2 Weeks Away!!
We are so excited to present our 4th annual Potluck May 22-25
Join us as we create art and heal together in community!
Taking Doll Studio: 7145 E. Davison, Detroit MI 48212
#ThePotluckDetroit #HealingThroughArt #CommunityVibes #detroitcreatives
Happy May Day! We are honored to present our conversation with Wes Taylor, someone who embodies so many of the values we carry at Nox Library, from art and culture to collectivism and labor. Read it at noxlibrary.org, link in bio.
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Today is May Day, otherwise known as International Workers’ Day, a worldwide commemoration of the working class, laborers, and labor movements around the world. As a fellow worker, union member, and artist, I don’t think there is a more fitting conversation to have on the interconnections between art and labor than this one with Wes Taylor.
I have known about Wes and his work for many years and now I’m lucky enough to work with him at WSU. I recently described him as a visionary, but unlike those visionaries that keep their head in the clouds, Wes has and continues to have his work grounded in community. Wes co-owns Talking Dolls, an art and community space in Detroit. In our conversation, he shares how it started, how it continues to develop, and some of the partnerships with Talking Dolls and artists or other organizations. In the second half of our conversation, Wes talks about the development of the newly formed Union Hall Arts Residency, a four-week program that enables rank-and-file union members to participate in an artist residency with pay. On this May Day, we look to artists and organizers like Wes who uphold the continuing legacy of workers and unions in Detroit and the role of the arts in that history.
-Heather
Ladies and gentlemen we are outside for a fantastic cause. @westiv@talkingdolls is having a fundraiser for the Black portal art gallery. This will be another installation of art in the city. We need your help to make renovations to the new space to put it simple. We are going to put a roof on this mutha! We’ll be outside at 4856 East Davidson St. We’ll be out here until 4 o’clock. We got @mizkorona@gldngrlprdxn@koma_ok and myself laying down the Sound.
please come out and support us as we back a wonderful cause.
As always, you know what’s going down if I pull up.
We OutSide…
#Detroit #Art #BeatCulture #Community
Thank you to everyone who joined us for Scoring the City with Wes Taylor! 🎶✍️
Your energy, stories, and mark-making helped transform the MOCAD Café into a space of collective memory, movement, and imagination. Together, we reimagined Detroit—its rhythms, tensions, and possibilities—through radical mapping and collaborative performance.
We’re not done yet—All Faux Everything (Wes Taylor + Michael Demps) will be performing on August 9 to celebrate the closing of Code Switch. Stay tuned for details! 👀💥
Photos by @death2mermaids
#ScoringTheCity #CodeSwitch #MOCAD #DetroitArt
What holds you in place, and what pushes you out? In this participatory workshop led by artist and designer Wes Taylor (@westiv ) we’ll explore Detroit as both a real and speculative city through the practice of radical, collaborative mapmaking.
🗓️ Saturday, July 19 from 12-2PM
📍 4454 Woodward Ave. Detroit, MI
Beginning with a group discussion on the coherence (or incoherence) of urban space, participants will use the concept of “graphic scores,” visual compositions used to represent sound or movement, as tools for mapping lived experience. Drawing from memory and imagination, we’ll collectively chart features of the built environment, reinterpreting streetscapes, rhythms, and landmarks through expressive mark-making. The result will be a large-scale, collectively negotiated “score” that reflects the spatial and emotional textures of the city.
This workshop mirrors Taylor’s broader artistic practice, which centers community collaboration, equitable design, and cultural storytelling. His project Black Portal, part of MOCAD’s Code Switch exhibition, reimagines a former theater in northeast Detroit as a dynamic hub for music, design, and neighborhood histories.
Whether you’re a maker, mover, or dreamer, join us in rethinking how a city holds us, moves us, and speaks through us.
All materials provided. No mapping or design experience necessary.
Register today at the link in our bio!
📣 DOUBLE SINGLE DROP!! 📣
➡️ Listen | Purchase LINKS IN BIO!
Tracks 5&6 from my project "iMAKE GOLD!" are HERE! Celebrating two incredible collaborations that mean a lot to me:
1 - 🎤 THEE ft. SHAD 🇨🇦 ( @shadkmusic )
I met SHAD at DJ Jazzy Jeff’s Playlist Retreat (real dope guy!). I love hearing him just rhyme over instrumentals on IG.There was this one verse i heard him rhyming over Kardinal Offishall's "Ol' Killin Time" beat. That freestyle inspired me. SHAD's effortless flow and how he described what emceeing was to him...man.. I heard the beat in my head immediately. I started building the drums first, then listened to his vocals over just the drum track. Chopped up a sample then sent him a demo. He loved it and wanted to recut the vocals. This track became the first joint we ever made —sparking our "REEL SPEAKERS EP" collab! Please check that out if you haven't 🔊
First word he recorded over my beat?
“Classic.”
Shout out to the brother SHAD! 🙏
2 - 🔊 Dionne WarWes ft. Scale Hands (@westiv )
Of course ya’ll know my brother, the alien Wes from Athletic Mic League. Incredible lyricist. Amazing person and creative. One of ONE. But did ya’ll know he makes beats too? He goes by Scale Hands. A few years back, Scale Hands was in Los Angeles and pulled up to The Bassment (my studio), armed with two SP-404 MKII's. I cued up some drums on my Maschine, and in real time, Scale Hands chopped up this sample on the 404 as the drums looped. Lush Lofi vibes ✨️ I’ve written rhymes with Wes, shot photos, he’s designed the cover art for my first two albums and lended his valuable creative wisdom that inspired me for decades. I’ve performed on stage live with him, and now it’s an honor to say we've produced a beat together. Good times!
Shout out to my brother Scale Hands ⚖️
Mic League Kingz 👑
Wake up—iMAKE GOLD! ⚡
Shoutout to everyone who's been rocking with my journey! More tracks soon…
#ScaleHands #DionneWarWes #14KT #SHAD#Karatgoldmusic #iMAKEGOLD #AthleticMicLeague #MicLeagueKingz #Chopartistry #REELSPEAKERSEP #HipHop #CanadianHiphop
The Potluck is 1 Week away!!
The Potluck is back for the 3rd year, and you’re invited. Join us May 23 through 26 for a free, 4-day gathering in Detroit filled with live music, art performances, poetry, healing workshops, and more. This year’s lineup is incredible-Take a look!!!
Click the link in bio for the full line up✨
This is a space for joy, for release, for honoring our roots and creating something beautiful together.
Come create, dance, party, and heal and connect in community!
This celebration is for the community. For the ancestors. For the future. Save the dates and send to someone you want to share this experience with.
Location:
Taking Doll Studio
7145 E. Davison, Detroit MI 48212
May 23, 24, 25 & 26
Model/muse: @hayleymarienorman
The Talking Doll Studio:
Wes Taylor, Andrea Cardinal and Ron Watters
@westiv@pollybergen@onecustomcity
#ThePotluckDetroit #HealingThroughArt #CommunityVibes #DetroitCreatives #SacredGathering
New music!
Produced and arranged by Brother Kursier
Track 1 co-produced by Scale Hands
B i o n i c B o o g i e
1. Believing
2. Summer Legs
3. Ice Cream Social
4. That One Time (Remix)
5. Plastic Sunglasses
6. Chief Operator (Cruise Ship Captain’s Theme)
7. Main Squeeze
8. Whip Appeal
9. Starter Pistol
10. Stuck On You Like Gorilla Glue
11. The Forbidden Zone
12. Control Freak
Link in bio
