story and photos by Jamie Rector
Detroit isn’t known as an arts Mecca, but it has plenty of art around to appreciate, from the classics to the avant-garde. From the centuries of fine art on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts to the diversity of vendors at the Artist Market – established in 1932 and still going strong – to newer clusters of galleries springing up in nearby Wyandotte, Detroit has a long history of art appreciation and production.
One form of artistic expression truly unique to Detroit is The Heidelberg Project. This 20-year-old controversial art collection is an outdoor gallery that 
covers one block in a low-income residential neighborhood. Some people love it and some hate it, but either way, it’s worth a look to see what everyone is talking about. The controversy has contributed to making it the third most visited site in Detroit.
On a rainy day, it can be seen from your car, but if the rain lets up it’s best to walk through the neighborhood. Wild exhibits are splashed in an array of vibrant colors across the houses, lawns and pavement of Heidelberg Street. Discarded items, found by artistTyree Guyton, his late grandfather and former wife Karen Smith have been reborn as part of their imaginative creations.
Polka Dots are splashed all over the run down neighborhood. The dots symbolize the various races of the world coming together. Houses are decorated in themes. The various exhibits represent the human condition with seemingly random pieces of junk; Stuffed animals, furniture, shoes, vacuum cleaners
you name it, it’s in there somewhere. If it’s not there, I’m sure it could easily be incorporated. Make sure you look for the series of faces around the neighborhood representing the diversity of the faces of God. The faces are painted on car hoods and have been exhibited in other locations as The Painted Hoods of Tyree Guyton.
The Heidelberg Project provides after-school art education to neighborhood children and has driven most of the illegal activity out of the neighborhood by making it impossible for them to do business under the scrutiny of hundreds of visitors a day. The City has demolished several of Guyton’s creations over the years, which was easy for them to do since the houses were abandoned and derelict City-owned properties before Guyton started working on them. Simultaneously, City art institutions and the international arts community have bestowed upon Guyton a variety of prestigious arts awards and the artist has appeared on Good Morning America and Oprah to talk about the project.
The Heidelberg Project is still surrounded by abandoned and overgrown properties owned by the City of Detroit, but the non-profit Heidelberg Project is working to reclaim the neighborhood one house at a time.
Heidelberg Project
3680 Heidelberg St
Detroit, MI 48207
313-537-8037
www.heidelberg.org
Your first stop should be the Ford Education Center. For an extra charge, you can try out the Wild Adventure Simulator, a virtual reality ride offering movement and sound to create an adventure for your senses. There are a variety of different animated simulations that alternate, so depending on when you visit, you may find yourself saving dinosaurs from extinction, searching for life on the bottom of the ocean or seeing the world through the eyes of birds, bees, tigers and other creatures.
The award-winning Amphibiville is populated with hundreds of amphibians like frogs and salamanders, some living on two acres of outdoor wetlands, and others in recreated environments inside the National Amphibian Conservation Center. The intricately constructed exhibits in the Center are inhabited by creatures from around the world. Some of the indoor habitats are created with glass walls to the outside so you can see what’s going on in the outdoor habitat, even if you’re staying inside out of the rain. Even if it’s not raining outside, it might be raining in the Immersion Gallery where you can walk through a recreated environment that may be experiencing rain or fog.
The Wildlife Interpretive Gallery is housed in the zoo’s oldest building which is 10,000 square feet of interactive displays, wildlife theatre, video and multi-media to draw in visitors for a fun way to learn about the animals and nature. There is also an exhibit hall within that offers rotating exhibits.
The Butterfly Garden offers first hand experience with a wide range of beautiful butterflies from Costa Rica and El Salvador. The Holden Reptile Museum houses the zoo’s reptile collection. The Penguinarium also offers a covered climate-controlled display of a variety of breeds of the ice bound birds.
The Atrium Le 1000 was not on my list of potential rainy day activities when I set out for Montreal. I didn’t see it listed in any of the guidebooks or webs sites I used for my research. But once in Montreal, it was the one spot everyone mentioned when I talked about fun things to do on a rainy day, so I had to check it out for myself. There are plenty of ice skating rinks in this city where kids learn to skate almost as soon as they learn to walk, but only one in a downtown office block.
This year-round ice rink is located in Le 1000, a 51 story office building at 1000 de La Gauchetiére Street West, the tallest structure in Montreal. Le 1000 has garnered awards for being environmentally responsible and for the design of the food court surrounding the Atrium Le 1000 skating rink. Of the ring of restaurants, only the Subway sandwich shop was open on a Sunday afternoon, but there was a steady flow of people coming and going on the ice.
There are several things about the Atrium Le 1000 that make it a great place for children and beginners to take to the ice. According to staff, the ice itself is softer than at most skating rinks. Since the air isn’t any colder than cool air conditioning, that’s easy to believe. They also provide the Easy Skater, a frame like a walker that you can hold onto while your feet learn how to control the blades. This is such a brilliant idea. For klutzes like me, the idea of skating is intimidating because I’ve seen how easy your feet can slip out from under you if you don’t know what you’re doing. Having a sturdy frame to support you as you cross the ice for the first time is a confidence builder. Easy Skaters come in child and adult sizes.
The diversity of the crowd was refreshing, from families with children of all ages to well-seasoned seniors. There were regulars and first-timers, off-season hockey players keeping blade muscles in shape and a bus driver in uniform gliding through his lunch hour for a bit of exercise. A couple young girls were getting some impromptu lessons from a senior coach who was there for an afternoon spin around the ice.