The steel beams were set this week… inside from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, and outside in the ground to support the front expansion. Much of the plumbing that will be under the floor is also now in place.
A lot of the work that is wrapping up now will be work that is not visible later and sets the stage for the more noticeable to work to begin. :)
DC2StandingRock is a collective of DC-based artists and organizers traveling across the country to the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.
Along the way they are stopping in five cities to create #WaterIsLife public art installations in solidarity with and to raise awareness of the struggles there. Today they were here in Detroit and spent time with neighbors at The Alley Project.
Before, during, and afters from the mural installation at 1540 Elsmere.
Artists shared their time and talents with neighbors as they brought the walls back to life on the corner of Falcon and Elsmere at TAP.
Friends and neighbors gathered at TAP for cleaning and a mural installation at 1540 Elsmere on an unseasonably warm Fall day
The building was formerly a neighborhood party store that closed several years ago. We recently found out the building was scheduled to be demolished. Neighbors and youth have told us repeatedly during design processes that they would like more things in the community to walk to, less empty spaces and lots, and more activity.
Together we are working to clean and activate the site with the hopes that another business can move into the space in the near future. Reanimating the corner will give us more reasons to share time and space with each other. Fingers crossed!
The brick work has begun. It’s subtle but as they move down the building you can see the painted brick give way to restored masonry reminiscent of the building’s original look.
Check it out in person if you’re passing through. It is temporarily visible as the repairs are being made before the building’s facade work gets underway.
In the Spring a large-scale public art piece will be installed, wrapping the building with a high-quality, brightly colored mural. It is being developed by local artists to complement the building’s design and wrought ironwork designed and installed by southwest Detroit’s own Diseños.
Chuck, the general contractor, told us before he started he likes to keep a clean and safe work site.
Inside and out they have kept up as shown here… going the extra mile with little things like painting the temporary facade and using the cinder blocks from the building to block off the work area.
Separately, its interesting to see the blocks like mixed up puzzle pieces of the artwork that was on the building. A couple neighbors have asked about the blocks today and will be able to come and get whatever is left over when the project is complete. :)
Trenches have been dug in the front to set the steel in 48″ of concrete to support the expansion on the front (Avis) side of the building. They will be filled soon.
As the cinderblocks come off the front of the building they reveal more of the building’s original look. The front had a diagonal entrance at the corner and probably had a decorative wood frame with windows surrounding it.
As the rest of the blocks are removed they will be used to block off the work area in the front. Eventually some of the materials that are removed (cinderblocks, bricks, etc) will be used in other parts of the building as needed.
Inside trenches have been dug for new plumbing and electrical work to service the new layout. Trenches will be dug outside in a couple days for the foundation for the front expansion and patio. Stay tuned for more updates!!
Fall’s weather and pace always gives us ways to naturally connect with each other after busy summers. Some of the #PeopleAndPlaces of TAP we’ve had some time with this past week.
These are some of the working/creative spaces on The Alley Project and the people that animate them. Young Nation staff/board, Stitching Up Detroit-ers, artists, mentors, and youth plan and create weekly on TAP all year long thanks to a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces… some activated within the past 12 months!
The original openings on the building are being revealed during the deconstruction/preparation process. In some ways its starting to become easier to picture what the building may have been set up like in the 20′s when it was originally built. This will become more obvious in the coming weeks when more bricks and blocks are removed to prepare for construction!
“Young Nation will engage Southwest Detroit youth, adults, and business owners to lead the transformation of a vacant structure and lot into active sites of cultural and community development. A participatory design and development process will expand The Alley Project at the key neighborhood intersection of Avis and Elsmere.” -Young Nation’s ArtPlace America Grant Request (2015)
This week work on the building became visible from the outside! In 12-14 weeks we’ll be sitting inside looking through pics of when it looked like this and talking about what we all did together to create a new space.
Construction (or at least deconstruction) began recently on our plaza project that we have been planning together for the past couple years!! The project includes the building at 8869 Avis and the lot across the street (9101 Avis) and will transform the corner into a plaza that will host performances, youth and community activities, gatherings, and more.
The building construction will take place first and then development and construction of the lot will follow soon after. The inside of the building is being prepared now for all the work that will happen between now and January, when the building is planned to open.
