Jan28

hamtramck disneyland.

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after a wonderful lunch with friends at the polish village restaurant

a bakery visit, and trip to the local grocery

in hamtramck, michigan

(a small city on the edge or detroit

now filled with a mix of polish and yemini people)

we stopped to visit the famous

hamtramck disneyland

located in the middle of an old neighborhood

a one-man folk art display

created over 30 years

in his backyard

 it’s really a lot to take in

ao incredibly creative and wonderful

see the story below:

Hamtramck Disneyland Is A Site-Specific Folk Art Installation Created By Artist Dmytro Szylak

Dmytro Szylak grew up in Ukraine and immigrated to the United States with his wife in the 1950s. Mr. Szylak worked for General Motors for 30 years; after retiring in the mid-1980s, he began building Hamtramck Disneyland atop the two garages on the properties he owned. The project took nearly 30 years to construct, and was constantly being updated and modified by Mr. Szylak until his death in 2015, at the age of 92.

In its heyday, the installation filled the air with whimsical kinetic structures that rattled and whirred as they spun in the wind. The garages were painted in bright stripes, and the space in between was filled with found photographs, posters, and classic Americana images mixed with those of the Europe of Mr. Szylak’s past. It is one of Michigan’s most significant works of folk art; thousands of visitors from all over the world have made Hamtramck Disneyland one of their stops.

After Mr. Szylak passed away, his estate was in limbo, with no plan to protect or keep the art. Driven by the energy and support of the community, a group of residents and artists formed to save this great local treasure. Hatch Art, which operates an art gallery and studios in the former Hamtramck police station, took ownership of Hamtramck Disneyland in May of 2016.

Hatch Art repairs and maintains the installation, preserving the core components of the artwork while proceeding with gradual updates as materials succumb to the elements. The intention is to honor Dmytro Szylak’s work by keeping the future of the installation as lively as he did in the past.

“Hamtramck Disneyland” has been the subject of two documentaries and is one of the top tourist attractions to Hamtramck, a city located within the boundaries of Detroit. It is one of Michigan’s most significant artist-built environments, along with the Heidelberg Project and MBAD African Bead Museum, among others.  Thousands of visitors a year from all over the world have made “Hamtramck Disneyland” one of their stops. In 2006, famed photographer Bruce Weber did a photo shoot with Kate Moss at this location.—

‘art is life seeking itself. It is our intractable expressions of love

for the beauties, ideas, and epiphanies we regularly find.’

— vincent van gogh

 

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text source credit: hatch art, detroit

 

 

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60 responses »

  7. Wow, that is a pretty great installation and love that it was built in someone’s backyard. It’s wonderful that the community came together to save, preserve and further his legacy.

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