Despite the cold weather the youth, their parents, and neighbors gathered to share the artistic creations the young artists have been working on throughout the fall.

The days are getting shorter (and more damp) and that is part of why we value our annual mid-fall gathering as one of the last opportunities to connect before wintering as a community.

Traditionally Inside Southwest Detroit has focused on the last week of October and first week of November as an opportune time to uplift the values of local wisdom, inter-generational connections, and mentoring as we learn about the traditions and culture our communities celebrate together.

This year we celebrated on Dia de Los Muertos with a showcase of art from Porch on TAP residency with Mark Tucker with student-made luminaries, snacks, and some music. The time together warms our hearts as we get ready to slow down, spend more time indoors, and prepare ourselves and community for the Spring ahead of us.

Students from Escuela Avancemos visited The Alley Project as a way for participants from this summer’s Photo 101 to share about their experiences with their friends, explore TAP, and learn about ways that photography is changing people’s lives in their community.

Stephanie Ruiz, a member of La Sirena Studio on The Alley Project, shared about her experiences in Photo 101 classes and how she has built her own photo business over the years since graduating from high school. Students asked questions and started to share a bit about what they would like from another Photo 101 as part of the after school program.

The PoTAP residency with Mark Tucker is being celebrated through weekly workshops ahead of Dia de Los Muertos at The Alley Project. This year students will be able to show off their works at an outdoor showcase at The Alley Project.

In addition to community-based arts, Mark Tucker serves as art director for the Lloyd Scholars for Writing and the Arts where he develops and designs innovative arts programming and also teaches art classes, primarily for non-art majors, at the University of Michigan. Several of his students accompany him each week, traveling together to The Alley Project to deliver instruction and hands-on support as youth learn a new art form.

This is some of the progress the students have made so far. The residency will extend beyond September throughout October until the projects are completed and the weather turns on us—whichever happens last.

Mark Tucker is an artist born in Vermont, living in Michigan, whose current creative work revolves around community collaborations making large-scale public art sculptures, theater sets, and unique outdoor spectacles celebrating the Arts as a catalyst for creative community engagement.

Mark is joining us as a resident artist at The Alley Project!! He is helping us inaugurate our new outdoor classroom on Avis near Elsmere as we transform our front porch to a setting for artistic exchange during our artist residency program, the Porch On TAP.

Tucker is the founder of FestiFools, an annual large-scale public art event held in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan, and co-founder of the non-profit WonderFool Productions who facilitates the event each year . 

Mary Luevanos, community artist and activist and long-standing member of the Porch On TAP curation team introduced Mark to The Alley Project and we are lucky to have him (and Mary) each week for the duration of his residency.

Detroit Synergy, a volunteer based organization in Detroit, hosted Motor City Muralism 2 on Saturday, May 13th.  The event is a bicycle tour that has two primary purposes "to introduce people to artwork around the city and, in doing so, to also introduce them to neighborhoods and businesses around the city" said Joanna Porvin, the coordinator of this year's ride with 100+ riders.  The tour began at the Detroit Institute of Arts and included views of Yamasaki's mural of Grace Lee Boggs, street art at Recycle Here and the Lincoln Street Art Park, murals in Corktown, Juan Carlos Hearn's mural on Gigante Mercado on Michigan Avenue at Wesson, Dasic Fernandez' murals on Hacienda Foods on Vernor at Cavalry, and The Alley Project (TAP) near Avis and Woodmere.

At TAP they were greeted by youth leaders, Gabriela Santiago-Romero and Nyasia Valdez.  The two gave them a brief introduction and tour of The Alley Project and its walking gallery along the 750 foot alley between Woodmere and Elsmere before the riders headed back down Vernor toward Cafe con Leche where they were able to enjoy the sites and sounds of Southwest Detroit before ending for the day.