If both art and beauty are in the eye of the beholder, how long should that shelf life last when it comes to public art?
As Detroit becomes a bigger and bigger canvas that attracts more and more street artists, the works often draw both praise and criticism. However, as time and the artists move on, their work stays. More often than not it deteriorates and becomes a part of the blight it was often meant to stand in stark contrast with.
Not so with
Hopscotch Detroit. The 3.75 mile installation lined the sidewalks of the Lower Woodward Corridor between Campus Martius and Wayne State University's campus. Ajooni Seth, Dylan Box, Ellen Rutt and Laura Willming partnered with
Imagine Detroit Together to create the hopscotch trail in late September.
The group of young people used an organic paint made of water, corn starch, flour and sugar. They tested for a few months beforehand to make sure it would wash away within a few weeks. Much of the paint has already faded and disappeared entirely in some spots a few days after the installation was finished.
"The idea is having a temporary piece of art like this living in the moment," Willming says. "Hop now because if it rains within the next week you won't be able to."
Source: Laura Willming, co-creator of Hopscotch Detroit
Writer: Jon Zemke
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