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Tyree Guyton (born August 24, 1955) is an artist from Detroit, Michigan. [1] He is married to Jenenne Whitfield [2] and continues to live in Detroit. Before becoming an artist, Guyton worked as a firefighter and an autoworker and served in the U.S. Army.
6 days ago · To make his sculptures, Guyton uses salvaged materials from around Detroit, including discarded televisions. Credit... Photo by Nicholas Calcott. Photo assistant: Ece Yavuz.
- Childhood and Education
- Early Career
- Mature Period
- The Legacy of Tyree Guyton
Tyree Guyton was one of ten children, born to George Guyton and Betty Solomon Guyton. He was raised on Heidelberg Street in east Detroit by his mother and elder siblings. He recalled that his neighborhood had been "really beautiful, with well-kept houses on all the lots and happy kids playing in the street". But that changed abruptly in 1967 when r...
Back in Detroit in 1986, Guyton found Heidelberg Street (as with many parts of the of the city) much changed, due largely to a sharp upturn in drug-related crime. He decided to use art to improve the area which he did by creating a massive installation, reminiscent of the "Visionary Environments" (that is, large-scale immersive, architectural insta...
By 1996 Guyton's reputation was starting to gain international recognition through a photographic exhibition that toured Europe. His rising profile saw him receive his first significant grant from the City of Detroit Cultural Affairs Department in 1997. The money was used to develop a Café and Welcoming Center in Heidelberg. Although he still faced...
While it is not strictly accurate to refer to Tyree Guyton as an "Outsider Artist", his work, particularly his career spanning Heidelberg Project, is strongly reminiscent of "Visionary Environments" created by Outsider artists like Leonard Knight, Nek Chand, and Simon Rodia. At the same time Guyton's work falls within the category of Activist art a...
- American
- August 24, 1955
- Detroit, Michigan
Nov 19, 2013 · Watching the deterioration of his impoverished, crime-ridden neighborhood of McDougall-Hall two decades after Detroit's 1967 race riots, artist Tyree Guyton felt the need to do something. So he...
Tyree Guyton. Honorary Director, Heidelberg Project Board of Directors. Founding Artist, The Heidelberg Project. Tyree Guyton (b. 1955) was born and raised in Detroit on the street that gives its name to his most famous work - the Heidelberg Project.
In 1986, artist Tyree Guyton returned to Heidelberg, the street where he grew up on Detroit’s East Side, and found it in shambles, riddled with drugs and deepening poverty. Bruised by the loss of three brothers to the streets, Guyton was encouraged by his grandfather to pick up a paintbrush instead of a weapon and look for a solution.
Mar 8, 2007 · Guyton attended Ralph J. Bunche Elementary School, Miller Junior High School and Northern High School, but the accidental fatal shooting of his cousin caused him to drop out of Martin Luther King, Jr. High School in 1972 to join the United States Army.
