You are invited to celebrate Detroit Artists Market: The First 80 Years with the Detroit Artists Market!

DAM will host an Evening Public Reception on Thursday, March 8, 2012 from 5:00 until 9:00 p.m.  The Detroit Historical Museum has generously opened their doors for this event which is free to the public. This Public Reception provides a special opportunity to view the exhibition and celebrate 80 Years of the Detroit Artists Market with its artists,  members, and supporters. 

The Detroit Historical Museum is located at 5401 Woodward Avenue,  Detroit 48202. Parking is available in the adjacent lot, in the public parking structure across the street at the Park Shelton, or metered street parking.

Detroit Artists Market: The First 80 Years will be shown in the Community Gallery at the Detroit Historical Museum from February 24 through May 24, 2012. The exhibition is free with museum admission. The Detroit Historical Museum is located at 5401 Woodward Avenue, Detroit 48202. Museum hours are Wednesday-Friday,  9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.;  Saturday, 10:00 a.m.  to 5:00 p.m.; and Sunday -  Noon to 5:00 p.m.

About Detroit Artists Market: The First 80 Years
The Detroit Artists Market (DAM) first opened in 1932, during the Great Depression, predating President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s WPA program by two years.  Led by Mrs. H. Lee Simpson with co-founders Robert Hudson Tannahill, Mrs. Richard Hudson Webber, Mrs. Clarence Davock, Mrs.  William H. Rea and Mrs. George Kamperman – stalwart supporters of the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Society of Arts and Crafts –  recognized that artists need a place to exhibit and sell their work.  In addition to providing young artists with the means of a livelihood,  DAM’s founders had the additional objectives to inspire life-long interest in the arts: educating public taste through exhibitions and education programs, promoting sales of work by the finest of Detroit’s local artists, and encouraging new collectors.

Over the decades DAM has continued to offer thought-provoking contemporary exhibitions and programs by emerging and established artists in Southeast Michigan.   DAM’s simple and powerful approach actively engaged – and still engages – artists, arts enthusiasts, collectors, students, and patrons in the appreciation and support of contemporary art. DAM’s impact is recognized throughout the Metro Detroit region and can also be found at the state and national levels.

DAM’s extensive and distinguished history is reflected in the artists who have shown their work at the gallery.   Notable artists whose works are in this historical exhibition include Sarkis Sarkisian, Hughie Lee-Smith, Harry Bertoia, Charles McGee, Maija Grotell and Richard DeVore.  More than 100 works of art, lent by area collectors and artists, give visitors a taste of the creativity and talent fostered by DAM.