- Posted on Thursday, April 12th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
GM Design Center is No Ordinary Place
By Jennifer Green
Communications Specialist, GM Design Center
I am in the middle of the road when it comes to being a right- or a left-brain person. However, I think that most of the employees at Design Center fall in the right-brain category — and they need to be. After all, they are designing the future of General Motors. They are the creative types — those who come to “life” with inspiration that may come from fashion, architecture or nature. And, I am totally amazed by their talent… it is an inspiration and a delight to work here.
These professionals have a love, obviously, for all things automotive, such as shape, form, proportion and surface — and strive to deliver an automotive experience that improves people’s lives — but they also have a love for all kinds of art. Because designers and sculptors love to create, the GM Design Center established a gallery five years ago to showcase their out-of-the-workplace art. They design by day and create at night, too!
To celebrate the fifth year of the GM Design Center gallery, the current art show is titled “Five.” All of the art pieces measure only 5 inches by 5 inches, in at least two dimensions. (Many of these artists train at top art schools in the country, and it’s not unusual for them to create life-size sculptures and paintings that fill entire walls.)
Along with the “Five” collection, other art pieces have been recently added to the show. These art pieces have been created for donation to the Coalition on Temporary Shelter (COTS) for the ImaginAide event that supports homeless men, women, and children in metro Detroit. I have also found Design Center employees to be artists who are both generous and willing to help others in need.
That’s why I feel that this is no ordinary place… Design Center people are talented, visionary and creative, yet love to share the gifts inside of them. It’s my hope that even those like me, who are middle-of-the-roaders and wannabe artists, can learn, glean, and begin to see as they do.
4 Comments
skepticman
The blue sculpture pictured reminds me of works by Haziza. I own a number of his beautiful sculptures.
You might consider contacting him to ask for donations to the ImagineAide event. His website is http://www.haziza.com (hstudio.com and shoppingart.com also go to the same site).
Adam Denison
It’s nice to see a huge company build upon its employees creative talents outside of the workplace. What’s more, it’s nice to see GM using these talents to be a good corporate citizen. Great job and great blog!
Ben Julian
As a volunteer member of GM Design Center’s Art Committee for the past four years, I was very proud to a record number of enthusiastic attendees that came and supported GM’s Art community at the opening of “5″ in The Gallery. Everyone’s enthusiasic response to The Gallery’s fifth anniversary can only lead to bigger and better shows in the future.
Sandra Hemsworth
Does GM have a Corporate Art Collection? if so can you tell me the name if the Curator or Director, and the location of the Collection? The 2005 work titled “Borealis” by Danny Lane in the GM Renaissance Center in Detroit was featured recently in Urban Glass Art Quarterly magazine.
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