Allison Glenn is a New York-based curator and writer focusing on the intersection of art and public space, through public art and special projects, biennials, and major new commissions by a wide range of contemporary artists. She is a Visiting Curator in the Department of Film Studies at the University of Tulsa, organizing the Sovereign Futures convening, and Artistic Director of The Shepherd, a three-and-a-half-acre arts campus part of the newly christened Little Village cultural district in Detroit.
DC: I’d like to begin by talking about the new exhibition you curated that’s opening at the Shepherd this month, The Sea, the Sky, and You and I. Could you talk a little bit about the framework of the exhibition and some of the specific works being showcased? I’d also love to learn more about the series of new commissions focused on histories of the City of Detroit.
The concepts behind The Sea and the Sky, and You and I were inspired by enduring relationships that artists have with the landscapes of Detroit, which I witnessed firsthand, having grown up in the city and suburbs, and attending Wayne State University for my undergraduate studies. In the late 20th century, at a time when divestment in the city was at an all time high, artists like Olayami Dabls and Tyree Guyton were steadfast in their commitments to developing rigorous public art and pedagogical practices that engaged with the core tenets of what it meant to be in Detroit, a city rich with foundational histories that have reverberated outwards. This exhibition is an attempt to look back at over three decades of artistic practices like Dabls and Guyton, while also recognizing the next generation of artists like Bryce Detroit, LaKela Brown, Jamea Richmond-Edwards, and Halima Afi Cassels, whose practices are informed by a deep care for Detroit, her landscapes, equity, and the legacies of artists in the city who came before them.
It expands to artists outside of Detroit, such as regenerative ecologies sculptor and activist Jordan Weber’s new commission 12th Street Chop, a spliced 1969 GTO Judge, made by predominantly Black assembly workers in Detroit. Jordan Weber has embedded 12 meteorites on the surface of the car, representing 1967’s 12th Street Riots, or Detroit Uprising. Weber has stuffed car’s underbelly with bricks of dirt from Black-owned land in Detroit, relying on multiple references to imply land value.
In 2018, New Orleans native L. Kasimu Harris noticed that Black bars and lounges in his city were vanishing. Historically, Black bars have been the site of Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Mardi Gras (or Black Masking) Indian culture and practice, and neighborhood connection. In an effort to capture this fleeting moment, Harris started documenting Black bars in New Orleans. Recently, the artist expanded his work to Mississippi, Chicago, and, in summer 2025, Detroit. As part of Sea and Sky, Kasimu will be creating a series of photographs documenting historic Black-owned bars in Detroit, which will be on view for a year in The Belt, starting in early August.
Detroit-artist Scott Hocking was in residence at Stanton Yards during the Spring of 2025, creating his new Water Works series of sculptures from discarded items at the maritime site on the Detroit River. His new outdoor sculpture Self-Portrait of Hieronymus Bosch in the Garden of Earthly Delights, which is located on the Shepherd grounds, is created entirely from steel sailboat stands and maritime artifacts. Inspired by The Sea and the Sky, and You and I, Hocking explored ideas of history and duality—the sky and sea, landscapes and skyscapes, life and death, the earth and heavens, and the reflections and interplay between the two—to develop this drawing in space.
The idea to include programmatic partnerships was developed out of a respect and reverence for artist and community-founded public art projects across the city, like Guyton’s Heidelberg Project, Dabls MBAD African Bead Museum, Bryce Detroit and The Garage, Kim and Rhonda Theus and Canfield Consortium, and Tanya Stephens and Haus of Imagination & Gardens.
DC: What are the opportunities and possibilities that most excite you about curatorial work at the Shepherd?
It feels so good to be in dialogue with the city and communities that raised me. Detroit is full of visionary artists, and always has been, and I am so excited to be able to think and build collaboratively with an incredible team and such brilliant artists.
DC: The Shepherd is a new cultural arts center located on Detroit’s east side in a former Catholic Church, I’m curious if you could share what some of the unique challenges and possibilities of curating in a space like this that comes with its own specific architecture and cultural connotations. How does it compare to curating a show within the supposedly “neutral” white cube of the traditional modern art gallery?
A huge part of my career has been focused on working outside of traditional spaces. Even when working at Crystal Bridges, which is a major museum, I was focused on the outdoor trails and introduced non-traditional installation and exhibition ideas. I have built a career working this way. The interstitial is where I live, and the Shepherd offers both opportunities to work within the white cube and outside of it.
In previous exhibitions, we have installed artwork both on and above the altar, invited artists to respond to the central oculus, and suspended work from the mezzanine. Sea & Sky is a little more reserved, but there is a large, spliced 1969 Pontiac GTO emerging from the center of the former nave, like a haunting!
DC: What do you see as the role of the Shepherd within its specific East Village community? Who do you consider your audience to be? Are exhibitions and programming shaped at all by an interest in serving this community and its specific interests/desires/needs, etc.? If so, how do you go about approaching this issue?
The Shepherd has a unique opportunity to present thought-provoking, provocative, contemporary art in a neighborhood rich with histories. For some, the Shepherd will be a destination, and for others, they’ll find out about the programming through engagements with other organizations in East Village, or through an interest in checking out the restaurants, skatepark, boutiques like Coup d’Etat, I.M. Weiss Gallery, or Progressive Art Studio Collective, and that’s perfect. As an anchor institution in the East Village, it similarly provides opportunities for audiences to be exposed to the myriad businesses in the neighborhood. We are an organization that is open to anyone and everyone, and I hope that the exhibitions we curate and the programs we develop speak to this openness.
DC: In this specific political and cultural moment in which the NEA is being dismantled, what do you see as the role of art in a democracy? What do you see as some of the most important or exciting social roles of art? (Phrased differently: What can art do for society that most excites you?)
This is not the first time that we have seen the NEA in crisis. When the NEA’s cuts of direct funding to artists happened in 1999, Creative Capital was founded to provide direct, unrestricted funding to artists. After 25 years, Creative Capital is still very active, and highly regarded as a prestigious award. It’s my hope that we as an arts community under attack find ways to continue our vital work, and that alternative funding streams emerge to support the critical work of our time. Art is everything.
