Front of the gallery for Sydney James's opening.

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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.

This gallery's less than half a mile away from Lib­er­al Arts Gal­lery. The two galleries some­times but not always have openings on the same day, rather than one on Fri­day and the other on the fol­low­ing Saturday.

In November 2016, Play­ground De­troit ran 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.

Current exhibition

• Endless Summer, Frank Lepkowski. Opened June 7.

Upcoming exhibitions

Not yet announced.

Past exhibitions

Keto Green (right) and Paulina Pet­kos­ki at the opening reception for his solo show. Photo by Alonso del Arte.

At the new permanent location

• Female Gaze, Kristin Adamcyzk, Martyna Alexander, Heidi Barlow, Zoe Beaudry, Amanda J. Cain, Caitlin Cartwright, Taylor Childs, Ijania Cortez, Caroline del Giudice, Andrea Del Rio, Bri Frey, Kelly Golden, Brooke Hitchcock, Sydney G. James, Munera Ziad Kaakouch, Shaina Kasztelan, Amber Lewis, Jade Lilly, Kate Maggart, Olivia Maldonado, Lena Marquise, Jaiel Nelson, Naomi Ning, Ash Nowak, Kat Quay, Rachel Pontious, Jamilah Renee, Cyndia Robinson, Emily Schnellbacher Bean, Lois Teicher, Eileen Tjan, Allison Marie Scout Waite, Bre'Ann White. March 22, 2025 — April 19, 2025.
• Noir Star, Miriam Uhura. February 15, 2025 — March 15, 2025.
• Det ♥ Los Angeles, group show fundraiser for the victims of the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. Jessica Ashburn, Larae Baker, Cassidy Barnett, Marlo Broughton, Shingo Brown, Jael Caliman, Bri Frey, Loralee Grace, Carman Jones, Munera Ziad Kaacouch, Sabrina Kliza, Rachel Knorp, Jen Prouty, Margit Raczkowski, Julianna Sanromán, Dawn Smith, Christopher Thomopoulos, Matthew Thornton, Ashley Worden. February 7 and 8, 2025.
• Contours, Dustin Cook. January 18, 2025 — February 1, 2025.
• City Wild, Ian John Solomon. November 23, 2024 — December 21, 2024.
• What Lived and Died Between Us Haunts Me, Julianna Sanromán. October 19, 2024 — November 9, 2024.
• Super Bloom, Quinn Faylor. September 7, 2024 — October 5, 2024.
• Instruments of Magic: Water and Light, Marta Abbott and Elizabeth Schmuhl. July 12, 2024 — August 10, 2024.
• Courts, Martyna Alexander. March 23, 2024 — April 20, 2024.
• Stripped, Brandon Altman. Slated to open February 10, with a reception from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and run to March 9. There will be a gallery talk on March 2 at 2:00 p.m.
• COMM[UNITY] II, Martyna Alexander, Batoul Ballout, Melinda Bandera, Cassidy Barnett, Michelle Bennett, C. J. Benninger, Sarah C. Blanchette, Kaleigh Blevins, Marlo Broughton, Alexandra Brueggeman, Marguerite Carroll Carlton, Joseph Cazeno III, Wilson Chukwuka Clifford, Dustin Cook, Kyla Curtis, Alonso del Arte, Caroline Del Giudice, Darrel Dinges, Kate Donoghue, Kashira Dowridge, Monica Dubray, Natalie Elle, Elizabeth Ewing, Jess Fendo, Daniel Geans, Ashley Gooden, Ash K. Guzman, Zach Hagy, Erik Henderson, Ryan Herberholz, Lydia Hershauer, Jay Holladay, Pei Huang, Torrence Jayy, A. J. Kesler, Taylor Knight, Allycia Laura, Cheyenne Lee, Chase Linden, Olivia Maldonado, Martin Milat Marquez, Anthony Maughan, Mike McKeown, Samantha Mera, Jennifer Mones, Demiân Monét, Katie Mongoven, Sergio Montanez, James Charles Morris, Amas Muhammad, Emilia Nawrocki, Sarah Nesbitt, Naomi Ning, Onzie Norman, Alyssa Grace Olson, Stephanie Onwenu, Danielle Owensby, Denzel Palm, Eric Pieti, Nick Pizaña, Michael Polakowski, Mark Sarmel, Elizabeth Schmuhl, Daniel Sharp, Katie Shulman, Andrea Slomczenski, Dawn Smith, Jacob Evan Smith, Vaugh Taormina, Mary Terhune, Rozalynd Triplett, Vincent Troia, Miriam Uhura, Brandon Vanno, Melinda Vukonich, Kayleigh Waterman, Lauren Williams, Niki Williams, Oshun Williams, Sophia Wojnovich, Ashley Worden. December 2, 2023 — January 13, 2024.
• In My Hands Are Galaxies, Cyrah Dardas. October 14, 2023 — November 18, 2023.
• United by Design, Mike Han. September 2 — 30, 2023.
• Dreamwork, Meredith Morrison. July 7, 2023 — August 12, 2023.
• Against It All, Keto Green. May 20, 2023 — June 17, 2023.
• And And And And, Zoe Beaudry. March 24, 2023 — April 29, 2023.
• Black + ______, Lo Braden. February 11, 2023 — March 11, 2023.
• Archive, a 5-year anniversary celebration exhibit. November 26, 2022 — January 31, 2023.
• Semillas, Ivan Montoya. Opened October 22 and slated to run to November 19, with a closing reception from noon to 5:00 p.m., and gallery talk with the artist at 3:00 p.m.
• Markings, Julian J. Jones. September 9, 2022 — October 15, 2022.
• 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.
• 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.

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

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.

On May 21, 2022, the gallery revealed An­tho­ny Bra­zeau's La Flotte, a site-specific in­stal­la­tion near the gallery.

At temporary locations

Luke Mack next to one of his paintings 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).
• Facebook page
• Instagram page
• 2016 Kickstarter project for a new space

Liam Eagan goes down the ladder during the opening reception for Ivan Montoya's solo show there.

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."