Visual Artist, Arts Administrator, & Writer

Dolores Slowinski is a textile artist that has always had an affinity towards the arts; however, when her college career began at University of Detroit Mercy her major was in biology and chemistry. While enrolled at U of D she took an art class at CCS and soon afterwards made the switch from science to art and decided to transfer to Wayne State University where she graduated with a BFA in weaving and ceramics. Post graduation Slowinski was working as the Director of the Michigan Art Train and was the Executive Director of the Museums Association. In addition to arts administration she has worked as an art writer for national, regional, and local magazines. Slowinski took a 30 year haitus from creating to care for her family, but once she returned to her practice in 1999 it is as though every line in her hand-stitched drawings tell a story we have been longing to hear.

Visual Artist & Educator

Susan Aaron-Taylor is a sculptor and storyteller. Her knowledge in Jungian psychology, dream imagery, ancient cultures, shamanism, and alchemy has led her to create art that takes on a spirit of its own. The subjects of Aaron-Taylor’s artwork are often animals or a hybrid of animal and human; most recently she created an entire body of work dedicated to endangered animals. Her use of natural materials such as fleece, wood, bones, and crystals helps elevate the connection between earth and spirit world - creating a threshold that can “bring back the parts of people’s souls that left because it is too painful to stay there.” In addition to being a working artist, Susan Aaron-Taylor was a faculty member at CCS from 1980-2013 where she held many roles such as: Chair of the Crafts Department, Section Chair of the Fiber Design Department, and is currently Professor Emerita in the Crafts Department.

Visual Artist & Educator

Donita Simpson received her first camera at six years old and the first photo she ever took was of her grandfather. She was a student of Barry Roth and Jan Rosenbaum at Wayne State University where she received her BFA, MFA, and MEd Donita Simpson is well known for her portrait photography; specifically portraits of Detroit artists. Simpson has published two photograph books: Detroit Portrait Project and Detroit Framed the Colored Portraits. Donita Simpson’s photograph of Jo Powers and Gilda Snowden are award-winning; Gilda’s portrait has even traveled across the nation. Simpson taught photography at Marygrove College and Wayne State University for a total of five years and enjoyed teaching analog photography the most.

Visual Artist

Gordon Newton was a multidisciplinary artist and veteran of the Cass Corridor art scene of the 70s and 80s. He was inspired heavily by industrial architecture of Detroit’s post-rebellion. Aside from paintings or assemblage of Detroit ruins, Newton was a lover of abstract expressionism and would create distorted portraits. Due to his ties in the Cass Corridor art scene, Gordon Newton often exhibited at the Willis Gallery which was a cooperative space often run by other artists working in the Cass Corridor.

Visual Artist, Collector, and Art Advocate

James H. Dozier’s journey into the arts was not a linear path. His collegiate background is in computer science and chemistry and he worked at the Waste Water Treatment Plant. It was not until his junior year that he decided to switch his major to art because he found a love for photography. While enrolled at Wayne State University for photography he became friends with local photographer & educator such as Marilyn Zimmerwoman. While working for the Water Department Dozier was pursuing his career as a photographer and began advocating for the arts. He realized many Detroiters were unaware of the arts & culture events that took place in the city so he would disperse the Metro Times which listed such events for the week in their newspapers. This caused much attention which led Dozier to up his game and he began his own newsletter, similar to Art Detroit Now, where he listed the openings for all the local arts & culture events. James H. Dozier has also been collecting artwork from Detroit creatives since the 90s and has been a member of the Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club since 2016.

Visual Artist, Educator, & Drummer

Rick Vian has been painting and playing drums since he was a child. He made his first oil painting at seven years old, ran a sign painting business in high school, and at age fourteen was playing gigs as the drummer in a band. Rick Vian is well-known for his plein-air landscapes and abstractions; over the past 50 years he has become accustomed to the ever-evolving patterning and repetition in his paintings. During the early 70s he taught for seven years at five different colleges and has had the chance to mentor many young artists. He and his wife Sue Carman-Vian are so dedicated to the arts that they have transformed the garage into the “Garage Mahal” where they have exhibited artwork of their own & their peers.

Visual Artist

Jeanne Bieri is a painter and textile artist who did not discover her love for artmaking until the 1980s. Her first art professor at Wayne State University was Sergio De Giusti and he taught her the fundamentals in figure drawing. Currently, the figures in Bieri’s black & white paintings are oftentimes from old snapshots that she has collected from antique shops or has inherited from family & friends. She views the act of painting this images as a way of not only connecting with the people who were in the photograph, but her relationship with the photographer and the subjects relationship with the photographer, creating the ultimate narrative. Similar to her paintings, her quilts have stories to share as well. Inspired by the women in her family who told stories through their own quilting endeavors and the availability of her dad’s Army blankets, Bieri has created countless tales in her work. “Each stich a meditation. Each stitch a prayer”.

Visual Artist & Educator

John Albert Murphy is well-known for his delicate, and oftentimes transparent, slip-cast porcelain vessels. Murphy discovered his love for ceramics in the mid 70s and has been creating with clay ever since whether it’s via wheel, hand or slab building, extruded or slip-cast. There is a spiritual essence to his porcelain vessels; as though heaven’s gates opened and shone right through them. In addition to being a working artist, Murphy has taught at multiple colleges and overseas in Changchun, China.

