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Tyree Guyton has been chosen as the 2026 Kresge Eminent Artist. The annual award celebrates the lifetime achievements and contributions of one metro Detroit artist.
“Surreal,” is how Guyton describes the moment he learned about his Eminent Artist selection. “I felt like Moses,’’ he said. “All I heard clearly was, ‘eminent’ and ‘you’ve been chosen.’ I got real quiet. I couldn’t believe what she [Kresge Arts in Detroit Director Katie McGowan] was telling me. It still feels crazy, after all this time. Me, chosen.’’
Tyree Guyton is a Detroit-born artist best known as the creator of the Heidelberg Project, widely recognized as one of the most influential outdoor art environments in the world. Born in 1955 and raised on Heidelberg Street, Guyton was introduced to art by his grandfather, Sam Mackey. His early life also included service in the U.S. Army and work in Detroit’s auto industry at Ford and Chrysler, where he was a member of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. In 1981, he enrolled at the Center for Creative Studies (now the College for Creative Studies), studying industrial design, before leaving to pursue an independent artistic path.
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In 1986 he launched The Heidleberg Project, considered Detroit’s earliest, and at times its most controversial, outdoor neighborhood art space. The project has attracted international acclaim, but for Guyton, the Heidelberg Project has always been deeply personal. “This was always a message of love from me to the city,’ says Guyton, “a beautiful rebuttal,” to Detroit’s decades-long battle against blight and urban abandonment. Over nearly four decades, the project has survived six mayoral administrations, two demolitions, and 13 fires, and is now recognized as a Detroit landmark. In 2020, it received Best Cultural Activation from Leading Cultural Destinations (Berlin), and in 2022, Guyton was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Mayor Mike Duggan.
Alongside the Heidelberg Project, Guyton has sustained a prolific studio practice for more than 45 years. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including a major 30-year retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) in 2018. Guyton’s work is held in significant public collections, including the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Guyton is the 18th artist to receive the Kresge Eminent Artist title. Honorees demonstrate a record of exceptional work, professional achievement in the arts, significant impact on their chosen art form, and generous contributions to the growth and vibrancy of Detroit’s cultural landscape. In addition to the $100,000 prize, the Kresge Eminent Artist Award includes the creation of a short film—premiering this spring—and a monograph that will be published in the fall.
If you’re doing what you’re put on this earth to do, no matter what happens, who criticizes you, keep going. Eventually, good things find you and renew you.
Tyree Guyton
2026 Kresge Eminent Artist
Guyton calls the Kresge Eminent Artist award an exclamation point on his lifelong belief. “If you’re doing what you’re put on this earth to do, no matter what happens, who criticizes you, keep going,’’ he said. “Eventually, good things find you and renew you.’’
The Kresge Eminent Artist is selected annually by a rotating panel of esteemed metro Detroit artists and arts professionals.
This year’s panelists include:
- Carlos Diaz: Photographer, Educator, Curator; Emeritus Professor, College for Creative Studies; 2024 Guggenheim Fellow
- Lauren Hood: Founder/Director, Institute for AfroUrbanism; Assistant Professor of Practice Urban Planning, University of Michigan
- Suma Karaman Rosen: Executive Director, InsideOut Literary Arts; McGregor Fund Miller Fellow; Alumni, National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program
- Mandisa Smith: Founder, AKOMA Art House & Dye Garden and Detroit Sistas Sew; Director, Hope for Flowers Artisan Studio; Fiber Artist
- Haleem Stringz: Dancer, Choreographer, Educator, Filmmaker; Founder, Hardcore Detroit; Board member, Screen Dance International; NBA dancer, Detroit Pistons; 2010 Kresge Artist Fellow
“Detroit has so much going on creatively right now, it’s easy to be out of touch with the fact that art here is not new,’’ said Stringz, a dancer, choreographer, educator, and 2010 Kresge Arts Fellow. “One of the best things about this award is that it refuses to let that history be forgotten. Artists like Tyree, they’re the ones who paved the way for what’s happening today,’’ he said. “It’s a moment of real respect, a chance to shine some light where it’s due.’’
