the final product. When we engage in art making, we are problem-solving, figuring things out, finding solutions. Those are very valuable tools as we develop our abilities to be better prepared in the world, and bring value to our society.

During the Concert of Colors weekend, the crowd took over the DIA building and grounds. Bands played in the DIA’s auditorium and on two temporary stages on the Woodward side of the museum. Visitors could discover parallels and thought-provoking connections between the DIA’s extraordinary art collection and the concert's amazing musical offerings. They could enjoy themselves with the films, art-making in the DIA studio, and art conversations that were happening as part of this multi-day event taking place in our cultural district, our town square.

My wife Alex and I enjoyed the music of both Infinite River, featuring Ethan Daniel Davidson and Don Was, as well as ECNO: El Conjunto Nueva Ola (Mexican Rock). We visited the art studio and connected with families making art with the DIA’s talented team of instructors. It was a weekend for an artful life, a life full of artistic Detroit traditions, rich with performances from Native American, Cambodian, Guinean, and Caribbean communities, to name just a few. We are grateful to all of them for inspiring us and enriching our lives with creativity. I am also very grateful to Ismael Ahmed, the founder of Concert of Colors, for partnering with the DIA on this extraordinary event and working so closely with Anthony Smith, DIA’s Vice President of Learning and Audience Engagement, Larry Baranski, DIA’s Director of Public Programs, and the entire DIA team, who make the museum’s visitor experience so extraordinary.

It is well known that one of the most amazing parts of the Detroit Institute of Arts is its European painting collection. What’s less well known is that the frames of those paintings are extraordinary in themselves; handcrafted objects, sometimes hundreds of years old, and the DIA has one of the finest frame collections in the world.

Why is that important? I must admit, when I started to work in the museum 15 years ago, I did not pay much attention to frames. I sort of thought that frames are just frames, there to enclose the artwork. I was wrong, and a personal experience here at the DIA changed my mind.

The DIA is fortunate to have a masterpiece by Italian Renaissance painter Giovanni Bellini in our collection; a Madonna and Child, painted in 1509. This particular Bellini is important for several reasons. It was commissioned by the Mocenigo—a powerful Venetian family who were passionate supporters of the arts and artists, and who amassed one of the most refined art collections of that time. Bellini, then at the height of his career, took a familiar subject and created a very innovative composition, with the drapery across the middle ground in a landscape setting, putting emphasis on the figures in the foreground. The serenity of the figures and the subtle light and warm colors make this work a mesmerizing achievement in Bellini’s career.

In 2008, we loaned this masterpiece to the Italian government for a monumental exhibition dedicated to Bellini in the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome. As is typical in preparing an artwork for travel, we took the painting out of its frame for inspection. The painting was in good shape; the frame was another story. There was extensive insect damage from long before the work arrived at the DIA and the interior looked like Swiss cheese; full of holes and on the verge of collapse. Our excellent conservation team made a short-term and a long-term decision: first, fabricate a simple, stable wooden frame so the painting could be shipped, and second, develop a restoration plan to save the magnificent original.

While the Bellini travelled to Rome, I sat in the conservation department looking at the damaged frame, probably made in the 16th century, admiring the ornate carving and overall beauty. When we realized the cost of restoration though, I was overwhelmed. We just could not afford it. Those were difficult times for the DIA, and the museum had other priorities. After our Bellini came back, we re-installed it using the new travel frame. In the years since, as I walked through the galleries, I would silently ask our Bellini for forgiveness that we could not restore its magnificent frame. But this experience had an unexpected and welcome outcome; it encouraged me to pay attention to many other frames in the DIA’s collection and understand the unique quality, depth, and breadth of our European frame collection.

Recently and with the support of generous donors John Peters and Christine Consales, the museum was able to review, then act on, the Bellini frame restoration plan! Over the past nine months, our conservators have worked diligently to stabilize the interior and clean, retouch, and regild its surface. James Storm, the DIA’s Mount Designer/ Fabricator and Frame Specialist, with the help of the DIA’s former frame conservator Tom Dickinson, and Ellen Hanspach-Bernal, DIA’s Paintings Conservator, dedicated many hours of expert and thoughtful work to bring the frame back to life. What a phenomenal effort! I am very grateful to all of them, as well as the many other individuals in the conservation department who helped make this project a success.

It is impressive to see our Bellini Madonna and Child back in the galleries, glowing in its original frame. When I stood in front of the artwork in early June, the last 15 years of DIA history went through my mind. It has been a time like no other for the museum. Whatever the vicissitudes of life are, our amazing teams continue to create experiences that help each visitor find personal meaning in art and with each other. Next time you are at the DIA, please take a look at the Bellini frame. It is simply an uplifting experience. A profound thank you to the DIA team for loving the collection, and serving our visitors at the highest level.

