Allison Glenn will become artistic director of Shepherd, a diverse, community-focused arts campus in East Detroit

Allison Glenn. | Photo by Grace Roselli

A NEW EXHIBITION opened this month in East Detroit. “In an effort to be held” at Shepherd is presented by the Library Street Collective and curated by Allison Glenn, a New York-based curator and writer.

The group show, featuring 26 artists, focuses on experimentation with material and form in a variety of media. It includes masses of metal twisted and manipulated into anthropomorphic sculptures, mixed media works, assemblages and collages, paintings and watercolors, works made of beeswax and resin, and others that repurpose common objects and found artifacts such as doilies, tent fabrics, and decorative elements from a historic black church. The exhibition marks Glenn’s arrival as Shepherd’s artistic director.

A unique cultural district called Little Village is emerging in East Detroit. At the center of the multifaceted development is The Shepherd, a renovated 110-year-old disused Romanesque-style church surrounded by a 3.5-acre campus. The church building, which will house In an effort to be held, includes two exhibition spaces, a public library curated by the Black Art Library, workshop areas, and a performing arts theater. The adjacent rectory has been remodeled as a bed and breakfast for visiting artists.

ANTHONY CURIS AND JJ CURIS, the married co-founders of Library Street Collective, a commercial art gallery in downtown Detroit, developed the art campus and are leading the transformation of the broader community. The Shepherd is an outpost of the gallery, conceived as a hybrid space, part institution, part community center, where exhibitions also feature some works for sale.

The Shepherd’s grounds also include artist McArthur Binion’s Modern Ancient Brown Foundation, a public skate park designed by Tony Hawk and Binion, and Charles McGee Legacy Park, a public sculpture garden honoring the late Detroit artist Charles McGee (1924-2021), who completed designs for the garden before his death.

A few months ago, a solo exhibition by McGee opened Shepherd’s. “Charles McGee: Time is Now” was curated by Jova Lynne, artistic director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. About a week after the opening, a major appointment was announced.

On May 23, the Library Street Collective announced that Glenn had joined Shepherd as artistic director. Glenn, who grew up in Detroit, began working at Shepherd in January. Her appointment was first reported on April 25 in a New York Times article about the community revitalization and cultural district being built about 15 minutes from downtown Detroit.

As Shepherd’s artistic director, Allison Glenn focuses on developing exhibitions, programs, and partnerships. Her first exhibition, “In an effort to be held,” opened on August 3.

The Shepherd: Exterior aerial view, church in background, skate park in foreground. | Photo by Jason Keen, courtesy of Library Street Collective

GLENN’S PRACTICE FOCUSES ON the connection between art and public space. A visiting curator in the Department of Film Studies at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, she previously served as senior curator at the Public Art Fund in New York (2022-23); senior curator and director of public art at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; and assistant curator of contemporary art at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas (2018-21). Glenn also co-curated Counterpublic 2023, the public art triennial in Saint Louis, Missouri.

One of her most well-known projects emerged in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests demanding criminal justice reform and police accountability at the height of the pandemic in 2020. Glenn served as curator of “Promise, Witness, Remembrance” at the Speed ​​Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky (2021–22). The exhibition explores the life of Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by police in her Louisville home. Critically acclaimed and locally praised, the group show was organized with community involvement and the blessing of Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer.

As the Shepherd’s artistic director, Glenn focuses on developing exhibitions, programs, and partnerships. Her first exhibition, “In an effort to be held,” opened on August 3. Some works are for sale and others are available on loan. The exhibition features works by Kevin Beasley, Bethany Collins, Ed Clark, Genevieve Gaignard, Wangechi Mutu, Angel Otero, Zak Ové, Naudline Pierre, Christina Quarles, Kellie Romany, Paul Verdell, Kennedy Yanko, and Cullen Washington Jr., among other artists.

In the announcement of her appointment, Glenn said she was “excited” about her new opportunity to work at Shepherd. She said, “It is an honor and privilege to return to the city and communities that nurtured my early development.” CT

“In an effort to be held” will be on view at Shepherd in Detroit, Michigan, from August 3 to October 12, 2024.

Find out more about Allison Glenn on her website and Instagram

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Shepherd and East Detroit’s Little Village cultural district, visit the Library Street Collective website and the city’s Seen magazine.

The Shepherd: Interior view of the church, nave gallery and transepts. | Photo by Jason Keen, courtesy of Library Street Collective

BOOKSHELF
Promise, Witness, Remembrance documents the exhibition organized by Allison Glenn at the Speed ​​Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky. The show honored Breonna Taylor and featured 32 works, including a portrait of Taylor by Amy Sherald. Glenn is also co-editor of Others Shall Come: Curatorial Voices, an Also Known As Africa (AKAA) publication released after the 8th edition of AKAA in Paris, France, and in advance of the art fair’s first edition in Los Angeles, California, in May 2024. Edited by three curators, the publication examines the practices of twenty artists from the African diaspora.