About this Event
ABOUT THE CLYDE BURROUGHS LECTURE SERIES
The Burroughs Lecture Series is a vibrant forum where artists, art historians, members, and guests gather at the Scarab Club to explore American art spanning the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Distinguished speakers have included celebrated figures like Michele Oka Doner, Michael Hodges, Ron Staley, and Barbara Haskell, each bringing their expertise to illuminate different facets of America's artistic legacy. These presentations reveal the depth and complexity of American art, architecture and design through varied scholarly and creative lenses.
The experience extends beyond the lecture itself, beginning with an exclusive cocktail reception and an elegant dinner shared with the featured speaker in the Scarab Club's storied Lounge.
The Program:
6p - Cocktails in the garden and/or gallery
7p - Dinner in the Scarab Members' Lounge
8p - Presentation in the Gallery
The Series:
October 8, 2025 - David DiRita, Founder and Principal, The Roxbury Group
David Di Rita is a founder and principal of the Roxbury Group. He has over 30 years of corporate, legal, and transactional experience. David is actively involved in the firm's real estate development and asset management work, typically involving challenging and complex projects, utilizing public and private financing. Prior to the Roxbury Group, David was a corporate and transaction attorney and real estate executive including senior positions at Tower Automotive, Visteon Corporation, and Johnson Controls, as well as associate and of-counsel positions at both Dickinson Wright and Foley & Lardner. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan. David serves on the Board of Directors for the downtown Detroit Business Improvement Zone and is the President of the Detroit Theatre District Business Association.
Join us for an illuminating exploration of historic preservation through the lens of two decades of transformative work in Detroit. This presentation will unveil the fundamental principles that guide successful preservation projects, demonstrated through compelling case studies of iconic Detroit landmarks. Discover the stories behind the meticulous restoration of the elegant Hotel David Whitney, the majestic Metropolitan Building, the distinguished Cadillac House, the culturally significant Bonstelle Playhouse, and the striking Lee Plaza. Through these remarkable projects, learn how thoughtful preservation practice not only saves architectural treasures but revitalizes communities and honors our shared heritage. This behind-the-scenes look at Detroit's preservation renaissance offers valuable insights into the art and science of bringing historic buildings back to life
November 12, 2025 - Martha Fleischman, Founder and Owner, Kennedy Galleries, NYC
About Martha:
MARTHA J. FLEISCHMAN is a Trustee and Chair Emerita of the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Born in Detroit, she is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the President of Kennedy Galleries, now a private dealer in American art of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries and, from 1997 to 2005, was the publisher of the scholarly magazine The American Art Journal. Martha has served on the boards of New York Public Radio, the Art Dealers Association of America, Science Friday Initiative, and The American Friends of the British Museum. She is currently a trustee of The Morgan Library and Museum, Rare Book School, University of Virginia and a member of The Grolier Club. She is a William Cullen Bryant Fellow in the American Wing, Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as a member of the museum’s Friends of Objects Conservation. She is publishing three monographs on significant American artist metalsmiths of the 20th century.
February 25, 2026 - Dr. Hubert Massey, Artist and Educator
About Hubert: Massey's vibrant images can be spotted throughout the Detroit metropolitan region. Chances are, if you’ve visited Mexicantown, Greektown, the Cultural Center, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit Athletic Club, or any number of other landmark community attractions, you’ve encountered the remarkable work of master artist Hubert Massey.
An award-winning Kresge Fine Arts Fellow, his distinctive fresco murals grace the halls of such visible Michigan destinations as the Flint Institute of the Arts, Detroit Athletic Club, and his alma mater, Grand Valley State University, where he earned an honorary doctorate of fine arts in 2012. In 2014 the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority commissioned Hubert to create the first large-scale mural completed for Cobo Center since 1987. A fresco painting, the mural will feature images and tell stories of Detroit community pride.
Hubert studied at the University of London’s Slade Institute of Fine Arts and later learned the centuries-old fresco technique from former assistants of legendary artist Diego Rivera. Today Hubert is the only known, African American commissioned fresco artist in America.