GIF courtesy of Aaron Steele, Imaging Specialist, DIA Conservation Dept.

At our May Board meeting, Gene Gargaro, DIA Board Chair, announced he was stepping down from his post. He did it in the Smith Crystal Gallery in front of a crowded room and with his wife Mary Anne in attendance. In his typical style, he cracked a couple of jokes, shared to-the-point remarks, and thanked everyone for their support. The moment he was done, everyone in the room stood up and applauded.

There are few cases in life where saying “thank you” seems not enough. This is clearly one of those. After his 20 years of extraordinarily devoted service to the institution, it feels as if words will not do justice at describing the profound sense of gratitude we have for Gene. Over the last few weeks, I have heard many say they got involved with the DIA because of Gene. These statements were always emotional, and I second that emotion. My relationship with Gene and Mary Anne is one of the main reasons my wife, Alex, and I have stayed in Detroit all these years. It is not easy to find great leaders, but when you do, you follow them.

Email inboxes are a sort of archive of our times. I did a search for Gene’s address and found emails from him dating back to my early years at the DIA. Those first notes were about engaging people, raising awareness of our great museum and, of course, fundraising. It is amazing to see that he has kept his focus for so long and continued to do it in the kindest of ways. I believe many will agree with me when I say that Gene is one of the nicest people we know. He is a living example of the value of humility and hard work. From time to time over the past 15 years, we would meet for breakfast at one of the Pancake Houses in metro Detroit. At one of these breakfasts, where we never actually ate pancakes, I was whining about something and feeling low. He listened to me patiently, and instead of just cheering me up, he gracefully showed me that it is better to feel upbeat and positive, and of course, show leadership in times of difficulty. This is something I will dearly remember. He has been the best boss I could have wished for and a generous mentor.  

The search for our next Board Chair is being led by Bonnie Larson, our Chair of Governance and Nominating committee. Following the museum bylaws, we have an equitable and inclusive process in place, designed to identify a candidate whose skill set will align with the DIA’s needs and who will help us define our future. We are at a remarkable point in the DIA’s history: the museum has expanded, we are fiscally strong, our collection is secured forever thanks to skillful navigation during the city’s bankruptcy, and the two regional millages have transformed us financially and as a community-engaged organization. I thank Gene for these and other amazing successes.

Whoever becomes the next DIA Board Chair has a phenomenal foundation on which to build and a passionate staff with which to work. The DIA team looks forward to the opportunity to bringing the museum to the next level of accomplishment so we can continue to serve our communities locally, nationally, and internationally. In the meantime, hats off to Gene!

Last Sunday our Latino communities in Detroit celebrated El Día del Niño, or Children’s Day. The idea to commemorate this day has its origins in Mexico, where it became an official national holiday on April 30, 1924. In 1959, the United Nations followed the spirit of that day and established November 20 as Universal Children’s Day, which is meant to promote togetherness, to increase awareness of the problems that children face around the globe, and to improve the welfare of all children.

For the past few years, Elías Gutiérrez, a community leader and friend of the DIA, has organized a school visit to the museum in partnership with Comerica Bank to celebrate El Día del Niño in April. I find it so touching that Elías thinks about our museum as the right place for a special trip for children. Last week we hosted many students from Harms Elementary School and Hope Academy from Southwest Detroit who joined other students (almost 1,000) from tri-county schools. The museum was bustling, and one could feel the energy of the school groups as they toured the galleries and made personal connections with our collections.

I joined Elías, Comerica president Steve Davis, and his team led by Yolanda Serra, in Rivera Court where we gathered with the students from Harms Elementary School and Hope Academy. After taking photos in front of the Diego Rivera murals, some of the children very politely approached me. A young girl asked in Spanish: “¿puedo hacerte una pregunta? (May I ask you a question?)”. And from there we talked about the art they make in school, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, what part of Mexico the students’ families come from, and their favorite foods (which happened to be tamales for almost all of them)! It was a very special moment for me. Speaking my native language with these students brought me back to my childhood, and my memories of visiting museums with my parents in Spain. It was a wonderful moment of togetherness and positive energy and made me think about the museum’s role in education, and the importance of paying careful attention to children’s wellbeing.

We are very grateful to Elías, who has worked with the DIA team over the years to connect the museum with the Spanish-speaking schools in southwest Detroit. He knows we care deeply about these communities and have many programs to serve them throughout the year. This month we are celebrating the remarkable creativity of our tri-county students with the Annual Detroit Public Schools Community District Student Exhibition. I am so delighted to say that we have been doing this show for 86 years, and it never fails to be an inspirational moment for each of us at the DIA. Please come experience the power of their art, which covers so many subjects and so many different kinds of media—painting, drawing, film, photography and so much more. These children are our future, and it is important to pay attention to them. In the years to come we will be placing everything from our amazing art collection, all the way to the future of our planet, in their hands.

