Edition No. 87
Arts and Culture
Artist Rose Rhodes curates a 16-by-20 inch oil on linen painting titled “Sunny Afternoon at the War Memorial” by performing a plein-air painting technique.
Community and Family
Long-standing relationship between The War Memorial and Jefferson East, Inc. provides opportunities to break down barriers between the Grosse Pointes and the city of Detroit.
Cherished Alger House comes to life with oil painting
Wanting to present paintings that are smaller and less expensive, Rose Rhodes will soon be offering her artwork of The War Memorial.
On a late July afternoon, Rhodes set up her oil painting stand in front of The War Memorial. Rhodes decided to put the historic building into painting upon the request of Sherry Allor from Posterity Gallery in Grosse Pointe.
“It’s called plein-air painting, which means you are painting in the open air,” she said. “The difference between that and studio work is that the light is the most important thing. It’s very much in the moment, you are painting in the light that exists at that moment.”
The 16-by-20 inch oil on linen painting is titled “Sunny Afternoon at the War Memorial.” Her plan is to make prints of the artwork, and coasters.
“I’ve started making some of my paintings into coasters which have been very popular because they are inexpensive,” Rhodes said.
Elaborating on turning the paintings into coasters, Rhodes noted that coasters make nice gifts for people who have moved away from the Grosse Pointe’s, serving as a nice memory.
“It’s connected me with a lot of people who have moved away and miss Grosse Pointe,” she said.
Growing up in Grosse Pointe Park and later living there for over 20 years before moving to Wolverine Lake, Rhodes said she used to go to The War Memorial when it had war dances and Battle of the Bands. Her senior prom was at The War Memorial, as well as being the site of her daughter's wedding six years ago. A stone is dedicated to Rhodes’ father, Joe Palazzolo, in the Veterans Memorial Garden.
Her artwork appears at places like Posterity, Great Frame Up, Kayrod Gallery, Detroit Artist Market and The Art Of Custom Framing.
Collaboration extends beyond Grosse Pointe border through Jefferson East partnership
Folks may have noticed a connection to The War Memorial at this year’s Jazzin’ at The Vanity. Earlier this summer, The War Memorial was a proud presenter of Jazzin’ at The Vanity, a two-day jazz and blues festival. It featured live performances by local and national performers, great food, a cool marketplace, crafts, visual art experiences, kids' activities, and more.
“We’ve had a long relationship with The War Memorial over the years with hosting events and there was always this desire to see how do we break down barriers between the Grosse Pointes and the city of Detroit,” Jefferson East, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Josh Elling said. “We want to link assets along Jefferson like The War Memorial and the Jefferson Chalmers business district.”
Jefferson East, Inc. was established in 1994. At that time, Elling said the desire to foster economic development in the Jefferson Chalmers business district.
For a while, the organization's focus, Elling said, was on façade programs, small business support, business incubation and clean and safe initiatives. For 14 years until 2016, Jefferson East hosted a jazz festival, called Jazzin’ on Jefferson.
“A big growth area for us recently was our housing services,” he said. “We kept hearing about this need from residents and about five years ago, we started to do intake on the 0% loan program, housing counseling, helping more than 4,500 Detroiters get access to some sort of housing services.”
To read the full story about the partnership with JEI, Inc., click on the button below.
Inspired Thoughts is a collection of highly curated content that embraces the spirit and purpose of The War Memorial: arts and culture, community enrichment, leadership, and patriotism.
Derived from the notion that learning from others is the key to success, Inspired Thoughts is meant to shine a light on those making a difference in the world around them. This collection features artists, poets, writers, architects, and every thought leader in-between. Inspired Thoughts is the strongest reflection of what The War Memorial stands for, and what we aim to be.
The content featured on Inspired Thoughts is curated by War Memorial leadership — we also look forward to featuring special guest curators in the near future. If you are interested in providing content for Inspired Thoughts, please email our Communications team at dmurphy@warmemorial.org.