Use felt, ribbon, and a tongue depressor to turn a butterfly, snake, spider, fish, or a creature of your imagination into a whimsical marionette.

Celebrate the DIA donation of the Sidney R. Knafel Collection of French Faience with special guest Camille LePrince, expert and dealer specializing in French and Italian ceramics. This public lecture is open to all DIA members and museum visitors.

This lecture is hosted by the Visiting Committee of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Auxiliary group.

The DIA Teen Arts Council invites teens ages 13–19 for an opportunity to unleash their artistic talents by crafting landscape pictures using vibrant oil pastels. Teens will experiment with innovative techniques and gain fresh perspectives on the art of the landscape.

In addition to hands-on artmaking, attendees will have the unique chance to explore landscape art within the museum's inspiring collection. Expect a night of fun, exploration, and discovery (and snacks)! 
 

For the last decade, Tres Souls—Rocio Mendoza, Roberto Carlos, and Jesus Martinez—have serenaded Los Angeles audiences with their interpretation of bolero, a musical genre that draws from the 1940s “golden era” of Mexican cinema as well as popular recordings from the 1950s and 1960s.

Each member of the trio is an accomplished musician, and each inherited the knowledge and importance of Mexican heritage music through their family and the generations before them.

In their own way, Tres Souls are following in the footsteps of other “Trio Romanticos," such as Eydie Gorme Y Los Panchos, Los Tres Reyes and Los Tres Ases, while interspersing musical influences that can be heard throughout the Los Angeles diaspora.
 

Join us for a public lecture and book signing with Los Angeles–based artist Awol Erizku. Born in Gondar, Ethiopia, in 1988, Erizku attended Cooper Union before receiving his MFA from Yale. He developed a multi-disciplinary practice encompassing photography, sculpture, painting, installation, film, and sound.

Referring to and reimagining African and Black American cultures from Nefertiti to hip-hop vernacular, Erizku rejects Eurocentric notions of art and beauty in favor of building his singular Afrocentric aesthetic, something he refers to as “Afro-esotericism.”

Following the lecture, Erizku will sign copies of his most recent publication Awol Erizku: Mystic Parallax, the first comprehensive monograph of his career to date.

This program is sponsored by Lisa Applebaum and the Friends of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs auxiliary group.

nathan trice / RITUALS: dance, theater, music company presents its Recognizing Women Project.  A monthly first Friday community workshop series that invites the Detroit community to join a creative process that uses storytelling, dance, theater & music to illustrate the wisdom, power and passion of the women that have touched our lives.

Friday, December 1, 6-8 p.m.
Friday, January 5, 6-8 p.m.

Who can participate? 

Daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, great-grandmothers, great-grandfathers… anyone who knows a woman is invited to participate.

How to participate? 

Share your stories & perspectives during our monthly workshops.

Want to be a part of our culminating March 22, 2024 performances? 

Join the monthly workshops and rehearsals.

Nathan Trice is a native Detroiter, Veteran, Artistic Director, Anti-Racist organizer and Inter-Faith practitioner.

Learn more about Nathan Trice here

Space is limited and registration is required.

Create a pencil drawing to take home while taking a closer look at the collection. No experience is necessary. All supplies provided. For ages 6 and up (children ages 12 and younger should be accompanied by an adult). 

Cézanne's Other: Hortense Fiquet Cézanne, as Painted by Her Husband, Paul

Speaker: Susan Sidlauskas, Distinguished Professor of the History and Theory of Modern Art at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 
 
Paul Cézanne painted more portraits of his wife, Hortense, than any other sitter—the Detroit Institute of Arts boasts one in its collection. But these paintings have not often received attention. Compared to the sensual appeal and beauty of his apples in his still lifes and his landscapes, the portraits were viewed as “unattractive” or “uninteresting.”

Cézanne produced most of the paintings of Hortense during his period of greatest experimentation, allowing us to track the ways in which he remade the modern portrait. Indeed, this lecture will demonstrate audience that Hortense was Cézanne’s most significant “other.” 

This event is part of the DIA's Bonnie Ann Larson Modern European Artists Series.

Just in time for the holidays: Wonderspark Puppets’ Chicken Soup, Chicken Soup explores the sometimes-tricky situation when two families, and two traditions, come together.

Based on the beloved PJ Library book by Pamela Mayer, Wonderspark’s expressive and energetic hand puppets tell the story of two grandmothers, one Jewish and one Chinese, who come up with elaborate ways to convince their granddaughter Sophie that their cultural heritage (their chicken soup) is the best. But Sophie has some convincing of her own planned... (40 min.)  

Designed for young children from ages 4–8, but fun for all!

Presented with live ASL interpretation.

Odu Afrobeat Orchestra, led by saxophonist Baba BG, is comprised of Detroit’s best world music artists who deliver nothing short of a spiritual experience with every performance.

Odu is one of 256 divinatory principals In Yoruba spirituality associated with a traditional ancient verse; the term “Afrobeat” refers to the rhythms pioneered by late Nigerian superstar Fela Kuti, who used them as a means of expressing political and social messages through his music.