To drive through Detroit is to move through a landscape shaped by both its storied industrial legacy and its long-standing creative community, where generations of artists have turned the city’s factories, urban prairies and waterfront into a living canvas.

The third installment of the WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times visual art road trip heads east to Detroit and its smaller neighboring cities, where the materials of the past — steel, brick, salvaged wood — aren’t just inspiration but building blocks in a vibrant cultural landscape.

The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation houses iconic objects from American life. “It’s just huge, like the size of an airplane hangar,” said Shelley Selim, the Mort Harris Curator of Automotive, Industrial and Decorative Design at the Detroit Institute of Arts. “There’s a Buckminster Fuller Dymaxion House there, and the Eames ‘Mathematica’ exhibition that they designed for a World’s Fair for IBM.” Next door, Greenfield Village recreates streetscapes from centuries past, with historic homes, steam engines and a glassblowing studio where visitors can watch artists at work.

Arab American communities have been rooted in east Dearborn for more than a century. Many families arrived in the early 20th century to work for Ford and other automakers. In 2023, it became the country’s first city with an Arab American majority.

Before leaving town, Hashem’s Nuts & Coffee Gallery offers a fragrant stop. Shelves are packed with Middle Eastern spices, roasted coffees, and hard-to-find blends like ras el hanout. Selim makes regular trips to the shop where she stocks up on jumbo Brazilian cashews.

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) houses one of the country’s most significant public collections. At its center is the Diego Rivera Court, named after the renowned Mexican painter and muralist who vividly portrayed social inequity, labor struggles and industrialization. “It rewards you every time you look at it,” said Selim. “There’s even a cheat sheet in the tile floor — little carved labels tell you what each panel depicts.” Rivera’s 1932 fresco of the Ford Rouge Plant stretches across four walls and grapples with the tensions between machines, myth, labor and land.

Nearby, “Quilting Time,” a large mosaic by Romare Bearden, pays tribute to communal labor and visual abstraction. “It is just a really stunning representation of community, of women coming together,” Selim said. “And the abstraction of the quilts is just spectacular.”

East of the museum, the Shepherd — a decommissioned Catholic church — has been converted into a contemporary art space by Library Street Collective, a Detroit-based organization known for turning historic buildings into community cultural hubs.

The show, which runs through Aug. 30, also includes work by Midwest sculptor and activist Jordan Weber, whose installation features a spliced GTO Judge — a muscle car originally built by Black assembly line workers — emerging from the floor like a buried relic. The sculpture echoes Weber’s ongoing collaboration with Canfield Consortium, a local nonprofit in the East Canfield neighborhood, which has long grappled with industrial pollution from nearby auto factories. There, Weber installed an air-quality beacon and plans to plant a conifer forest to absorb airborne pollutants.

Public art like Weber’s builds on a long legacy of community-based arts efforts in Detroit. One of the most recognizable is The Heidelberg Project, started in the 1980s by artist Tyree Guyton, who transformed his family’s former home — and eventually two surrounding blocks left in disrepair after the 1967 uprising — into a colorful, ever-evolving wonderland.

For a different kind of spin through history, Submerge is home to the techno label Underground Resistance. Glenn calls it “the world’s first known techno museum.” The space includes a basement record store and rotating tours led by Detroit music legends like Jon Dixon and Cornelius Harris.

Across town, on the city’s West Side, the Dabls Mbad African Bead Museum spans an entire block. “The founder, Olayami Dabls, really appreciated the symbolic and cultural significance of beads within the African and African diasporic communities,” Selim said. “It’s a really cool artist-created environment.”

John K. King Used & Rare Books, located in a former glove factory just west of downtown, feels suspended in time. “Every sale is handwritten down in a ledger,” said Selim of the DIA. Pull-cord lights and floor-to-ceiling stacks make the browsing feel both intimate and endless. “You’ll always find something unique and interesting.”

Round out the day at Paramita Sound, a downtown wine bar and listening room that pairs vinyl sets with high communal tables and natural wine. “Even if you don’t want to talk to anyone,” said Glenn, “you’ll be socializing.”

Set on more than 300 acres of landscaped grounds and landmark architecture, Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills beckons as a design destination and a place to wander. “People just explore the grounds for landscape architecture and sculpture,” said Laura Mott, chief curator of the museum. “It’s really just one of the gems of America.”

The current show, “Eventually Everything Connects: Mid-Century Modern Design in the U.S.,” is an ambitious exhibition that revisits the midcentury design canon. “We’ve done a lot of work excavating individuals who are diversifying American modern design,” said Mott. That includes a “textile forest” that hangs from the museum ceiling and walls and features works by such designers as Alexander Girard, Ruth Adler Schnee and Olga Lee. The show is on view through Sept. 21.

For those making a weekend of it, ALEO Detroit offers a low-key, art-forward stay in Detroit’s East Village. Warda Bouguettaya, a James Beard Award–winning chef, runs the breakfast program, and the on-site bar Father Forgive Me opens in the afternoon. “The balcony is right above the bar,” said Glenn. “It’s like your backyard, but with better lighting.” And funky, orange wine.

