Originality “is just very much a Detroit thing,” says acclaimed artist Tiff Massey. Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than in her recent Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) exhibition, 7 Mile + Livernois. Born and raised in the Detroit neighborhood she named her show after, Massey is a United States Artist Fellow (among many other accolades). Her larger-than-life work reflects a lifelong immersion in Detroit Metro area culture—from Motown Records to Cranbrook’s landmarked campus that the New York Times called “synonymous with contemporary American design.” The city is a hotbed of culture, ripe for exploration by art, music, and fashion lovers.
Visit the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Shepherd
Viewers in front of I’ve Got Bundles and I Got Flewed Out (Green) by Tiff Massey at the Detroit Institute of Arts
Photos by Sylvia Jarrus
Massey’s DIA installation is the perfect jumping-off point for any traveler checking out Detroit. The institution, home to works by Diego Rivera, Rembrandt, and Henri Matisse, is one of the local treasures that led UNESCO to designate Detroit as the country’s first and only City of Design.
Tiff Massey with her artwork, Baby Bling
Photo by Sylvia Jarrus
The youngest artist to have a solo DIA show, Massey got her start making jewelry, and her art today continues themes of adornment and self-representation, albeit in bigger sizes. “What you see at the DIA now is human to architectural scale,” she says. “It all comes from my observations of how people are putting themselves together, how Black people specifically are putting themselves together … No one wants to look like somebody else.”
Visitors to 7 Mile + Livernois step into the artist’s proverbial wonderland, what she calls an homage to Blackness. Baby Bling, a neatly ordered row of enormous red ponytail holders, takes up an entire wall, nodding to nostalgia for ‘80s girlhood hairstyles and the care from mothers and grandmothers. In Whatupdoe (named after a quintessentially Detroit greeting), linked steel cubes evoke rooms within the gallery and wind through it like a huge, gleaming necklace.
The Charles McGee Legacy Park is a sculpture garden featuring large-scale figurative works by the late Detroit artist Charles McGee at the Shepherd.
Photo by Sylvia Jarrus
Massey has also shown her work at one of the city’s newest spaces. Earlier this year, her piece White Out, You In (Red, Black, & Green) was in the group show Warp and Weft: Technologies Within Textiles at the Library Street Collective’s one-year-old gallery, the Shepherd. Housed in a 110-year-old former church in Detroit’s Little Village neighborhood, the setting gives visitors an experience of historic Detroit.
Hear live music at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge and visit the Motown Museum
For culture fans who want to experience the city’s flavor that inspires Massey, head to the walkable enclave of small boutiques and restaurants known as the Historic Avenue of Fashion surrounding the 91-year-old Baker’s Keyboard Lounge. Stop into this spot for an intimate evening of local music and soul food in art deco surroundings. Considered one of the world’s longest-running jazz clubs, the venue has hosted countless legends—including Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, and Thelonius Monk—since opening in 1934.
Music has long been one of Detroit’s most celebrated exports. Massey grew up with her dad’s Motown singer friends as regular guests in their home. Visit the Motown Museum to step inside Studio A of Hitsville, U.S.A. You’ll be standing in the room where many iconic songs were recorded (and you can check out the candy machine where producers always left a dime for 13-year-old Stevie Wonder).
Check out the Cranbrook Art Museum
Massey’s formative experiences extend beyond 8 Mile Road (the city limits made internationally famous by rapper Eminem) into the Detroit Metro area. Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills is where the Motor City native became the first Black woman to earn an MFA in metalsmithing. A National Historic Landmark, the Cranbrook campus encompasses the Cranbrook Art Museum, where you can view contemporary masterpieces by artists including Charles and Ray Eames, Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein. The stunning 40 acres of gardens, dotted with wildflowers, fountains, sculptures, and more, are ideal for visitors interested in painting en plein air.
See art and architecture at Palmer Park
Each year, an art fair takes place in the heart of Detroit in Palmer Park. The 281-acre green space, where Massey also often recharges her creative energies among nature, is home to Palmer Park Art Fair, a free, juried two-day event that has been celebrating homegrown Detroit art every year since 1977 and will take place May 31–June 1, 2025.
From June to October, you can also grab fresh local goodies from the Palmer Park farmers market on Wednesdays, have a picnic, and take in the cultural events during Log Cabin Sundays (music, storytelling, crafts). Follow a visit with a tour of the nearby Palmer Park Apartment Buildings Historic District featuring examples by important 20th-century architects like Albert Kahn.
As the international spotlight increases on Massey’s work and the vibrancy of Detroit’s art, music, architecture, and ethos, Massey loves that the city’s authenticity and originality remain at its heart. “I know that this is a big moment,” she says. With her own sculpture garden and other Detroit projects underway, it’s a moment that promises to continue to grow.
