Did anyone notice that one of the city’s most valued cultural treasures got a paint job earlier this summer?

It’s like failing to notice that your sweetheart did something new with their hair.

The chimney of Pewabic Pottery’s Jefferson Avenue headquarters is one of those low-key icons of Detroit. For years, it was adorned with oversized Pewabic tiles with their signature iridescent glaze. It was part billboard for their well-known product. It was part beacon and attraction on the city’s humble eastside skyline.

Those tiles, however, were doomed. They were falling off and shattering on the ground below. It’s a costly and tiring thing to keep outfitting a building that dates back to 1907 with fresh tiles.

That’s where painters Sadie Heisler and Kelly Golden stepped in with a crafty solution.

Why not paint the chimney to imitate and recreate Pewabic tiles? No more cracked tiles. No more replacing them as they fell and shattered. Considering you can’t actually climb up and get up close to the tiles themselves, it’s a brilliant plan.

Soaring about Pewabic on a lift, Heisler and Golden used a trompe l’oeil approach. It’s an ancient decorative painting technique seen throughout the world where paint is used to create a visual illusion of depth.

“This job was the perfect opportunity to implement this technique, to create a subtle illusion of those iconic ceramic tiles,” Heisler told Midbrow.

So subtle, in fact, that no one really noticed. That’s how convincing the paint job is.

It’s a massive feather in the cap, however, for two painters who get to be part of Pewabic’s legacy. It’s also a clever approach to historic preservation that keeps the essence of their headquarters intact.

“My favorite thing about working on historic buildings is how each structure is imbued with a singular personality and history,” says Heisler. “Throughout the process of working on a project, you become familiar with its past and form a connection with all the craftspeople who came before you. It was a true joy to honor Pewabic’s legacy!”

Here’s to bringing a little more notoriety to a crafty execution on the city’s east side.

This article was originally published on Midbrow. 

It’s only the day after Dolly Parton’s passing, and we still don’t quite have the words, yet, to fully quantify the loss of such an artist, such a human: a songwriter, an actor, an activist, and a shining example of how to forge a career embued with intention, compassion and charming, down-to-earth wisdom. Not to mention, staggering talent. 

On this week’s MI Local, I started off the show with some of the latest releases by artists from around the region, including new singles from Michigander, Bonnie Hook, Mike Ward, and CHECKER, while also checking in on shows that you can catch over the Labor Day weekend. 

But I reached out to some local songwriters to see if they wanted to share their love for the legacy of Dolly and honor her with a cover of a song of hers, one that meant a lot to each of them, “Coat of Many Colors.” Stream the show, but keep your ear out for the last 10 minutes, when songwriters Emily Rose and Audra Kubat provide backing harmonies and vocals to Sodra Jane, who takes lead and plays guitar. It was late at night, after a rough day, with the feelings still so raw, so you won’t hear us able to conjure much as far as conversation or conventional interview back-and-forth, other than the audible brief gaps where you can be assured that tears are being subdued. 

I have always appreciated how sincere our local musicians are, how open and candid they are about the love they hold for the artists that have inspired them. Dolly inspired us all. 

Kiara Williams is a dedicated movie lover. Some of her earliest and fondest childhood memories involve watching movies at her grandmother’s apartment and going to the theater with her friends as a teenager.

Last year, while watching the film “Sinners” at the theater, Williams realized it took her over 20 minutes to get there, and it would take her over 20 minutes to get back. The New York native thought it was ridiculous to need a vehicle and a hefty commute to see a movie. 

So, she decided to start her own theater, Treuse Cinema, in the heart of Detroit. 

Williams says movies bring hope—something the city deserves. 

“Movies give us the ability to dream,” Williams says. “One of the elders here that I’ve connected with in Detroit, his name is Maurice, he told me that when movie theaters stopped existing in Detroit, they took away the ability for Detroiters to dream.” 

Williams believes that Detroit should have access to quality films just like any other city.

 She hopes to build that access from the ground up.  

“Detroit has always been a city of stories, and I believe that the lack of a cinematic infrastructure for that medium to be shown, for those stories to be told, is devastating,” Williams said. 

More than just a movie theater

Williams is currently building community support for her project, Treuse Cinema, an expansive tri-use space. 

“This space exists in many different contexts,” she explains. “It’s for filmmakers to come and get inspired, for people to have a good movie-going experience, for the broader film industry to connect with the Detroit talent that’s already been here.”

Right now, Treuse Cinema is just an idea. Williams is searching for a permanent location in the city. Meanwhile, she and her partners have hosted various events to get Detroiters engaged with the concept.

Filmmakers Influx: Detroit

Williams hosted “Filmmakers Influx: Detroit” at The Shepard Art Gallery in July.

The event was designed to connect creatives and encourage collaboration ‘to have an energy of people connecting, stories overlapping that people would have never thought would overlap.’

The event had music, food and a panel of three Detroit-based filmmakers, who spoke about their experiences.

Filmmaker Paisley Sutton sees the need for film spaces in the city. “Detroit has such an amazing art scene, we’ve set the tone for so much culture around the world,” Sutton said. “So, I think it’s only right that we have strong communities, especially film communities here in Detroit.” 

Another panelist, Liv Morris, says that with so many big corporations coming into Detroit, communities like the one Williams is creating are extremely important. “There are a lot of institutions and big corporations coming in, in order to make something of Detroit, versus people who are actually trying to connect with artistic communities—and I think Kiara is one of those people,” Morris said. 

Community is one of the most important aspects of the project for Kiara Williams. She says she wants to create a space where movie-going can become a local, people-focused event. 

“I believe in people power,” Williams said. “I no longer see the power in corporatism, I know they have power with money, but we can access that, we can get the money, and I don’t need to waiver on my dream. I don’t need to waiver on what I believe and if there’s not alignment, then they’re not a part of the dream.” 

Above all else, Williams wants her future movie theater to be a place where Detroiters can connect with each other and with their dreams. 

Williams plans to continue organizing pop-up events until Treuse Cinema finds its forever home.