Essay'd: 30 Detroit Artists highlights the individual contributors to Detroit's thriving and diverse art scene. Stemming from the popular website of the same name, Essay'd seeks to introduce readers to some of the contemporary art practitioners who live and work in Detroit or have participated in the Detroit art scene in an important way. Even those familiar with Detroit and its art ecosystem are sure to find new insight and perspective on artists that have made their careers in Detroit. Four arts writers within the Detroit art scene-a professor, a gallerist, and two critics-create an ongoing series of short essays that focus briefly and intensely on standout artists. This blending of critical sensibilities and interests provides a unique perspective on a diverse place, offering many points of interest and access to one of the most vital and intriguing art environments in the country. While many artists have helped to grow and shape the local art tableau, the authors selected thirty for this volume, including Signal Return's artistic director Lynne Avadenka; ""The Detroit Portrait Series"" artist Nicole Macdonald; 2012 DLECTRICITY performers Tzarinas of the Plane; and 2013 Kresge fellow Carl Wilson to name a few. This book is not a systematic attempt to identify the ""best"" or ""most important"" Detroit artists, or even to define what those terms mean. The position the essays take to their subjects is not critical but neither is it reverential. The objective is to create a platform for Detroit artists, not a pedestal. Essay'd is an excellent introduction to the Detroit art landscape, as well as an opportunity to deepen one's knowledge of the Detroit art scene and its players. Art lovers and regional history buffs will not want to miss this collection.

Thirty illustrated essays highlighting a variety of Detroit artists. Essay'd 2: 30 Detroit Artists follows the welcome reception of last year's Essay'd: 30 Detroit Artists in presenting short, illustrated essays about artists who live and work in Detroit, or who have participated in the Detroit art scene in an important way. Stemming from the popular website of the same name, the first volume of Essay'd sought to introduce readers, even those who are well versed in the Detroit art ecosystem, to new insight and a fresh perspective on the city's contemporary art practitioners. The four arts writers behind Essay'd-a professor, a gallerist, and two critics-are joined in Essay'd 2 by a handful of guest writers, whose unique views offer different points of access to Detroit's diverse and populous artist community. Essay'd 2 offers thirty new profiles of artists both well known and under the radar, seasoned and emerging. Advancing the argument that there are as many kinds of Detroit art as there are individual artists, the authors write about work created in a wide range of media, from painting, photography, ceramics, and textiles to performance, installation, and architectural intervention, produced in a kaleidoscopic array of individual styles. Some of the artists this volume highlights include S. Kay Young, an attendee of the College for Creative Studies with a thirty-year photography career; multimedia artist Adam Lee Miller, who is one half of the band ADULT; fiber artist and 2015 Kresge fellow Carole Harris; and master staff carver/mosaicist David Philpot. While Detroit has long been home to a storied and industrious community of artists, there has been relatively little writing that explores, analyzes, and contextualizes their work. Now, with renewed regional, national, and international attention being paid to Detroit and its creative culture, it is more important than ever that the evolving and vital work of the city's artists be documented and made known to the wider public. The new essays collected here, written in a format that is at once in-depth and accessible, continue the authors' ongoing mission to introduce the Detroit art community to the world, one artist at a time. Art lovers and regional history buffs will appreciate this continued conversation.