Today, the Wyandots of Anderdon still live in the Downriver area. Other branches of the Wyandot nation live in Canada, Kansas and Oklahoma.
The Commission
The Wyandotte Street Art Fair was formed in 1962 to promote and expand
community awareness of the creative arts through quality exhibits that
provide meaningful cultural enrichment. In 1997, the Wyandotte Street Art
Fair Committee embarked on a quest to create an artistic Millennium Gift
to the community - a tribute to the city's founding people, the Wyandots.
Giorgio Gikas, President of Venus Bronze Works, Inc., was hired to be a
consultant to oversee this project to commission and create a bronze sculpture
of a Wyandot Indian Family for the citizens of Wyandotte.
The Sculptor
Over 40 Michigan sculptors submitted project proposals and in July,
1998, after a careful selection process, Michaele Duffy Kramer was selected
to create the artwork. Her major artistic focus has been traditional figurative
sculpture. She hopes to bring to her more public sculpture a feeling of
accessibility to the bronze and strives for the connection between the
metal and the warm human touch. Michaele has been creating sculpture for
over 20 years. She began this commission in her Port Huron studio in February,
1999, and completed the clay models in December. The Fine Arts Sculpture
Center in Clarkston cast the work into the finished bronze.