Or try The Siren Hotel, which offers a gilded, atmospheric experience. Set in a former 1920s high-rise, the chic design leans maximalist: velvet upholstery, terrazzo floors and heavy drapery.

Elly Fishman is a journalist and author whose work explores immigration, incarceration and American culture, including the arts. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, GQ, Rolling Stone, WBEZ Chicago, among others. She is currently working on her second book, forthcoming from HarperCollins.

The USA is a destination that’s made for road trips – the only problem is deciding where to start. But if California was on your shortlist, we think this new series might just convince you to book those flights.

Disability advocate and Wanderlust contributing editor Sophie Morgan has just unveiled Joy Diversion, a three-part series exploring the Sunshine State’s epic road adventures.

In the series, Morgan showcases three distinct itineraries: City to Desert, which takes in Greater Palm Springs, Joshua Tree National Park and the Western-themed Pioneertown; Mountains to Lakes, which follows Highway 395 from Mammoth Lakes to the shores of South Lake Tahoe; and Vineyards to the Coast, which puts the spotlight on the wine country of the Santa Ynez Valley, followed by Santa Barbara.

Episodes can be found on Visit California’s YouTube channel, with two episodes already live. The third will premier on 11 August.

Morgan brings a personal perspective to the series, having moved to LA last year.

“I truly believe that California is one of the most accessible destinations in the world, which is why I’m so excited to partner with Visit California on this epic road trip series,” Morgan said.

“Since moving to LA, I’ve spent so much time exploring the state’s hidden corners with friends, old and new and I’ve been blown away by the diversity of the state. Joy Diversion is a love letter to those journeys. I hope it inspires people, of all abilities, to take their own road trip and feel that same joy, freedom and sense of belonging.”

In Joy Diversion, Morgan is joined by friends including broadcaster, author and LGBTQ+ advocate Riyadh Khalaf and Emmy-award winning TV presenter Emily Evans.

The new series will also feature on Visit California’s Accessibility Hub, which provides information for travellers with disabilities including wheelchair-friendly accommodation and sensory-friendly destinations.

More information: visitcalifornia.com/things-to-do/accessible-travel

Read next: Welcome to California

It’s still summer, but this sure won’t be a summer vacation.

The Tennessee Titans will spend parts of the next 10 days on the road, logging a total of nine nights in Tampa and Atlanta on a preseason road trip for joint practices and preseason games against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons. It won’t be the busiest slate; the Titans will only practice three times with two games in between, meaning there will be four off days. But it’ll be a stretch spent together, and, crucially to coach Brian Callahan, it’ll be a stretch where opponents will be able to start forming their opinions about the Titans.

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“One of the things I’m really looking for is what do those teams say about us when we leave?” Callahan asks rhetorically. “What do they say about how we played, the intensity we practiced with? Those are all things we get to go make an imprint of what our team can be this year.”

ROSTER TALK: Tennessee Titans roster projection: 5 tweaks to 53-man depth chart after training camp Week 2

Callahan envisions this road trip as an opportunity for his players and coaches to get closer, continuing the ongoing trend of Callahan emphasizing connection and togetherness as team-building tacts. It’s also an opportunity to get ready for the long road trips the Titans will have to endure in the fall; the Titans travel to Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas and San Francisco this season, with the Raiders and Cardinals trips coming in back-to-back weeks.

The players seem to be bought into the idea. Receiver Calvin Ridley says the trip will go a long way toward bringing the team together. Rookie tight end Gunnar Helm says he’s looking forward to getting closer with his teammates. And offensive tackle Dan Moore Jr., in his first year with the Titans, plans to take advantage of the closeness.

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“I do think it’s a great time for us to bond us a team,” Moore said. “Spend some time on the road. Get to know each other a little bit better, spend a lot more time with each other and just come together.”

Practicing with the Buccaneers presents a long list of challenges. Coach Todd Bowles’ defense blitzes at one of the highest rates in the league, which should test quarterback Cam Ward and the offense’s readiness. Quarterback Baker Mayfield and the Bucs’ talented receiving corps, led by Mike Evans, will be a huge test for the secondary. And then there’s the Florida heat. The forecast calls for mid-90s temperatures and extreme heat with a “real feel” of 104 degrees by the time practice is going to be ending.

When asked if he has any advice for enduring the Florida summer heat, cornerback and Florida native Jarvis Brownlee Jr. said to keep hydrated. And then he repeated his advice four more times.

Another underrated element is these joint practices, and preseason games, will be the Titans’ first opportunities to experience unfriendly environments. Having enemy fans around isn’t high on the list of reasons to go on these trips, but it’s a factor.

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“It’s gonna be us against everybody for the next 10 days,” Helm says.

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at  nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X @nicksuss. Subscribe to the Talkin’ Titans newsletter for updates sent directly to your inbox.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why Tennessee Titans are spending 10 days away from Nashville