Downtown Utica DIA Inside|Out Installation Begins Today

Downtown Utica is being transformed today into an open-air fine art gallery, thanks to the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) Inside|Out project.

On display through June, five high-quality reproductions of DIA masterpieces are being installed on the sides of buildings and as free-standing pieces in Utica's parks.

Now in its fourth year, the Inside|Out project will bring almost 80 reproductions of masterpieces from the DIA's collection to 13 cities across Metro Detroit. Shelby Township will take part in the program's summer session.

Amedeo Modigliani's "A Woman" is scheduled to be the first work installed in Utica, with crews scheduled to arrive in Grant Park at 8:30 a.m. today.

Other works selected for Utica include:

• "Cotopaxi" by Frederic Edwin Church at Cass Bar, 45108 Cass Ave.
• "Gladioli" by Claude Monet at Memorial Park, 7550 Auburn Rd.
• "Fire in a Haystack" by Jules Adolphe Aime Louis Breton at City Hall, 7550 Auburn Rd.
• "The Trapper's Return" by George Caleb Bingham at Clinton River Park, 7677 Greeley St.

New this year, residents of participating Inside|Out communities are invited to visit the museum for free on a so-called "community weekend," during which they will receive free admission, as well as a 10 percent discount in the Cafe DIA and museum shop, $1 off Detroit Film Theatre tickets and free admission to showings of the DFT 101 film series.

Utica's community weekend will be June 1-2. Admission to the DIA is currently free for Macomb, Oakland and Wayne County residents. There is still a charge for special exhibits.

The DIA will also be a presence at Utica's Riverwalk Festival June 15 and 16.

"Staff from the DIA will be doing creative activities with children each day," said Mayor Jackie Noonan in a previous interview. "We are so pleased that they want to come and support us in this way. There will be wonderful art projects going on and what better place than arts and crafts festival?"