Museum InfoMedia Room
January at Detroit Institute of Arts — Museum open on Martin Luther King Day, New display of puppets on view beginning Jan. 13
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
(Detroit)—The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) will be open on Monday, Jan. 16 for Martin Luther King Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with tours of the African American art collection and other family-friendly activities. On Jan. 8, Ford Free Sunday, museum admission is free and tickets to the popular exhibition Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus are half-price: $8 adults, $4 ages 6–17. New puppet display opens Jan. 13. Also on view are Gift of a Lifetime: The James Pearson Duffy Collection; Detroit Revealed: Photographs, 2000–2010; and Once Upon a Time: Prints and Drawings that Tell Stories.
The museum will be closed Sunday, Jan. 1.
The museum will be open Monday, Jan. 16 in honor of Martin Luther King Day.
Programs are free with museum admission unless otherwise noted. For more information, call (313) 833-7900 or visit www.dia.org.
Guided Tours: Wednesdays–Thursdays, 1 p.m.; Fridays, 1, 6 & 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays–Sundays, 1 & 3 p.m.
Detroit City Chess Club: Fridays, 4–8 p.m.
The club’s mission is to teach area students the game and life lessons. Members have won state, regional and national competitions. People wanting to learn how to play chess should show up between 4 and 6 p.m. There will be no teaching between 6 and 8 p.m., but visitors can play chess.
Drawing in the Galleries (for all ages): Fridays, 6–9 p.m.; Sundays, Noon–4 p.m.
Drop-In Workshops (for all ages)
Fridays, January 6, 13, 20 and 27, 6–9 p.m. – Winter Counts: A winter count was used by some Native Americans of the Northern Great Plains to record their histories and keep track of the passage of years. Use leather and colorful markers as you create one of your own.
Saturdays, January 7, 14, 21 and 28, Noon–4 p.m. – Sculptural Boxes: Create whimsical sculptures using a simple box and a wide range of art-making materials.
Sundays, January 8, 15, 22 and 29, Noon–4 p.m. – Tapestry Weaving: Use cardboard looms and colorful yarn to create your own tapestry.
Friday Night Live, January 6
Music: Will Sessions: 7 & 8:30 p.m.
Detroit funk-soul group Will Sessions brings its high-energy show to the Detroit Film Theatre Auditorium. Their performances at the popular Funk Nights gained them a strong following, but they’re not just another funk band.
Ford Free Sunday, January 8
Free general admission; tickets to Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus are half-price - $8 for adults, $4 for children
Sunday Music Bar: Venere Lute Quartet: 1 & 3 p.m.
The Venere Lute Quartet performs music by Europe’s greatest composers of the 16th and 17th centuries, including works by Nicolas Vallet and newly made arrangements of music by Orlande de Lassus, Michael Praetorius, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Henry Purcell and others.
Family Performance: Peter Rabbit: 2 p.m.
Wild Swan Theater Company brings the adventures of Peter Rabbit to life as he dares to enter Farmer McGregor’s garden despite his mother’s warnings. Sponsored by Founders Junior Council
Lecture: Rembrandt’s Great Challenge: Visualizing Jesus: 2 p.m.
Rembrandt pursued a lifelong search for an image of Jesus and drew upon artists such as Albrecht Dürer for his interpretations, but Rembrandt’s moving figures of Jesus are singular in the history of Western art. Shelley Perlove investigates the artist’s paintings and prints of biblical narratives to reveal Rembrandt’s distinctive approach to portraying Jesus as a Jew. Sponsored by Learning and Interpretation
Friday, January 13 through June 2012
Puppets on View
Marionettes by Paul McPharlin and his contemporaries are featured in this installation of puppets from the 1920s and 1930s. McPharlin performed regularly at the DIA during this time with shows such as Faust and Krazy Kat: A Jazz Ballet, and examples from these two productions are included, along with a self-portrait puppet that introduced the shows.
Olga and Martin Stevens performed historic and biblical narratives, and along with McPharlin were founding members of the Puppeteers of America in 1936. Included are delicately carved marionettes from the story of Joan of Arc and Cleopatra, and a self-portrait hand puppet of Martin Stevens that introduced the play in place of the shy puppeteer.
Ralph Chessé produced adaptations of avant-garde theatre, such as Eugene O’Neil’s The Emperor Jones, a 1920 play made famous by the African-American actor Charles Gilpin. The story focused on an African-American fugitive named Brutus Jones—shown seated in a throne—who flees the United States to become the emperor of a Caribbean Island. Chessé sculpted the puppets with strong, stark features based on Gilpin’s. The complete marionette cast of Emperor Jones is featured, including a giant, puppet-eating alligator. Chessé, like McPharlin and other puppeteers of the 1930s, produced shows with support from the Federal Theatre Project, a government agency organized during the Depression.
