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Muse: Detroit

Often, the best artistic inspiration comes from heartbreak, and Detroit is an incredible muse.

- Colleen Hill, Pixelgawker

Detroit

When I moved to Detroit, I didn’t understand the nature of “neighborhoods.” I called everything, “Detroit.” From Ferndale, to Rochester, to Indian Village, to Dearborn, it was all just Detroit. Well, I now understand some of the differences between the areas, or, am starting to. And in 20 years, I’m sure the “bad” areas won’t be nearly as scary.

Last night, I had fun at a friend’s Dos de Mayo / Housewarming party, near Mexicantown, in Southwest Detroit. He recently bought a pretty gigantic house, built in the 1920s, and is in the process of doing some renovations. When he bought it, (for a very low price, considering it would be a million-dollar home if it were in, say, Chicago), no one else had bid on it, and it was in need of the least amount of repair, compared to a bunch of other homes he was looking into. The neighborhood wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst, either. And if your house is big enough to ride a bike through, maybe you don’t need to go outside, anyway. Haha. But it was gorgeous. One point for Detroit’s economic effects.

And to take that point away, we got new, free, perfectly great couches yesterday. From up the street. From a young family that had their little house sold from underneath them. (The 26 year-old mother had hired a company to “re-evaluate” her finances, hastily signed a paper, and accidentally allowed these assholes to sell her home without her really knowing.) Earlier in the day, running past the house, I saw two young brothers sadly moving things to the curb, one holding a blanket and trying to squeeze himself into a small, over-packed car. Later, I walked down to examine their left-behinds with the rest of the housemates. We found out what happened through the neighbor lady, when she offered to let us use her car to move the couches. Anyway, it’s a sad story for the family. And we have amazing new couches. We should throw them some money, maybe.

And to take another point away, let’s talk about the jerks who have taken over the amazing building that is now called, Bo House, no longer the full name of Bohemian National Home. It’s just 5 minutes up the street from my friend’s new “mansion” in Mexicantown. Here’s what it used to be, as created by Joel Peterson:

Rhys Chatham reflects on Bohemian National Home:

“The Bohemian National Home is a former Czech social club, housed in a large, two-story square building. The building was bought at a highly competitive price by Joel Peterson, who purchased the building so that there would be a performance place for experimental music in Detroit. Joel does all the booking there and programs free jazz, improvised and world music, electronic noise stuff, as well as other musical craziness.” (via his site)

And it hasn’t changed much, except it has a new owner. A big dumb bully owner. Apparently, this new owner came through and physically forced Joel out, with bodyguards, or pimps, or whatever they were. This person said he was tired of the place being filled with crazy musicians and indie kids all the time. So, Joel was gone. Then, the new owner bully started doing exactly what Joel was doing. Musicians filled the place up again, hipsters and indie hippies and everyone else came pouring in, excited to see their favorite venue back in action. And hardly anyone knows the real story, I’m sure, because if they did, I’d like to think they wouldn’t go to shows there anymore. What happened was devious and disgusting and terrible and I want to know who is responsible, so I can draw a big picture of him as Hitler or something.  So, that’s what I heard. Thank you, inside source. Haha.

So I gave Detroit a point, and took two away. But I’m going to give it like 50 points just for fun, because it’s really a heart-warming place full of lovely people, and the sun has been shining for a few days straight. Yay.

Check this out: CNN Money’s article on why 13 Detroiters love their hometown.

Illustration Portfolio >>> YAY

CHECK IT OUT! Live on the internet:

The Angela Duncan DOT COM!

Please and thank you for visiting, Miss or Mister internet buddy.

Here’s a recent, hand-illustrated poster I made for Handmade Detroit’s Craft Revival: A Spring Indie Craft Fair. I will be there with a table of fun for sale.

Sweet Updates

It’s been a while since my last post, but I have some truly sweet updates for you.

Meet The Silent Giants. They do it themselves, and they do it right. What they do is design and hand-screen great posters out of Detroit. They’re new on the scene, and already working with big names like The National, Sigur Ros, Mogwai, Wolf Parade, Bon Iver and more. Here’s some fresh Silent Giants press from OMG Posters! Your office would look awesome with some of their posters on the walls. People will swoon at your coolness and knowledge of music.

On a personal note, I’m thrilled to report that my illustration career is gaining momentum!  I am putting a portfolio site together.Yes! It will be clean, Angela-style, and effective. My good Yooper friend, Justin Sailor, is being a hero and setting it up. His many awesome projects: The Hometown Invasion Tour, Yooper Steez, and Bugsyrocker.com.

Do you like rare books? John K. King Books (in Detroit) is incredible. Perhaps you’ve heard of them. I wandered the amazing stacks for a few hours today, taking photos and looking for great, old illustrations. It’s a goldmine, if you have the time.  Imagine an enormous warehouse-turned bookstore, packed with old volumes in every imaginable subject, and you’re getting close.

Detroit Design

Bet you never expected great design to come out of a rusty, half-abandoned city like Detroit. But here it is. Straight from a great design blog, run by ex-San Franciscans, no less. Eat it up:

Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » detroit design guide
As far as I know, we have no ceramic antler peddlers or artists working around the clock to draw owls in every conceivable fashion. We do, however, have a sizable population of ring-necked pheasants. And packs of wild dogs.

Detroit is an underdog. I love underdogs. Michigan is an underdog, too.

I am rambling, but I hope you dig the Design Sponge blog. There are a lot of great things  happening in Detroit.  It’s such a worthwhile place to visit or hunker down.

A Suburban Sprawl Christmas

‘Twas the night before Tuesday, a while before Christmas, when I blogged about the annual Suburban Sprawl Holiday Sampler.

Suburban Sprawl is a friend-made music label in Southeast Michigan. They live here on the internet, and that is also the place to download all of the songs on the sampler, for free. I joined The Next Door Neighbors on clarinet for the song Bah Hum Bug.

Merry Almost Christmas!

Daniel Brian & Associates

There is an advertising agency in Rochester, Mi. It’s called Daniel Brian & Associates. Everyday, their people create campaigns and communication materials for clients. What sets them apart?

Their Mission:

1. God is the source of all creativity and the only authority above a client.
2. Love is the only rule. All others were made to be broken.
3. Character is the beginning of all success. For this reason, we will never intentionally lie to a client or for a client.

What? Really?

They are way ahead of most agencies, with such a strong mission (or a mission at all).

If they were a football team, I would be their painted, foam-fingered #1 fan.

The Muggs on Reality TV

They could be The Next Great American Band. Detroiters, The Muggs, made it to the final 12, and I hope they win.

They’re good old rock ‘n roll, and genuinely nice dudes.

Watching the premiere episode with a bunch of Detroit musicians, I admit we might have been a little pretentious about the whole thing. That aside, did the producers really think a few creepy old guys dressed up like aliens were going to win? It must make good TV.

Mark one up for Detroit. Lots of people suggested another Detroit band, The Hard Lessons, would have been great on the show, but they didn’t want to try out.

On a related note: Ad Fight, a rumored reality show in which student writer + art director teams compete on ad campaigns. Rad!

curve | detroit

I found a new agency to crush on: check it out!
curve | detroit — advertising · marketing · packaging · design

They’re looking for a graphic design intern, (click if you’re a design rockstar looking for a band).