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Beginnings

The original impetus for the formation of the Center for Creative eXchange was artist and founder Phaedra Robinson's desire to fulfill the need for fresh creative energy to enter into and communicate out of Detroit. With this, came the intention that the place for such instigation would be a safe and conducive environment for the endless and boundless exchange of perspectives, beliefs, methods, information, skills, personal resources and approaches to life and creativity and that these inspiring and challenging exchanges would not stagnate. Thus the decision to create an artist/writer residency program was solidified. This form of programming draws dynamic energy into Detroit (in the form of people and their creative works), allows time and space for that energy to be transformed by and to transform its environment, and then sends that energy on its way to influence other lives, times and places.

For a brief period of time, (shortly after Robinson purchased a burnt-out house from the city of Detroit in 2002), another artist with a vision for a residency program, Lisa Whiting, teamed up with Phaedra to investigate the possibilities of creating a large residency program completely equipped with foundry, numerous private and shared studios and labs for photography, printmaking, ceramics, painting etc. This vision was the 'big box' version of 'expansiveness' which has created such important centers of creative activity such as the Pioneer Building which rents 30,000 sq ft of studio space to local artists. This was not the destiny of the Center, however. Through negation, in this case, the role of CCeX was clarified even further.

Expansiveness arrived at through concentrated energy, and not through numbers or the vastness of space, would become the preferred method for the program. A small building can serve a great purpose, such as a home of any size can serve the purposes of nurturing and enabling growth. The scarred house in Detroit's historic Woodbridge district became the obvious material with which to build.

Therefore the home, the hearth, and the garden, all became binding, central concepts for the foundation for Creative eXchange.

Logo

A simplified image containing the first letters of the Center's name (two 'C' s with an 'X' in the middle), our logo was designed to be representative of our values by the use of broad and intuitive symbology. Two directional arrows pointing to one another show a balance between opposite directions, flowing together in an eternal exchange of energy. This is reminiscent of ancient symbols such as the ouroborus (aka the world serpent) and the infinity symbol which represent the creative cycles and aspects of nature; fertility, change, death, renewal and eternity. The logo also looks like a bicycle which, of course, is a tool which enables a healthy mobile society and environment.