Sculpture Park off the Lodge Freeway aka City Sculpture

I'm a complete creature of habit: I basically eat the same breakfast, order the same beverage from Starbucks, and drive the same route to work. One day, in the middle of practicing my karaoke jam while driving, I noticed the glint of metal off to my upper left on the side of the Lodge freeway. I made a mental note to stop by there one day and see what was up. That may have been about two years ago...

When I decided on the Explore Detroit theme, I made a point to visit the sculpture park I passed every Saturday through Wednesday. This is an instance where I was so happy I took the time to make the trip: I spent a relaxing afternoon studying the work and generally wandering around the park.

This sign greets visitors to the City Sculpture park!

I parked my car and happily walked towards the open gate. It was then I learned the shiny objects visible from the Lodge freeway were the work of local artist Robert Sestok. He's been a busy guy, creating large scale metal pieces. The works themselves were varied: some were pieces in a series while others seemed to be an exploration of technique. While no two sculptures were the same, they all featured a skilled creator and a secure base. The professional care and mounting of these large art pieces was appreciated, especially considering the severe winds we had in our area recently.

This picture shows about half of the park.

One of my favorite pieces

 I really found myself lost in the pieces at City Sculpture. I had planned on just taking a few pictures with my phone but quickly found out that wasn't going to work! I ran back to my car and picked up my digital camera. While I was enjoying the art (and embracing my inner photographer), I suddenly realized I wasn't alone. A young couple had entered the park. They went to sit in the shade under the trees near the back of the park. I was so happy to see the neighborhood enjoying the park. While I appreciate the transition of many abandoned lots into community gardens, I was beyond grateful to have the chance to stroll through this sculpture garden. I think it would be great to have more sculpture gardens pop up in the city.

I'm convinced I must have been a welder in a past life. While I don't know the first thing about welding, I was intrigued by the construction of these pieces. The sheer size must have made the work extremely labor intensive. I didn't see any signs of a nearby studio or metal crafting tools, so I'm assuming all of these pieces were crafted in studio and moved here to the park for final assembly. Notice the orange snow fencing in a few of the pictures? I think the park will be receiving a new addition soon. There were several scaffolds in place. I'm excited to see what will arrive next.

Interested in visiting City Sculpture? You can find it at 955 W Alexandrine St. Detroit MI 48201. I'm not 100% sure about the hours of operation (the park gates have a locking mechanism) and I also didn't see too much in the way of lighting for evening viewing. I'm going to try and recruit a friend for an evening visit to see what happens after dark. I hope you enjoyed hearing about my trip to City Sculpture. Where will Explore Detroit take me next? Stay Tuned!

Thank you for reading.

Art Piece at City Sculpture