Visual Storyteller

Olayami Dabls is a staple in the Detroit arts & culture community. Dabls does not refer to himself as an artist, rather a visual storyteller and creative of his own design instead. He owns & operates the MBAD African Bead Museum that spans almost an entire city block and houses 18 installations as well as the African Bead Gallery, N'kisi House, and African Language Wall. Dabls mission is to create a space for Black Detroiters to understand the immense power of their African heritage. Throughout Dabls creative process there are four common materials that can be found: iron, rocks, wood, and mirrors; all of which have served great purpose in African cultures and traditions. Iron is the most abundant material in the universe, without rocks Earth could not exist, wood is used in relation to the strength & wisdom of trees, and mirrors are used because they hold the truest energies and distance; an exact image free of distortion. Before Dabls, nothing like the bead museum or its surrounding murals existed in Detroit - he was the exception to the rules and he said “If you’re conforming, how the hell can you do something creative?”

Performing and Visual Artist & Educator

Sue Carman-Vian is a well-known performing and visual artist in Detroit. Sue Carman-Vian graduated from Western Michigan University with a degree in Art Education, and as an educator is when she first began her career as a performing artist because she was inspired by happenings and decided to implement said happenings into her Art Ed curriculum. From 1984-2014 she has written, directed, produced and performed in nine productions; some of which were sponsored by Marygrove College and Friends of Modern Art. From 1986-2009 she has written, directed, produced and performed in eleven films/videos. Many of her performances are in conjunction with her visual art and collaboration works with other visual or performing artists. Dreams become realities in Carman-Vian’s artwork because she is not afraid to dabble with the fanciful and impossible.

Visual Artist & Educator

Barry Roth is a photographer and educator from Detroit. His love for photography began at age nine when he received a book about photography and as a result, rode his bike to the camera store and bought a Kodak. In 1976 Roth received his MFA in photography from Cranbrook University, and during his time their he was under the tutelage of Carl Toth and Robert Creeley (who was good friends with beatnik author, Jack Kerouac). To Roth, “Art is about exploration and discovery” and there is no absence of exploration or discovery in his photography. Barry Roth’s work is not about showcasing externalization, but instead an internalization. He is not afraid to tamper with the “fragility” of his negatives and is willing to cut, tear, and collage his photographs together to create a whole.

Visual Artist

Constance (Coco) Bruner has always had a way of thinking [or creating] outside of the box… when she was in 3rd grade she was assigned a project on the Civil War and instead of writing a paper like most students did, she created an oil painting instead. Bruner is a multi-media artist and movement is an important element to her work; it is as though each drawing or sculpture takes on a life of its own. Coco Bruner’s gestural lines in her drawings and paintings almost create a dance between one another; some dancing in rhythm and others to the beat of their own drum, but when they come together they create a unified whole.

Visual Artist & Educator

Jo Powers is well-known for her figure drawings and paintings. She has the ability to capture the human form and expressions in a manner that makes you believe if you were to touch the painting you could feel the warmth of that person’s flesh. In addition to figure drawing and painting, Powers is also intrigued by sculpting with found objects and painting & drawing industrial scenes. She once said “linear perspective is the grammar of drawing”. Jo Powers has taught for decades, both in Germany and in the Detroit area; one would believe her expertise in perspective and figure drawing provided her students with an array of knowledge they may not have gotten elsewhere.

Visual Artist & Educator

Judy Bowman is a mixed media collage artist and visual griot. Her artwork emphasizes Black culture and its importance. Bowman grew up in Black Bottom Detroit and moved to Atlanta, Georgia at eighteen years old to go to school at Spelman College. She moved to Atlanta during the civil rights movement, and it was here that she learned about the importance of Black culture and excellence. While there she was there Coretta Scott King asked her to design banners with Martin Luther King’s quotes on them to be used during civil rights marches. Judy Bowman was on a hiatus from her art practice for 35 years while she raised her family and was an educator and school administrator. She returned to her art practice fifteen years ago and her career as an artist has soared over the past seven years.

Visual Artist, Poet, Puppeteer, & Musician

Maurice Greenia, Jr, aka Maugré, eats, sleeps, and breathes creativity. He draws and writes from the moment he opens his eyes, to laying his head down to rest, and I’m sure his dreams are just as fanciful as his artwork. Greenia started his own art blog, Poetic Express, in 1985. This blog houses drawings, paintings, and written word done by himself. Greenia explains “I am always experimenting like a scientist in a laboratory.” He is inspired by cartoons, surrealism, and dreamscapes. Maurice Greenia’s abstracted figures and animals are lively with colors, shapes, lines, and texture. In addition to writing and visual art, Greenia is a performing artist in the realm of puppeteering and experimental music.

Visual Artist, Educator, & Gallerist

Gilda Snowden was a well-known and loved figure in the Detroit art community. Snowden loved the immediacy of paint and created wildly colorful abstracts. In 1985, she became a professor at the College for Creative Studies where she taught until her passing. Snowden befriended and mentored many contemporary artists of Detroit, such as: Sabrina Nelson, Jeanne Bieri, Skip Davis, Yvette Rock, Dalia Reyes, and more. In addition to working as an artist and educator, she also served as a curator and juror for art exhibitions at CCS and was the gallery director of Detroit Repertory Theatre.