Painting the Process: A Portrait Unveiling, Marygrove’s Creative Community and Transformation

As part of Detroit Month of Design, Marygrove will host a special evening built around the unveiling of a new large-scale portrait of Dr. Hubert Massey, one of the only African American fresco painters in the country and a longtime fixture of the Marygrove campus. The portrait, painted by Detroit-based artist Richard Wilson — himself a painter and muralist whose studio is also housed at Marygrove — captures Massey mid-process, designing a fresco. It is less a static likeness than a glimpse into the act of creation itself, making it a fitting centerpiece for a citywide celebration of design.

A number of artists have studio spaces at Marygrove, several of whom will display their own work throughout the evening, offering guests a broader look at the creative community that calls the campus home. Light refreshments will be served, and guests will have the opportunity to engage directly with campus artists. Explore how design can strengthen community through a guided historic tour of the Marygrove Conservancy campus.

Participants will discover the campus's architectural heritage, its transformation from a historic college into a vibrant community-centered learning and cultural hub, and the ways preservation, adaptive reuse, and public spaces are being shaped. The tour highlights how thoughtful design can honor history, foster belonging, and support Detroit's future through education, culture, and community partnership.

UN SUSTAINABILITY GOALS

We use Detroit's UNESCO City of Design designation as a call to action for Detroiters to embrace the Sustainable Development Goals in their own communities, contributing to the active effort of solving global interconnected issues.