Ortonville- Art on a grand scale arrives in the village April 8, with eight pieces from the Detroit Institute of Arts? Inside|Out program being installed around town.
‘I can’t tell you all the pieces and locations, it’s a secret until installation,? said Jillian Reese, community relations specialist for the DIA.
She did however, reveal a few of the reproduced artworks that will begin making appearances at 1 p.m. One will be ‘Colonel John Montresor? by John Singleton Copley, mounted on a wall next to the front door of Thompson’s Hardware, 30 South St.; another will be Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Portrait of Postman Roulin,? a freestanding masterpiece that will be located behind a bench at the Old Town Hall, located at the corner of Mill and Church streets; and a third will be ‘Martha and Mary Magdalene? by Caravaggio which will be displayed at the library, 304 South St.
The remaining artworks will be placed in strategic locations around the village, with maps provided for those wanting to find the treasures, all weather-resistant reproductions from the DIA’s collection that will be featured in the village for the next few months..
The Inside|Out program, now in its sixth year, has been in over 100 communities, with 900 individual installations. The DIA selects 20 communities each year. Ortonville was one of 10 communities chosen to have art on display from April through July 15. Each community that is chosen receives between 7-12 pieces to display, depending on size, locations within the community for display and programming planned to coincide with the program. There are more than 90 pieces of art, all different, that the DIA uses in the program. The majority are reproductions of major paintings, although there are also images of textiles and tapestries in the collection. High quality images are taken of the art and a fabricator reproduces the work in Southfield. Images are printed on vinyl, which is adhered to an aluminum substrate which is set into a real wood art frame that is treated with a polyurethane coating to make it weather-resistant. The reproductions are kept as close to the authentic piece as possible.
The Ortonville installations will be completed in a few hours by Lavanway Sign Co., a DIA contractor that also does work for the Red Wings and Tigers.
‘If you’re in town, it’s fun to see the installation,? said Reese. ‘Wall-mount installations are fast, 15-20 minutes. Freestanding installations can take an hour, depending on what is in the ground. By 5 p.m., they will all be up. It’s really fun… We installed last year during a lightning storm. The crew we use loves this project.?
After the artwork is finished being placed around town, at 6 p.m. at the library the public is invited to attend docent training in which a DIA staff member will go over basic facts about the images selected for Ortonville’s Inside|Out program, as well as how the images are made, and a history of Inside|Out as well as how it fits into what is done at the museum and tips on leading tours.
‘Some people take the training as an educational opportunity, even if they never lead a tour,? said Reese. ‘It’s for anyone interested in learning more about the art.?
A few special events are also being planned over the next few months to celebrate art, including ‘Behind the Seen,? a series of community-based art lectures that will be provided by DIA volunteers at the Brandon Township Library. Director Rebecca Higgerson has requested ‘Diego Rivera and the Detroit Industry Murals,? in which attendees will learn the complex and intriguing story behind the man and the murals, now a national landmark; ‘Seeking the Sacred,? a comparison of the different ways people throughout history have used works of art to hold, communicate and reinforce ideas about religion, spirituality, and cosmology; and ‘Ordinary People by Extraordinary Artists: Degas, Renoir and Friends,? described as ‘some of the most important French artists of the 19th century resisted the elitist aesthetic of the academic art tradition by emphasizing the people around them and the human experience as subject matter during a transitioning moment in the modernist era. These are all works on paper by Degas, Renoir, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Vuillard, Bonnard, Cezanne.?
DDA Executive Director Molly LaLone plans to also have art from Brandon High School students displayed at the library, as well as art from various Brandon students displayed in windows in the downtown area and in collages on banners. Art will also be featured at CreekFest in June and during Beets, Beats and Eats.
‘We’re going to have fun with this great art,? she said.
For more information, call LaLone at 248-627-8070.
Admission to the DIA is free for residents of Oakland County.