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We raise awareness of Michigan’s modern design heritage and resources and work to encourage their

10/12/2026

We’d like to thank everyone who attended our Docomomo MI Tour Day 2026 event, “Sculptures for Play” at the Dossin Museum on Belle Isle.

Thank you to our featured speakers Megan McAdow, Scott Hocking, and Megan Elliot for the engaging presentations. We appreciate the time you spent to make this event possible.

We would also like to extend our gratitude to the Dossin Museum and staff, Tour Day guests, and Richard Thomas— who went above and beyond as he led our tour of Oudolf Garden.

Thanks again to all who joined us— it was wonderful to see you!

10/06/2026

Join DocoMomoMI on Belle Isle for an afternoon exploring the work of Jim Miller-Melberg and Marshall Fredericks.

“Sculptures for Play”
Docomomo MI Tour Day 2026
Sunday, October 11, 2026 | 1–4 PM
Dossin Great Lakes Museum, DeRoy Hall
Belle Isle, Detroit, MI

The event will include presentations by artist Scott Hocking and Megan McAdow, and an exploration of the Oudolf Garden on Belle Isle.

To reserve tickets, tap link in our profile or visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sculptures-for-play-belle-isle-marshall-fredericks-jim-miller-melberg-tickets-1998265875024

We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

09/28/2026

Help us celebrate the work of modernist sculptor Jim Miller-Melberg!

Snap a photo of a Jim Miller-Melberg piece, and we’ll share it across our socials! Photos can be a selfie with the sculpture or feature just the sculpture itself. And if you have a story to include about the piece— even better!

Be sure to tag DocoMomoMI and

Photos ©Nicole Wrona/Nicole Wrona

09/24/2026

Join us on Belle Isle in October for an afternoon exploring the work of Jim Miller-Melberg!

Jim Miller-Melberg was a sculptor whose work can be found throughout the United States— in the in both public spaces and private residences. He specialized in the creation of playground structures.

In 1960, Miller-Melberg founded Form Inc., a company based in South Lyon, Michigan. It was here that he designed and manufactured his unique forms made of molded concrete.

He viewed his concrete animals and abstract structures as “half sculpture, half plaything,”
and saw playground equipment as functional art that encouraged creativity. From that, his concept of “sculptures for play” was born.

“Sculptures for Play”
Docomomo MI Tour Day 2026
Sunday, October 11, 2026 | 1–4 PM
Dossin Great Lakes Museum, DeRoy Hall
Belle Isle, Detroit, MI

The event will includea presentation featuring Jim Miller-Melberg by Detroit-based artist Scott Hocking.

Hocking creates site-specific installations, sculptures, and photography projects, often using found materials and neglected locations. Inspired by subjects ranging from ancient mythologies to current events, his artworks focus on transformation, ephemerality, chance, and the cycles of nature.

To reserve tickets, tap link in our profile or visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sculptures-for-play-belle-isle-marshall-fredericks-jim-miller-melberg-tickets-1998265875024

All photos ©Scott Hocking
pictured: Scott Hocking & Jim Miller-Melberg

09/21/2026

Join Megan McAdow for an engaging presentation, “Marshall Fredericks: Playful Sculptor.”

McAdow is a featured speaker as part of our upcoming Docomomo MI Tour Day event at the Dossin Museum on Belle Isle, in Detroit.

McAdow recently served as Director of the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum, currently serves as Director of Development for the Greater Flint Arts Council, and sits on the board of Docomomo MI.

Behind the grandeur and solemnity of Fredericks’ monumental work— such as Spirit of Detroit, was an artist with a remarkable sense of humor, warmth, and play—qualities that found their way into sculptures that have delighted generations.

Fredericks had a particular affection for animals, children, and subjects that invited curiosity and interaction.

For many Detroiters and Michiganders, encounters with his work were not simply visual: many of us have fond memories climbing on his sculptures in shopping malls and discovering his whimsical animals in public spaces like Belle Isle.

“Marshall Fredericks: Playful Sculptor,” looks into the artist’s familiar monuments to explore this more personal and lighthearted side of his life and work.

Drawing on stories from the Fredericks family, archival research, and lesser-known commissions and unrealized projects, the presentation reveals an artist whose ambitions intentionally included a mischievous sense of humor and an enduring desire to create sculpture that people could enjoy, experience, and make part of their own lives.

Docomomo MI Tour Day 2026
Theme: “Sculptures for Play”
Sunday, October 11, 2026 | 1–4 PM
Dossin Great Lakes Museum, DeRoy Hall
Belle Isle, Detroit, MI

To reserve tickets, tap the link in our profile or visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sculptures-for-play-belle-isle-marshall-fredericks-jim-miller-melberg-tickets-1998265875024

09/17/2026

Oudolf Garden on Belle Isle in Detroit is the first public garden in North America where Piet Oudolf designed both the master plan and the planting plans.

As part of our Tour Day itinerary, we’re excited to offer a walk in the gardens led by one of its primary caretakers— head horticulturist and lead garden manager for Oudolf Garden Detroit, Richard Thomas!

Following the conversation “Sculptures for Play: Belle Isle, Marshall Fredericks, and Jim Miller-Melberg,”
Thomas will guide attendees through the ongoing development of the 3-acre perennial garden by Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf.

Oudolf Garden features 15 large Main Garden beds, a large Rain Garden, Native Meadows surrounding historic bell tower, and a Bird Border.

