CCS and Wright Museum Partner for d.Tree Studio Exhibition

College for Creative Studies (CCS) and The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History are pleased to announce an exhibition showcasing their partnership for d.Tree Studio, a collaboration bringing together creative inquiry, craft, sustainability, community vision and storytelling. Featuring 12 new and emerging artists, six CCS students and six community makers on scholarship, the exhibition showcases narrative pieces designed and built out of harvested Zelkova wood. The exhibition is on view from July 20 to December 10, 2023.

The d.Tree Studio partnership defines the lens of Detroit’s relationship with trees from the past, present and future. Over the course of three years, these two cultural institutions worked in unison to create a curriculum called the d.Tree Studio. For 15 weeks, students in the CCS Woodshop explored how designers and makers can learn from the wisdom of trees through the lens of various African material cultures and African American experiences in Detroit. 

“In this project, we have not only worked with timber – and Zelkova wood is undoubtedly beautiful – but the work has provided a powerful medium for these important conversations on climate change, climate justice, the African American experience in Detroit and African material cultures,”  said Dr. Ian Lambert, Dean of Graduate Studies & Research at CCS.

This partnership began in 2018 when The Wright Museum noticed dying Zelkova trees on their Midtown campus. With this observation, and as part of its mission to be a zero-waste institution, the museum decided to form a collaboration with its neighbors at CCS. The goal of this partnership was to use the lumber harvested from the Zelkova trees in a creative endeavor and question how an African American museum and art and design school could set a precedent for climate justice art.

“In 2019, the Wright Museum made a commitment to become a Zero Waste Institution. At that time, we’d noticed that several trees on our campus were dying. It was important for us to find a way to keep these trees, like thousands of others across Detroit, from ending up mulched and dumped in a landfill. At that point we reached out to our neighbor, the College for Creative Studies to help find a way to extend the life of these trees in a meaningful way,” said Leslie Tom, Chief Sustainability Officer at The Wright Museum. “We believe our Detroit trees have something to teach us about respecting the wisdom of people, place and history as well as our relationship with trees in the future.”

ABOUT CHARLES H. WRIGHT MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY

For over half a century, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History has dedicated itself to exploring and celebrating the rich cultural legacy of African Americans. The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History opens minds and changes lives through the exploration and celebration of African American history and culture. 

ABOUT D.TREE STUDIO PROJECT

The d.Tree Studio is a Detroit-based collaboration between The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (CHW) and The College for Creative Studies (CCS). The studio used wood harvested from dying Zelkova trees from the Wright Museum to explore the interconnection between object making, belonging and storytelling in African American History and various African material cultures. The wood was not from nameless trees that grew in monoculture plantations, but rather trees with deep roots in Detroit, growing in soil that contains memories of the land even before Detroit became Detroit.