Southfield Public Arts Commission unveils latest installation

SOUTHFIELD — You can’t miss it as you’re driving on either side of 11 Mile Road, east of Lahser Road. The 14-foot structure of handmade tiles mounted on a 4-foot base is an eye-catching kaleidoscope of vibrant colors and is Southfield’s newest wayfinder.

On June 12, the Southfield Public Arts Commission unveiled the city’s 25th installation, an obelisk presented by the Friends of Southfield Public Arts, a nonprofit dedicated to raising funds to support the efforts of the Southfield Public Arts Commission.

The public artwork presented by these groups is made possible through donations by those interested in promoting public art throughout the city.

The piece crafted by renowned Detroit artist Hubert Massey depicts Southfield’s diverse history, representing the Potawatomi tribe, whose name “Bodéwadmik” translates to “Keepers of the Fire” in the Ojibwe language; and the Mary Thompson farmhouse; as well as other cultural symbols that represent the city.

Massey was also commissioned to create the “Tapestry of a Community,” a six-piece mosaic mural located on Lawrence Technological University’s campus, along the nonmotorized Southfield City Centre Trail.

The new obelisk ties in to the previous piece with themes from Southfield’s history woven together with a colorful patterned ribbon that symbolizes the diverse cultures in metro Detroit. Massey was inspired by this idea of weaving cultures together when he observed a woman in the parking lot of the Center for Creative Studies. The woman was sitting with a child in her lap, threading a quilt with a pattern that represented the different cultures that lived in the community.

“I thought maybe whenever I do a piece, I’ll put this pattern in there and then wrap the city,” he said. “So it wraps not only in the city of Detroit but now it’s coming into Southfield. And it went from Lawrence Tech, and now it’s on 11 Mile near Lahser and Evergreen. The whole thing is to bring these communities all together; we’re all tied together in the field of creativity, in the field of art. It just embodies us as one family of different cultures.”

Massey is a Flint native who has lived in Detroit for over 40 years.

“I graduated on Friday and was in Detroit on Monday for work. I’ve been here ever since.”

He is a graduate of Grand Valley State University and studied at the University of London’s Slade Institute of Fine Art, where he realized his passion for art. He got his start doing hand-painted billboards in the ’80s and then shifted towards public art in 1992, when the digital age hit the billboard industry.

For the past 30 years, Massey has created more than 17 monumental pieces within the cities of Detroit, Grand Rapids and his hometown, Flint. He is known for his large-scale murals and is multifaceted, using multiple different mediums, such as frescos, mosaics, sculpture, terrazzo, stained glass and more. One of his most recent pieces includes a 15-foot-high, 1,500-foot-long mural for Stellantis, which is one the largest murals in Michigan.

For Massey, each public art project is different from the last, and he holds community forums at the beginning of each commission to hear the stories and learn more about the culture of the city or area he is creating for.

“I listen to people’s stories about their communities, and I’ll translate those stories into artwork. I’m interested in trying to celebrate and enhance communities with artwork that really represents that community and the uniqueness of the community. I just want to tell their story,” Massey said.

Mayor Ken Siver stated that he is pleased with the addition of Massey’s artwork in Southfield.

“We’re thrilled to work with an artist of the caliber of Hubert Massey. He is extremely talented.”

For more information on the Southfield Public Arts Commission, visit their Facebook page or contact SFLDPublicArts@gmail.com to make a tax-deductible donation or get involved. To learn more about Hubert Massey, visit hubertmasseymurals.net.