- Welcome to "American Black Journal."

I'm your host, Stephen Henderson.

Each year, Kresge Arts in Detroit celebrates the lifetime achievements and contributions of a metro Detroit artist with its Kresge Eminent Artist Award.

This year's recipient is Tyree Guyton, a Detroit-born artist, known for creating the Heidelberg Project in 1986.

The outdoor neighborhood art space has attracted international acclaim.

And it was recently announced that the project's complete archive is gonna be housed at the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University.

I spoke with Tyree Guyton and his manager, Jenenne Whitfield.

Now, Tyree, I'm gonna start with you.

And first, offer my congratulations for the honor that the Kresge Foundation is bestowing upon you, Eminent Artist for this year.

I first just want to get your reaction to the announcement and the honor.

- Well, I would say to you, life is full of surprises.

- (laughs) You couldn't have been that surprised.

I mean, maybe a little.

- Well, yes and no to that.

I didn't expect it.

And that day I was in, I was in a cloud.

I couldn't believe that it was me, but why not me?

- Right?

- Why not me?

- So, I'm somebody who grew up here in the '70s and '80s and I remember distinctly when you started the work over at the Heidelberg Project, and it has been, it's been part of the narrative here in the city since then.

Let's go back though to that beginning and talk just a little about what you aimed to be saying with what you were doing and what impact you thought it would or could have on that part of the city and on the city as a whole.

- Well, that's a lot.

I wanna see if I can answer some of those questions.

- Yeah.

- First of all, I believe for me, I found my purpose, I found my calling.

I believe that everything in this world happens at the right time.

In 1986, that beautiful day, the sun was shining.

I was standing in the doorway looking out at that neighborhood.

I had this epiphany.

And oh my goodness, I went out there and the first thing I did, I started to clean up that community, the neighborhood.

As I sat here, we have had 144 countries to come and visit us.

Jenenne and I, we have traveled around the world.

And I just knew.

Just knew in my soul that it was gonna do something for the city and the world.

And it's happening.

- Yeah.

- I'm living my dream.

- (laughs) And doing it in your own neighborhood, which I think is a very, it's a very Detroit story, right?

This is a city where our attachment to place, I think looks different than it does in other places.

Jenenne, I wanna bring you into the conversation here and have you talk also about this honor in the work, but also about this other kind of milestone that's being reached, which is that the Reuther Library at Wayne State is going to archive and catalog all of what's happened at the Heidelberg Project.

- Yeah.

That's exciting because this is our 40th anniversary.

And we have collected and held onto all of the different organizations, the different papers, the different court cases, you know, the accolades.

All of that we've just been collecting and holding onto because we knew that it would be important because it is such a Detroit story like you talked about.

So, being able to assemble these documents, having Wayne State to play a big part in organizing them and preparing them so that people, Wayne State University is also a research institution known internationally, and the Heidelberg Project is known internationally.

So, it's a perfect marriage and it is, as you say, a very important Detroit story.

- Yeah, yeah.

Tyree, in the next year, as you are the Eminent artist, I mean, you'll have opportunities to send this message into, I guess, maybe a different space than it has been.

I wonder if you've given a lot of thought yet to what you wanna do in that space, in that year.

What message you want to project from all of this work over 40 years?

- Well, 40 years that I sit here listening to your question, I decided I was gonna just take a break.

(Stephen laughs) - Just take a break.

- I've been busy.

- Yeah.

- I've been busy for 40 years.

- Yeah.

- I think there comes a time where you have to take a break and regroup.

And that's what's happening.

- Yeah.

- It's also time to slow down.

It's time to just make some time for Tyree.

That's what I'm doing.

- Wow.

Wow.

So, and then in that time, what are you discovering?

What are you feeling, I guess?

And what is that doing for you?

- Well, it's doing, golly, so much.

I mean, it's, well, first of all, the award came at the right time.

And I'm gonna repeat that.

The right time.

It's been a big help.

I'm finding myself.

I am rediscovering who I am for Tyree.

And I'm so excited about that.

- Yeah?

- Slowing down and taking time to assess all of this, that I have done, this award, of working with Wayne State University.

And I'm so glad I have a team of folks that has been a big help, such as Jenenne Whitfield, Andy Stern, and so I can slow down now.

- It's time.

- Yeah, yeah.

- He's not telling you the truth.

(everyone laughs) - What's the truth, Jenenne?

- He doesn't really slow down, Stephen.

But I do think that this acknowledgement and this award has given, from his own city, has given Tyree an opportunity and he has been doing a lot of writing and a lot of reflecting.

And there has been, you know, it's just difficult for a man who's so prolific to really slow down like that.

That's why I think he's kinda struggling with that.

But I do think that there are moments where he is in a lot of reflection right now after 40 years, which is really beautiful.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Let's talk about the current state of the project.

And I guess what you hope for its future.

Obviously, the archiving of it is important, but still a living, breathing part of Detroit.

I wonder what you imagine for it in the next years or decades.

- Well, I'm going to say this to you and Jenenne.

I'm gonna let the Heidelberg Project take me where I need to go.

I will say for myself, I've come to the realization of knowing that life is bigger than Tyree Guyton.

And there comes to time, you just have to let it take you where you need to go.

That's what I'm doing.

- Yeah.

- This a Detroit story, and I have played a part in helping to tell this Detroit story.

It's a story for the world.

I meet people every single day when I'm home from all over the world.

I see this project as a magnet.

I see it as a bridge that brings people here.

And I wanna say this here.

I remember meeting with Dennis Archer.

Ae said something to myself and Jenenne.

I said, "I'm doing this for the community."

And he said, "Define your community."

And I said, "Well, the neighborhood I grew up in."

And he told me that I had to think global.

The world is your community.

- And so, Stephen- - Well, you certainly embraced that.

Yeah, go ahead, Jenenne.

- I was just gonna say, just to kind of like, maybe summarize that really quickly, is that Heidelberg is transitioning now to more of Detroit time work project as Tyree, as we do work on legacy work.

And really, we're not gonna be here forever.

So the idea is that we should be preparing and we've got a 40th anniversary celebration coming up in October.

And what we're trying to do is really galvanize and organize this project in such a way where it can go on and live on beyond Tyree.

- Yeah, yeah.

Well, you know, as I said, as someone who grew up here as this was starting and has grown.

I mean there, there are a few other things I can point to in Detroit that have been as strong a part of the narrative, especially of art and expression as the Heidelberg Project has been.

So, again, just immense congratulations on the award.

And thank you for joining us here on "American Black Journal."

- Thank you.

- I appreciate it.

Thank you.