New installation in Detroit's Eliza Howell Park highlights ecological efforts through art

With milder temperatures and lower humidity bringing mercy to Michigan’s stifling summer, Thursday, July 11, is a great day for an art party in the park.

From 6-8 p.m., arts organization Sidewalk Detroit will celebrate its inaugural Eco-Artist-in-Residence, Halima Cassells, at Eliza Howell Park, 23751 Fenkell Ave., with an artist talk and the unveiling of her new installation in the park.

Art activities, performances and food will be on hand at the free outdoor event. Sidewalk Detroit focuses on public art, environmental justice, community building and place-keeping; Thursday’s event is the latest in their “Earth Futures” initiative highlighting climate crises such as air quality and water pollution through public art.

The residency began in April with a river clean-up event at the same park, where participants pulled materials from the Rouge River. Over the subsequent months, Cassells has led multiple workshops in which she and attendees used the collected materials to contribute to the installation.

“I’m a native Detroiter,” the award-winning Cassells told the Free Press. “I have been and continue to be informed by my environment every day. Most Detroiters have some type of hidden genius or talent, if they are not a professional or practicing artist. My mailman, my plumber and many of the firemen I know are also in a band. My mechanic also welds sculptures. Many of my family members and former art teachers are still making and exhibiting art well into their seventies and eighties while continuing to create pathways for so many people. I am so grateful to be from here.

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“We visited the Heidelberg Project as well as the DIA often as children. My dad worked for the city of Detroit as a city planner – he was also a gardener, avid recycler and master compost-maker, woodworker and a calligraphy artist. My mom retired as an English teacher from Detroit Public Schools Community District, but all the while she was dancing, painting and encouraging all her children (all students included) to express themselves creatively and be of benefit to their community. All of this informs my work as well as the questions from my own path.”

Sidewalk Detroit program director Augusta Morrison is enthusiastic about the unveiling and artist talk event.

“It’s a really beautiful, big, open space,” Morrison said of the park. “It’s a nice time to interact with art, meet really good people, talk a walk in the park. We’ll be able to learn more about the importance of environment, the intersection of environmental justice and art, and be really creative about the way we are using and upcycling materials. Hopefully, this project brings a lot of awareness about how to care for our Earth.”

Cassells said more than 100 Detroit area residents contributed to the work on the installation project.

“I hope that every person who helped work on this project comes to see the final piece, and that the conversations we had continue,” she said.

Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@freepress.com.