Friday Night Live, January 13
Music: Détour de force: 7 & 8:30 p.m.
Sopranos Laura Hynes Smith and Audrey Luna team up as Détour de force to perform music that is both familiar and foreign in an atmosphere that is interactive, theatrical and spontaneous. With humor and humility, Détour de force invites the listener to share the beauty and power of song in a soulfully entertaining atmosphere.
Detroit Film Theatre: Le Havre: 7 p.m.
In a small town in Normandy, an aging shoe-shiner creates a temporary safe haven for an illegal immigrant. Aki Kaurismäki’s trademark touches shine through in this tender film: the sly, deadpan humor, comically stark production design, and unlikely friendships that walk the delicate balance between comedy and genuine emotion. In French and Finnish with English subtitles. For a detailed description, visit www.dia.org/dft/schedule.asp. Tickets: $7.50; DIA members, seniors and students, $6.50.
Saturday, January 14
Detroit Film Theatre: Le Havre: 7 p.m.
(See Jan. 13 for details)
Sunday, January 15
Artist Demonstration: Weaving: Noon–4 p.m.
Michael Daitch and Jim McCutchen use yarns of the highest quality to create hand-woven pieces that are visually arresting and sensuous. They combine lustrous fibers and rich colors with the fine art of weaving to produce textiles with the intrinsic characteristics, charm and irregularities that make each item unique.
Sunday Music Bar: Détour de force: 1 & 3 p.m.
(See Jan. 13 Music for details)
Detroit Film Theatre: Le Havre: 2 p.m.
(See Jan. 13 for details)
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 16
Family Fitting Room: 10:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.
Staff and volunteers create custom-made visits based on an individual’s or a group’s interests, providing maps and related materials to enhance the museum experience.
Drop-In Workshops—Bookarts (for all ages): 11 a.m.–3 p.m.
Create a simple book to use for stories, journals or drawings.
Artist Demonstration: Fresco Painting with Hubert Massey: Noon–4 p.m.
Hubert Massey demonstrates how he creates his fresco works. Massey is a Michigan artist noted for collaborating with communities to create art that tells their stories and is one of the few African American artists painting in the true fresco style, a technique in which alkaline resistant pigments, ground in water, are applied to plaster while it is still wet. His paintings and installations can be seen in Detroit at the Museum of African American History, Paradise Valley Park and Campus Martius.
Guided Tours of the African American Art Collection: Noon, 1 & 2 p.m.
Take a guided tour of the African American art galleries, which feature works by artists such as Benny Andrews, Ali McGee, Tyree Guyton, Hughie Lee-Smith, Jacob Lawrence, and many others. Tours leave from the Family Fitting Room table in Prentis Court.
Friday Night Live, January 20
Music: Uncommon Temperament: 7 & 8:30 p.m.
Uncommon Temperament is a collective of musicians that brings a bold new approach to performing baroque music. They are known for their daring programming and historically accurate performances in unique venues, ideal for the DIA’s Rivera Court. For this performance, listeners will be treated to music from the time of Rembrandt.
Detroit Film Theatre: The Mill and the Cross: 7 p.m.
This film explores what it would be like to step inside a great work of art. Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Way to Calvary comes alive around a visitor, who observes the artist as he sketches the very reality the individual is experiencing. The painting is the story of the crucifixion set in 16th-century Flanders under brutal Spanish occupation. Computer technology creates a multilayered dreamscape that melds iconic moments in art, history and religion with the daily lives of ordinary people. For a detailed description, visit www.dia.org/dft/schedule.asp. Tickets: $7.50; DIA members, seniors and students, $6.50.
Live Armor Demonstration: 7:45 p.m.
Take a step back in time with the Michigan Entertainment Renaissance Curiosities Society, a live steel fight group employing period clothing and weapons to offer a lively glimpse of arms and armor used during the Renaissance.
Detroit Film Theatre: Le Havre: 9:30 p.m.
(See Jan. 13 for details)
Saturday, January 21
Live Armor Demonstration: 1 & 3 p.m.
(See Jan. 20 for details)
Detroit Film Theatre 101: Rembrandt: 4 p.m.
