Playground Detroit

2845 Gratiot
Detroit MI 48207

1535 Sixth Street
Detroit MI 48226

Founded by Paulina Petkoski and Samantha Bankle Schefman, the gallery was originally located in a third floor loft. Playground Detroit sometimes collaborates with the David Klein Gallery to put art installations in the window niches of that gallery's Detroit location.

In November 2016, Playground Detroit started a Kickstarter campaign to raise $75,000 toward the new space. On December 28, 2016, campaign pledges exceeded the goal by $630. The new space had its first exhibition in early 2018.

Upcoming exhibitions

La Flotte, Anthony Brazeau, site-specific installation near the gallery. Slated to open May 21, with a reception from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Past exhibitions

(left to right) Pauline Petkoski, Sydney G. James, Samantha Bankle Schefman, at the opening reception for James's solo show at Playground Detroit.

At the new permanent location

Fields, Martyna Alexander. April 9, 2022 — May 14, 2022.
Endangered Species, Cristin Richard, off-site at 1435 Farmer, Detroit. March 12 — 27, 2022.
Long Days, No Dreams, Marlo Broughton. February 19, 2022 — March 26, 2022.
I Feel Like I’ve Been Here Before, Bakpak Durden. November 13, 2021 — December? ??, 2021?
Relevant, Adeshola Makinde. July 30, 2021 — August 28, 2021.
Depth of Field, Jackson E. Joyce, Sheila Nicolin and Michael Polakowski. June 11, 2021 — July 17, 2021.
Afterimage, Frank Lepkowski, at the satellite location 8711 Grand River in Detroit. May 7 — 23, 2021.
U Up? at KO Studio Gallery. March 6 — 20, 2020.
Quiet Moonlight, Sun Wang. February 19, 2021 — March 27, 2021.
Show of Hands, at Caroline Del Giudice. November 19, 2020 — December? ??, 2020?
Making Waves. September 4, 2020 — October? ??, 2020.
Change of Plans, Anna Orletski and Sidd Finch. July 30, 2020 — August 20, 2020.
Sit Down Somewhere, Sydney G. James. October 12, 2019 — November 9, 2019.
Field Condtion, Patrick Ethen, off-site at 4885 15th, Detroit. September 7, 2019— October 4, 2019.
Detroit Swag, Judy Bowman. August 9 — 21, 2019.
Lush P(r)ose, Gisela McDaniel. June 15, 2019 — July 13, 2019.
Degradation Reservation, Scott Berels. May 4, 2019 — June 8, 2019.
Tumble, Dustin Cook. March 30, 2019 — April 27, 2019.
Definition of Red, Bre'Ann White. February 16, 2019 — March 16, 2019.
Plodded Account, James Oscar Lee. January 12, 2019 — February 9, 2019.
Hell Yes. November 17, 2018 — January 5, 2019.
PBR, GIF, sponsored by Milwaukee Brewing. September 28, 2018.
10 Warm Months, Danny Sobor. August 25, 2018 — September? ??, 2018.
A Difficult Pair, Victoria Shaheen and George Vidas. July 21, 2018 — August 18, 2018.
Relations Between, Elysia Vandenbussche. June 16, 2018 — July? 2018.
Snacks, Mike Burdick, James Noellert, Vaughn Taormina. May 12, 2018 — June? ??, 2018.
Chess Moves, Zach Thompson. April 13, 2018 — April? ??, 2018.
Amerixan Notion, Nic Notion. February 16, 2018 — ??? ??, 2018.
What Color Do You Want to Start With?. January 25, 2018 — February 1, 2018.

After obtaining a permanent location, the gallery has continued to have "off-site" exhibits, which sometimes overlap with the "on-site" exhibits.

Ellen Rutt's exhibit This Must Be the Place was hosted by Playground Detroit at Eightfold Creative, 2831 E. Grand Blvd. Opened July 20, 2019 and ran to July 27, 2019.

Scott Klinker's Structures of Light exhibit was at 1301 Broadway, Detroit. Opened January 10, 2020 and ran to January 31, 2020.

The Hum and Glow of Winter, an installation at Beacon Park by Michael Polakowski, opened on February 27, 2020. I don't know if it's still there.

James Oscar Lee's Null Account off-site exhibit at 1201 Bagley, in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood, not far from the gallery's original location, opened on February 15, 2020, and I believe it ran to March 28, 2020.

Myths + Figments, Antonia Stoyanovich, at 8711 Grand River. Opened October 29, 2020 and ran to November 21, 2020.

At temporary locations

The painter with one of his paintings at Playground Detroit

Luke Mack next to one of his paintmaings at a temporary Playground Detroit. location.

Kristin Adamczyk solo show at Two James, opened January 10, 2017, not sure how long it went for.
Blick fellowship exhibit at Pony Ride, So Hee Kim and Luke Mack. November 25 & 26, 2016.

At the original location

Patrick Ethen solo show. February 12, 2016 — ???
...a few more...

External links

Official website (advance warning: a very heavy website that can take a while to load).
2016 Kickstarter project for a new space
Facebook page

News

Jerilyn Jordan, "Playground Detroit celebrates a badass year of art with Hell Yes! exhibition ", Metro Times People Issue 2018, July 25 — 31, 2018.
Jerilyn Jordan, "The Curators", Metro Times People Issue 2018, July 25 — 31, 2018.
Katie Friedman, "Here to Play" (you might have to scroll down a bit) Hour Detroit, August 31, 2018.

Reviews

Ryan Standfest, "Dustin Cook @ Playground Detroit", Detroit Art Review, April 6, 2019. "Cook presents thirty new works on canvas that poke fun at tradition while also paying homage to it. This is a witty exhibition served up in a state of serious play."