“Public art begins with the community it will serve. In fact, after nearly 20 years of creating large-scale public works of art for various cities, communities and neighborhoods throughout the Midwest, it is my belief that public art should be, first and foremost, meaningful to those who surround it.” – Dr. Hubert Massey
April 22, 2026 - Sharon Que, Artist
About the Talk: Three Paths – Interwoven Vision: Sculpture/Violins/Automotive
From a chronological perspective, Sharon will discuss and show the development of her sculpture. How it evolved over the years with education, travel, and career choices.
About Sharon: Sharon is currently active in three professions: sculptor, violin restoration, and wood model maker at GM Design. Her art is part of the permanent collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts, as well as an outdoor sculpture on the campus of Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, and two large sculptures at General Motors’ new Design West Building.
In the violin realm, she has worked on many historically significant instruments and oversees the collection at The Henry Ford. She has presented technical papers at violin conferences, published, and taught violin restoration courses in Italy and Spain.
As a wood model maker at GM Design, I recently completed the sophisticated marquetry on the concept car “Sollei” and I was featured in Forbes Magazine for this work.
May 27, 2026 - Casey Granton
About Casey: In the tender springtime of youth, Casey was beguiled by the visual arts. She is now a living antique, a relic, a remnant, an object lesson for those who would idiotically follow just such a circuitous, ruinous path as hers — the arts! Yet, occasionally, she herself concedes that, despite the perils and the price, life in the arts held enchantment and unequalled co-conspirators.
Through the deviousness of fate, at seventeen, her reckless commitment to folly was validated by a Society of Arts and Crafts scholarship to study with Sarkis Sarkisian. In her twenties, she taught painting at Wayne State University. Then, IT HAPPENED. She was elected to the touchstone of the Cass Corridor, Common Ground of the Arts. There she lived and worked. As with the Corridor, the Common Ground was more than an address. It was a life. The Ground introduced her to the genuine marvel of making things, as well as the authentic spectacle of muggings, assaults, robberies, and live rounds.
The Common Ground begat an industrial strength coterie — Nancy Pletos, Ed Morais, G. Alden Smith, Stan Dolega, Bradley Jones, Steve Foust, George Ettl, Michael Luchs. Together, the Ground, the Corridor and the city that encircled them, generated a potent, creative soup — a remarkable, misunderstood milieu of confederates — Gordie Newton, Pat Quinlan, Jim Gustafson, Jim Chatelain, Stanley Rosenthal, Ann and Ken Mickolowski, Tom Parish, Bob Wilbert, Brenda Goodman, John Egner, Joy Hackenson, Jim Duffy, Sam Wagstaff.
After the Corridor, her life was less flamboyant. Casey was a Director for the State of Michigan’s Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, allocating millions of dollars which — most often — supported the arts. (Government funded arts are controversial and should be.) After other business ventures, Advancement Director at the Henry Ford Estate was her favorite . Now, she lives quietly, making work in secret, showing Glen of Imaal and Lakeland Terriers in public.
In her talk, Casey plans to explore the Comon Ground’s sweet brief time through a little sightseeing in the Corridor. She would like to convey at least a hint of the lived experience that merged transcendent magic with tangible fear, momentary dalliances with life-long loves. Critics and curators in their compulsion to contextualize artwork and art making have regularly used the Corridor as a convenient metaphor for the decline of Western civilization. But to see the Corridor as merely a melodrama of social collapse simply makes you the antagonist in a rather banal story. The Corridor was a compelling, disturbing fairy tale, a fable, a bedtime story for those brave enough to listen.
Ticket Information:
Dinner & Lecture:
- Scarab member - $70
- Non-member - $80
Lecture Only:
- Scarab member - $25
- Non-Scarab - $35
- $15/student with ID
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
- Sponsor one lecture: $1,250 Includes one complimentary ticket and acknowledgment in digital & printed materials.
- Patron Sponsor: $5,000 Includes two complimentary tickets to each lecture and acknowledgment in all digital & printed materials.
- Student Sponsorship: $500 Help sponsor students at a discounted ticket price. Acknowledgment will be included in digital materials, and the lecture will be publicized across local colleges and universities.
For more information contact: Kathryn Dimond, [email protected]
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Scarab Club, Farnsworth Street, Detroit, MI, USA, United States
USD 15.00 to USD 87.21
