Visual art / Civil rights & activism
Tyree Guyton
born 1955 · artist
Detroit artist who in 1986 turned his childhood street on the east side into the Heidelberg Project, one of the world's best-known outdoor art environments.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 71- Detroit years
- 1955–
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Guyton grew up on Heidelberg Street on Detroit's east side and lived through the 1967 uprising as a boy. His grandfather, Sam Mackey, took him to the Detroit Institute of Arts and encouraged him to paint. Before turning to art full time he served in the Army and worked as a firefighter and an autoworker, and he studied at Marygrove College, Wayne State and the Center for Creative Studies. In 1986, with his grandfather and his then-wife Karen, he began covering abandoned houses and vacant lots on Heidelberg Street with polka dots, found objects, stuffed animals, clocks and shoes, as a protest against the decay around them. The city demolished parts of the project in 1989, 1991 and 1999, and arson fires in 2013–2014 destroyed several houses, yet it drew visitors from around the world and represented the United States at the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2016 Guyton announced that he would gradually take it apart and transform it into a new arts-based community project.
Highlights
- Founded the Heidelberg Project in 1986 with his grandfather Sam Mackey
- Project survived city demolitions (1989, 1991, 1999) and arson (2013–2014)
- Shown at the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale
- Michigan Artist of the Year (1992)
- Permanent installation of his work at the DIA
- Named Kresge Eminent Artist for 2026
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 1986–
Heidelberg Project
His outdoor art environment on Heidelberg Street in the McDougall-Hunt neighborhood, being transformed since 2016.
Related place
Detroit Institute of Arts (Friday Night Live!)
The museum his grandfather took him to as a child; it holds a permanent installation of his work.