(Click on the tags below to see other photos from the process and see how the space is progressing… already it looks different than when we were planning together.)
Young Nation hosted the 18th annual Blessing of the Lowriders this year on The Alley Project at Grace In Action. Together with founder Victor Villalobos, GoodTimes and Uso Car Clubs’ Detroit chapters, Motor City Rockerz’ Who Got Da Props, Cumbia Poder, and Stitching Up Detroit this year’s event was a memorable mash of Southwest Detroit culture and tradition.
Pastor John offered a blessing and Victor laid out the history of the Blessing of the Lowriders for event attendees.
After the ceremony Young Nation announced that HEETT 16 (Hip Hop Elements Exposed Throughout Time)–including a new large scale community mural commemorating hip hop culture and a street festival–will commence this year on The Alley Project after the original HEETT wall from 2000 at Ste Anne and Vernor was buffed last year.
TAP artist and mentor Freddy Diaz works on signage for Torres Auto Repair, a local business, on Mullane near The Alley Project.
Freddy (@swfreddy) has been building clientele and a portfolio of work installing murals for businesses across Metro Detroit.
Grace In Action’s Open Mic Night regulars rehearsed and performed on their home court at The Alley Project tonight for a full house sharing live music, poetry, song, and dance.
Tonight’s homecoming festivities come just two weeks after the closing of Cafe con Leche’s beloved southwest Detroit location. Open Mic nights were regularly scheduled at the coffee shop which was on Vernor at Scotten.
The larger venue made room for tonight’s lineup to include some surprise action by a live mariachi band, Reyes, and two members of southwest Detroit’s own Awkward Theory. Grace In Action was happy to share space when the mariachi’s originally scheduled practice location was unavailable at the last minute. It all fit in beautifully with the scheduled Open Mic activities.
The Motor City Rockerz’ Autorockz came with two rounds of top rock, power moves, and footwork for all the guests to enjoy! All of the performances contributed to an evening to remember.
A warm March allowed neighbors to work in their yards and artists to wrap up two mural installations this week along TAP.
Stop by in person to see the new artwork at TAP232 and TAP239.
A handful of artists got together tonight with TAP at Grace In Action to sketch and share their work.
Artists brought blackbooks, markers, pencils, and other materials to create new works as they went through what they’re currently working on with each other. Featured in the photographs are works by Kevin “Oni” Ferguson and James Easterly.
A quick look in the lots at TAP233 shows off a couple new pieces complements of the unseasonably warm weather the past several weeks.
An artist visiting from Germany stopped by and painted “CryOne” on his way back to the airport after a week in Detroit on business.
The Motor City Street Dance Academy, Young Nation, and Grace In Action have teamed up to offer a 12-week program for elementary students on The Alley Project at GIA every Monday evening.
The MCDSA holds workshops across the Southwest Detroit community to teach elementary-aged youth the basics of break dance. Young break dancers who have come up through Motor City Rockerz mentor younger youth as an expression of the MCRz “each one teach one” philosophy.
The Motor City Rockerz created the MCSDA to help rebuild hip hop’s reputation locally as being a positive, impactful, creative outlet for all people.
Each year Young Nation and The Alley Project hosts an annual Angel’s Night event. The event takes place the night before Halloween which has become a city-wide rally of community involvement over the years. This follows years of Detroit’s struggle with an epidemic of crime and arson on Devil’s Night, the eve of Halloween. A plague that peaked in the mid-80′s led to efforts in the 90′s to organize and relieve the city’s neighborhoods of the horror associated with Devil’s Night.
TAP’s annual Angel’s Night celebrations merge themes of social justice, civic engagement, mentoring and honoring those who came before us, and children and family. These themes acknowledge the season of celebration and collaboration in the neighborhood during a week that hosts Angel’s Night, Halloween, All Saints Day, and Dia de Los Muertos.
This year TAP’s Angel’s Night celebration coincided with Grace In Action’s Open Mic night and so were merged for an evening of food, entertainment, and family fun. A blessing was offered for the newly completed Healing Wall mural on the broad side of the building, located on Lawndale at Lane. Young Nation and Grace In Action’s constituents came together as their youth, artists, neighbors, families, acts and local entrepreneurs shared spaces and made memories together in the tradition of the themes above.