At the beginning of March, my wife Alex and I attended the 2023 inaugural CCS Woodward Lecture Series featuring Detroit artist Mario Moore. It was a wonderful gathering of Detroiters, where Mario shared some aspects of his artistic practice, his current projects, and his life. Some DIA team members were in the audience as well, and we loved hearing Mario’s insights about his painting The Council, which was purchased by the DIA in 2022 and is now on view in the galleries.

The day after the lecture, I did my weekly museum walk-through with my colleague Carla Tinsley-Smith, the DIA’s Director of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA). During these walks, we connect with DIA teams in different areas of the organization, especially with the frontline staff. As we entered the gallery where The Council is installed, Carla and I saw a group of staffers engaging with the work, talking about it, and enjoying it in a way that lifted our hearts. We were welcomed by the group and continued talking about the painting and how great it looks in its new space. It was inspiring, and Carla and I discussed the possibility of expanding that moment into a museum-wide engagement experience. Could we invite Mario to talk to the staff about The Council in the gallery? After some text messages and emails, he generously agreed to come in. Carla framed this visit within the Talent and Culture Department’s IDEA in focus: Art Talks, a program designed to increase team members’ knowledge of the DIA’s collection, enhance connections across the organization, and build a sense of belonging.

On March 29, after public hours, more than 60 staff met with Mario in front of The Council for an intimate and informative discussion. We heard about the technical and mindful choices he made, offering insight into the power dynamics and messages the work presents. Mario revealed the identities of the figures in the composition, the fascinating iconographical meaning of some of the elements, and how the work connected with the museum’s history and the reality we live in today. It was an energizing hour that helped us engage more personally with the artist and each other. I know Mario enjoyed it as well.

On April 22, we will be opening our 86th annual Detroit Public School Community District (DPSCD) Student Exhibition. As it happens, Mario is a former DPSCD student, and showed his art in this same show for the first time in 2002. Now he is a nationally and internationally recognized artist, and we are proud to say that two of his paintings are in our permanent collection.

These important interactions—from staff to visitors, from artists to students—are daily examples of the DIA’s strong connection to our home city, and are part of why the DIA was named the best museum in the US in 2023. We look forward to celebrating the opening of the DPSCD exhibition at the end of this month, and to continuing to help these young artists make history.
 

Last Saturday, we celebrated the annual Alain Locke Awards. In the time that I’ve been living in Detroit, I’ve learned so much about Locke—the educator, writer, and philosopher, who is perhaps best known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. For the past three decades, the DIA Friends of African and African American Art (FAAAA) has presented an award named for him. This year, the Locke awards went to two important artists: Detroit-born photographer Ming Smith, and Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club artist Henry T. Heading.

Smith’s solo exhibition, Projects: Ming Smith, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York has been receiving tremendous critical acclaim; many of the articles point out that she is the first Black woman photographer to have her work acquired by MoMA. The DIA is fortunate to have Smith’s James Baldwin in setting sun over Harlem in our collection. The work conveys her unique poetic style and experimental approach to photography. In her conversation with DIA curator Valerie Mercer, Smith spoke about the creative relationship between jazz and photography. In jazz, the musicians begin with a score, then move into improvisation, allowing everyone’s imagination to fly. In photography, the artist departs from a composition and moves into an exploration of light, for example, shaping forms with different degrees of sharpness and creating an image that stimulates the viewer’s imagination.

Henry T. Heading is a longtime member of the Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club, and I have witnessed how his prestige has spread throughout our local artistic community. At the awards presentation, FAAAA board member Jerome Watson led a lively conversation with Heading, who revealed many aspects of his varied technique, some of the high points of his career, and his early collaborations with celebrated Detroit muralist and DIA Board member Hubert Massey. The packed room listened devotedly to Heading, whose ambition is to continue making his art from the heart.

At the reception afterward, I drew great joy from all the warmth, happiness, and cheer I saw around the room. It is deeply rewarding to see the success of the DIA team’s hard work and its positive impact on our community. I am not the only one who sees our museum’s success and impact; the DIA has been named the country’s best museum in USA Today's 2023 10Best Reader's Choice Award for Best Art Museum. We are so grateful for your support and vote of confidence. I am especially thankful to FAAAA for its continued pursuit of excellence in creating programs that address the needs and interests of our communities and reflect their diverse backgrounds, making the DIA the best museum it can be.

At the start of the new year, I had the privilege of moderating the first Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club (DFABC) meeting of 2023. The gathering doesn’t take place at the historic Noni’s diner anymore, but in one of the magnificent buildings of Marygrove College —Detroit’s architecture and history keeps me learning! The room was packed with Detroit artists, collectors, and art lovers. My wife, Alex, and my daughter, Piper, helped me emcee the event, which included presentations by more than 80 artists from our community. In the audience and among other Detroit top figures, we were honored with the presence of Judy Bowman, a DFABC artist, who is now showing in galleries around the country and has attracted national and international attention for her work.