In 1936, Charles Laughton teamed up with producer Alexander Korda for this moving biographical portrait of Rembrandt van Rijn. Beginning at the height of Rembrandt’s reputation, the film tracks his quiet descent into loneliness and isolated self-expression following the death of his wife, to the unveiling of The Night Watch, to the ecclesiastical excommunication of his late-in-life lover and maid Hendrickje Stoffels. Tickets: $5, free for DIA members. For a detailed description, visit www.dia.org/dft/schedule.asp.
Detroit Film Theatre: The Mill and the Cross: 7 p.m.
(See Jan. 20 for details)
Detroit Film Theatre: Le Havre: 9:30 p.m.
(See Jan. 13 for details)
Family Sunday, January 22
Family Performance: Live Armor Demonstration: 11 a.m., 2 & 4 p.m.
(See Jan. 20 for details)
Sunday Music Bar: Uncommon Temperament: 1 & 3 p.m.
(See Jan. 20 for details)
Detroit Film Theatre: The Mill and the Cross: 2 p.m.
(See Jan. 20 for details)
Detroit Film Theatre: Le Havre: 4:30 p.m.
(See Jan. 13 for details)
Friday Night Live, January 27
Music: Minneapolis Guitar Quartet: 7 & 8:30 p.m.
The Minneapolis Guitar Quartet’s repertoire ranges from Renaissance and baroque to Spanish, Latin American and Romantic, to highly imaginative contemporary works. For this performance they perform music by Claude Debussy and Alberto Ginastera, among others.
Lecture: Detroit Today and Tomorrow: Detroit Free Press Journalist John Gallagher: 7 p.m.
Like many older cities, Detroit today is the site of excess urban capacity—open land, roads carrying nowhere near their traffic limit, and empty buildings. In recent years, people in cities have begun to re-imagine what cities could be like in the 21st century. Urban agriculture, restoration of natural landscapes, the growth of an art-related economy and other efforts are redefining how we think of cities. Join Detroit Free Press journalist John Gallagher for a discussion of these trends, including that of Detroit as a greener, more entrepreneurial city. Sponsored by the Forum for Prints, Drawings and Photographs
Detroit Film Theatre: Outrage: 7 p.m.
In a ruthless battle for power, several organized crime clans vie for the favor of their head family in the Japanese underworld. The rival bosses seek to rise through the ranks by scheming and making allegiances sworn over sake. In Japanese with English subtitles. For a detailed description, visit www.dia.org/dft/schedule.asp. Tickets: $7.50; DIA members, seniors and students, $6.50.
Detroit Film Theatre: The Mill and the Cross: 9:45 p.m.
(See Jan. 20 for details)
Saturday, January 28
Class: Scarves of Many Colors (ages 9–12, with an adult): 10–10:45 a.m., 10:45–11:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m. and 12:15–1 p.m.
Students work one on one with a weaving instructor to learn basic weaving skills, how to use a floor loom and design and weave their own wool scarf. Class size is limited to eight students – two per each 45-minute session. Members $12, nonmembers $16. To register, call (313) 833-4005.
Detroit Film Theatre: Outrage: 7 p.m.
(See Jan. 27 for details)
Detroit Film Theatre: Mill and the Cross: 9:45 p.m.
(See Jan. 20 for details)
Family Sunday, January 29
Sunday Music Bar: Sfogati! Divine Music: 1 & 3 p.m.
Sfogati! will perform music chosen to complement the Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus exhibition. Performers are Lorna Young Hildebrandt, soprano; Kiri Tollaksen, cornetto; and Shin-Ae Chun, harpsichord.
Storytelling: Storytelling…not just for kids: 2 p.m.
Bring your funny bone and your thinking cap as Ivory Williams presents a medley of humorous tales designed to entertain and educate both the young and the wise. Sponsored by Founders Junior Council
Detroit Film Theatre: Outrage: 2 p.m.
(See Jan. 27 for details)
Detroit Film Theatre: The Mill and the Cross: 5 p.m.
(See Jan. 20 for details)
Hours and Admission
Museum hours are 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. Fridays, and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors ages 62+, $4 for ages 6-17, and free for DIA members. For membership information, call 313-833-7971.
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The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), one of the premier art museums in the United States, is home to more than 60,000 works that comprise a multicultural survey of human creativity from ancient times through the 21st century. From the first Van Gogh painting to enter a U.S. museum (Self-Portrait, 1887), to Diego Rivera's world-renowned Detroit Industry murals (1932–33), the DIA's collection is known for its quality, range, and depth. The DIA’s mission is to create opportunities for all visitors to find personal meaning in art.
Programs are made possible with support from the City of Detroit.
Contact: Pamela Marcil (313) 833-7899 pmarcil@dia.org
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