Library Visit – Detroit/ Grosse Pointe
This past November I flew out to Detroit Michigan to do a library visit and see the city for the first time. Here’s a shot of me reading to a small crowd at the central Detroit Public Library thanks to Halima Davis who gave me a shot!
I didn’t get many shots of the flight out there but I flew from Oakland to Chicago, then to Detroit and when I arrived it was night time. I took the bus from the airport through the city. Once I got downtown I took the Q-Line to stay with my homie, artist, organizer, and mama Halima Cassells who I know from my time living in Brooklyn NY over 15 years ago.
The next day I would travel down Woodard to the central Detroit Public Library, one of the largest and most beautiful libraries I’ve ever seen. I walked in, found the children’s room which was HUGE and started to get set up.
I walked in and met Halima the librarian and one of the owners of SourceBooks; Allyson Turner!
I gave them both some prints and then we started the reading!
When doing any readings at a public place it’s hit or miss. Sometimes people show up, sometimes they don’t. Halima gathered a few families who came to the library that day and I had two visitors who came specifically to listen to my story.
The reading went pretty good! They asked questions, I got some of my regular call and response in, I showed them some of the process art, and I even grabbed books from the room to share with them to entice them into getting their own library card :).
Big shout out to Halima for snapping photos during the reading and giving me a tour of the library!
Next, I went to go check out the Detroit Institute of Arts!
They had many different sections, both modern and old. But what I really came to see was the Diego Rivera murals and man did they live up to the reputation. They were absolutely beautiful and because they were painted in fresco style, they look just as vibrant as they day they were painted!
The following day I went to check out a really cool Black Owned bookstore called Source Booksellers who’ve been in Detroit since 2002. I also met up with my friend Tiffany Rachann, founder of Imagiread, educator, artist, mama, and incredible producer
This is me, Tiffany Rachann, Janet Webster Jones, and Alyson Turner
Me and Tiffany Rachann!
Next up, I did a workshop about merchandise at Grosse Pointe Library which is east of Detroit. Big shout out to author, artist, comedian, mama, and librarian Stephanie Fazekas invited me to come present!
While walking around the library I saw some books by some Bay Area friends 🙂
The first thing I did was set up a table featuring the kind of merchandise I create which is bookmarks, stickers, postcards, art prints, and I brought my most recent book.
In my merch workshop I talked about:
- My origins, what I make
- I defined what it means to make merchandise
- Shared examples of merch or reasons for making it
- Ideas for finding your niche
- How and where to sell it
- How to package it
- Some basic book keeping
- And how to keep going when you hit a block
Here’s an example slide that I used to talk about product packaging.
This was a small workshop with just 4 of us but it was a great trial run for me regarding merch, how I’ve made what I have, and how to begin if you’re beginning. Ok, thats about it fam. This was a great trip and I hope to venture out to more places to do school or library visits and meet new folks.
BIG thanks to Halima Cassells, Halima Davis, Stephanie Hardy, The Source Booksellers, and Tiffany Rachann for making me feel so welcome in the D. Much love!
Dig this? Check out some photos from my visit to Sacajawea Elementary school in Seattle
