Word: guyton
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...description of artist Tyree Guyton's Heidelberg Project in Detroit [AMERICAN SCENE, Aug. 25], Ron Stodghill II noted that Heidelberg Street is festooned in polka dots. Stodghill said that neighbors weren't thrilled by other aspects of the project, including the thousands of old shoes displayed in the area. But support from neighborhood residents, local businesses and government groups far surpasses any dissatisfaction. The Heidelberg Project provides a stimulating, relatively safe stretch in Detroit's inner city where residents and visitors can play, create, learn, sit and think. Many of the artworks, constructed by Guyton with the help of children...
...opportunity this summer to visit the Heidelberg Project and found myself standing in the middle of the street in awe of the beauty before me. The thousands of used shoes (soles) represent all the lost souls in Purgatory hoping for mankind's prayers to help them ascend to heaven. Guyton's polka-dot theme is seen everywhere, sending the message "I don't care what race you are, if you are black or white or even polka dot, God's love sees no colors." JUDITH ZABAWSKI Sterling Heights, Mich...
Perhaps the biggest gripe among residents is that Guyton's ghetto gallery will push economic development away from Heidelberg Street. To be sure, the community has been an urban wasteland, a place where crime, drugs and vagrancy flourish in buildings still charred and hollowed from the 1967 riots. But a fledgling enterprise zone has sparked hope that new housing, businesses and jobs will flow into the area. Thus Guyton's suggestion that the street be turned into an artists' colony has generated little enthusiasm. "It is an embarrassing eyesore," fumes neighbor Anthony Dicus. "Nobody will want to invest here...
Mayor Archer's position on the issue is no clearer than a Guyton painting. His first instinct is to force Guyton to remove his artwork from the city-owned property. In 1991 the mayor's predecessor, Coleman Young, bulldozed a couple of abandoned houses that Guyton had decorated. But Archer's handlers have counseled otherwise, pointing out that the Heidelberg Project has become the area's most popular destination point and that its creator is a headstrong folk hero who would only benefit from a confrontation with city hall. As a result, Archer has gone so far as to quietly...
...course, election-year politics leave Archer little room for more sole searching. The flap isn't likely to cost him many votes, but the longer it plays out, the more embarrassing it is for the city. In one meeting, Archer urged Guyton to drum up more community support so that the administration could back the project more forcefully. "You need to take off your artist cap and put on your business hat," he said...