Detroit People Mover Art

One thing downtown Detroit has going for it is the People Mover. It's no L-train, but it does the job of transporting out-of-towners to places such as the Ren Cen, Joe Louis and Cobo in a clean, efficient and safe manner.

My favorite part of taking the short ride around the city? The beautiful artwork in the stations.

It was hard for me to pick a favorite, but these two are absolutely gorgeous in my eyes (information/photos taken from the People Mover Web site):

JOE LOUIS ARENA STATION - VOYAGE

"This piece was originally designed to be blue to depict the skys, since the images are of constellations. However, it was changed to orange to blend in with the colors of Joe Louis Arena. The artist painted a mural and sent the painting off to Crovatto Mosiacs, which is located in a little town in Italy. The town's chief industry is making venetian glass mosaics (too expensive to have done in the States). To make venetian glass workers pounded out very small pieces of colored glass and glued each piece with the flat side directly down onto sheets of paper. A wooden panel was then placed on top of the jagged sections, and shipped to Detroit. The panels were then installed on the station's walls. Then the sheets of paper were removed from the glass pieces to give us this finished art piece. The design is based on astrological signs from the 17th century."

CADILLAC CENTER STATION

"A profoundly rich green hue emanates from luminous arches, which are surrounded by Pewabic tiles that had been originally fired for the Stroh Brewery in 1955. The mural is interspersed with tiles depicting Detroit workers, which were originally installed in Detroit's Northern High School in 1926. The bronze plaque of Madame Cadillac entering Detroit after her canoe journey from Quebec is by Carlos Romanelli, dated 1903. It is presently on loan from the Detroit Institute of Arts."

Take a look at the site. What's your favorite piece?

Note: Apparently guided art tours are are available for groups of 10-30 by appointment through the tour season (May-October). Hmmm....may just have to get some folks together to learn about the art/history first hand!