Design

An Artist Sues to Save Her Landmark Detroit Mural

The owner of a Detroit building graced by a famous mural wants to develop it. So the artist is suing to to preserve her work under copyright law.
Auction.com

It’s one of those staples of guidebooks and cultural listicles in Detroit, one of the places you’re supposed to see while you’re there. Since 2009, The Illuminated Mural has elevated 2937 East Grand Boulevard beyond its station as a parcel with potential in the city’s North End neighborhood. The Detroit Free Press calls it “maybe Detroit’s most drop-dead gorgeous mural.”

For Katherine Craig, the mural is more than a marker of North End’s rising status. The so-called “bleeding rainbow” mural is a cornerstone of her career. And now, since the building’s owner aims to sell or redevelop the property, the artist is taking legal action to protect her work.