It was fun to spend time with Henry Harper and Harold Braggs, the leading forces behind the DFABC, and to be back with a group that exudes such positive energy. Joining me were members of the DIA team — Tony Smith, Sharon Harrell, and William Flagg — as well as DIA Board Member Marsha Philpot, aka Marsha Music. It was a heartfelt experience that lasted for more than three hours, and everyone stayed engaged and supportive. We raffled several DIA books including the Van Gogh in America exhibition catalogue, as well as many VIP passes to the show. Later that week, while I was helping the DIA Visitor Experience team on the museum floor, I ran into several DFABC VIP pass winners. We took some fun selfies and talked about the exhibition. In fact, Marsha Philpot let me know recently that some DFABC artists were very inspired by Van Gogh paintings and drawings on view.

Inspiring our visitors is an important outcome of the work the DIA team does. February kicked off Black History Month and our Detroit Film Theater screened the moving and inspiring documentary, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks. The sold-out program was executed to perfection, and deeply engaged the more than 800 participants. Few places in the world can celebrate global icons like Rosa Parks and Vincent van Gogh the way the DIA does. I am grateful to the DIA staff for their passion and excellence in everything they do. I am, therefore, not surprised that our museum has been nominated for “Best Art Museum” in the 2023 USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice travel awards, and we need your help to bring it home. Please show your support by clicking the link here and casting your vote! I know our friends from the DFABC will lend a helping hand, they always do.

As we begin a new year, I can't help but reflect on the last one. In 2022, we were able to start moving back towards pre-pandemic operations. On behalf of the DIA team, I want to express our sincere gratitude for your support and engagement as we made this transition. We are so grateful to have such a dedicated and passionate community of visitors and are constantly inspired by your enthusiasm for the arts.

The visitors are an integral part of what makes the DIA a thriving and vibrant institution, and we look forward to continuing to engage with them in the coming year. We've put together a short video highlighting some of the highlights of 2022, which you can watch below.

As we look ahead to 2023, we are excited to bring new exhibitions, events, and programs to the museum. We can't wait to see what the coming year brings.

Until then, we hope that you have a happy and healthy 2023.

Best wishes,

Salvador Salort-Pons

Every year, the DIA’s busiest day falls on the Friday following Thanksgiving, and 2022 was no exception! In fact, the museum welcomed almost 6,000 visitors on November 25. Most of our guests came to see our Van Gogh exhibition – Van Gogh in America. Over the course of the last few months, this fabulous show has attracted visitors from across the globe – from every single state in the United States to Tasmania. My parents even made a special trip from Spain to experience Van Gogh. Walking through the galleries over the weekend, I was excited to hear so many languages, meet so many new people, and feel the museum buzz with excitement. While it was very busy, the museum felt particularly welcoming, and I am very grateful to all the team members who worked during the Thanksgiving holiday. They did an outstanding job making everyone comfortable and informed with a friendly touch. It was simply excellent teamwork. Thank you!

One of the Van Gogh in America show takeaways is the fact that the DIA was the first civic museum in the US to acquire a painting by Van Gogh in 1922.Thanks to the expertise of our curatorial team, we continue to do strong art collecting and two amazing exhibitions currently at the DIA illustrate it at the highest level: Conscious Response, Photographers showing the way we see; and Printmaking in the Twenty First Century. Drawn from our collection and carefully organized by DIA curators Nancy Barr and Clare Rogan, respectively, these exhibitions are outstanding examples of a critical eye for art quality and a keen understanding of relevant artwork to our audiences.

In the museum you can both look at and create art. Over the weekends the DIA team offers art making programs in the studio (drop-in workshops) and in the galleries (drawing in the galleries). These are fun and accessible art making experiences for all ages (and all materials are provided), and our studio team often partners with a guest artist. I recently stopped by to see our program in collaboration with artist Katie Bramlage, who helped and inspired our visitors to create mini totems. In her words, “totems are a call to slow down and to give thanks to your ‘cave’ – your shelter from the ‘storm’”. The program was so popular that Alex Gilford, Studio Manager, Zak Freiling, Studio Coordinator, Toni Miller, Studio Assistant, all on duty during that weekend mentioned to me that guests were, at times, waiting in line outside the Studio.

As we head into the new year, I’d like to thank the DIA team for their amazing work and especially the Studio team and the artists who collaborate with them for providing uplifting opportunities to slow down and work creatively with our hands. Slowing down and working with my hands are two things I am adding to the top of my 2023 to-do list. I hope you will too.