Sculptures for Play: Belle Isle, Marshall Fredericks, & Jim Miller-Melberg
Docomomo Michigan Tour Day 2026
Sunday, October 11, 2026 | 1–4 PM
DeRoy Hall, Dossin Great Lakes Museum
Belle Isle, Detroit, MI

Follow link for Tour Day details and to reserve your tickets:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sculptures-for-play-belle-isle-marshall-fredericks-jim-miller-melberg-tickets-1998265875024

Photos: ©Ryan Southern

09/10/2026

We are excited to introduce one of the featured speakers at our upcoming Tour Day event— Megan Callewaert McAdow!

McAdow’s lecture, Marshall Fredericks: Playful Sculptor, focuses on the more playful aspects of artist Marshall M. Fredericks and his body of work.

Megan Callewaert McAdow recently served as Director of the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum (2018–2025) and currently serves as Director of Development for the Greater Flint Arts Council.

For more than twenty-five years, she has held executive and leadership positions with museums, historic sites, and cultural organizations throughout Michigan, including Applewood: The Charles Stewart Mott Estate, Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Throughout her career, McAdow has advanced the preservation, interpretation, and public engagement of significant cultural resources through strategic leadership, fundraising, and historic preservation.

She serves on the Board of Directors of the Michigan Museums Association and the City of Flint Historic District Commission.

Sculptures for Play: Belle Isle, Marshall Fredericks, & Jim Miller-Melberg
Docomomo Michigan Tour Day 2026
Sunday, October 11, 2026 | 1–4 PM
Dossin Great Lakes Museum, DeRoy Hall
Belle Isle, Detroit, MI

To reserve tickets, tap link in our profile or visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sculptures-for-play-belle-isle-marshall-fredericks-jim-miller-melberg-tickets-1998265875024

See you there!

09/09/2026

We’re excited to introduce one of the featured speakers at our upcoming event— Scott Hocking!

Detroit-based artist Scott Hocking will discuss the play sculptures of Jim Miller-Melberg on Belle Isle during his talk, The Play Sculptures of Jim Miller-Melberg.

Hocking, a sixth-generation Detroiter who has worked in the city since 1996, is known for site-specific installations and public artworks that draw on found materials, neglected sites, and deep research into a location’s history.

His work has been exhibited at institutions including the Detroit Institute of Arts, Cranbrook Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and the Van Abbemuseum, and has been featured in Artforum, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications.

He is a recipient of the Kresge Artist Fellowship and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Artist Fellowship.

Sculptures for Play: Belle Isle,
Marshall Fredericks, & Jim Miller-Melberg
Docomomo Michigan Tour Day 2026
Sunday, October 11, 2026 | 1–4 PM
Dossin Great Lakes Museum, DeRoy Hall
Belle Isle, Detroit, MI

To reserve tickets, tap link in our profile or visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sculptures-for-play-belle-isle-marshall-fredericks-jim-miller-melberg-tickets-1998265875024

See you then!

09/08/2026

Docomomo Michigan is pleased to announce our Tour Day event: Sculptures for Play: Belle Isle, Marshall Fredericks, and Jim Miller-Melberg

Tour Day 2026 explores “Recreation and Play” as its national theme, and Belle Isle offers Detroit’s case study: two twentieth-century sculptors who built play into the island’s public landscape.

Join Docomomo Michigan on Belle Isle for an afternoon exploring the work of Marshall Fredericks and Jim Miller-Melberg.

We are thrilled to present our featured speakers: Scott Hocking and Megan McAdow, with an introduction by Belle Isle Conservatory President Meagan Elliott.

Megan McAdow will highlight sculptor Marshall M. Fredericks, known for monumental public commissions— including Detroit’s Spirit of Detroit. His practice also produced a body of work marked by humor and an interest in animals, children, and interactive subjects.

McAdow draws on family accounts, archival research, and unrealized commissions to examine the lighter, more personal register of Fredericks’s career: the sculptures Detroiters have long climbed, touched, and made part of their own experience of public space— including his work on Belle Isle and at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids.

Detroit-based artist Scott Hocking will discuss the play sculptures of Jim Miller-Melberg on Belle Isle. Hocking, a sixth-generation Detroiter who has worked in the city since 1996, is known for site-specific installations and public artworks that draw on found materials, neglected sites, and deep research into a location’s history.

Docomomo Michigan Tour Day 2026:
Sculptures for Play
Sunday, October 11, 2026 | 1–4 PM
Dossin Great Lakes Museum, DeRoy Hall
Belle Isle, Detroit, MI

The event will include presentations and self-guided exploration of Oudolf Garden on Belle Isle

To reserve tickets, tap link in our profile or visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sculptures-for-play-belle-isle-marshall-fredericks-jim-miller-melberg-tickets-1998265875024

We can’t wait to see you there!

08/31/2026

We are excited to announce our National Tour Day theme for 2026 is: “Recreation and Play”

We have a special event planned and can’t wait to share details about our event with you soon!

And don’t forget to save the date:
Docomomo Michigan Tour Day 2026
Sunday, October 11, 2026

Tour Day is the only national program of its kind, and is devoted to the appreciation of modern architecture in the United States.

Tours and events focused on architecture and design of the Modern Movement are not only hosted by our chapter in Michigan, but also include many Docomomo US chapters, partners, and leading voices in preservation.

We’re looking forward to seeing you then!

Address

Box 701183 47526 Clipper Street
Plymouth, MI
48170

Telephone

(512) 710-6969

Website

http://www.docomomo-us.org/, https://www.docomomo-mi.org/

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