#77/Michigan Modern: Michael Dow + Susan Bandes + Brian Conway with Musical Guests The Mac McLaughlin Group

Michigan, that fine state shaped like your hand, is a hotbed of amazing Modernism.  Today George Smart and co-host Bob Langford chat with three knowledgeable guests about Michigan Modern. 

Michael Dow is President of the Alden and Vada Dow Family Foundations based in a town where the cherry pie is always amazing, Charlevoix Michigan.  Established in 1960, the Foundation benefits central Michigan. He’s the son of architect Alden Dow, who took a sharp left from the Dow family chemical business and became a world-class Modernist architect based in Midland Michigan.  You’ve heard a lot over the last few years about Columbus, Indiana, but Midland ranks right up there as one of the most remarkable Modernist enclaves in America. 

Susan Bandes is Professor of Art History and Director of Museum Studies at Michigan State University. She ran MSU's Kresge Art Museum which is now the Broad Art Museum and curated exhibitions on Frank Lloyd Wright, and American Modernism. She teaches Renaissance and Baroque Art, Modern Architecture, Curatorial Practices and is author of Mid-Michigan Modern: From Frank Lloyd Wright to Googie.  She’s also an expert on a chain  called Dawn’s Donuts.

Brian Conway is the longtime State Historic Preservation Officer in Michigan.  He is co-author of Michigan Modern: Design That Shaped America and won the 2016 Advocacy Award from Docomomo-US.  That stands for the Documentation and Conservation of the Modern Movement, not to be confused to Kokomo, a Beach Boys song.  His new book, Michigan Modern: An Architectural Legacy has remarkable color photography taken expressly for this book by James Haefner.

Dropping by the studio, the Mac McLaughlin Group: Mac McLaughlin, Mike Randall, Peter Joyner, and Kevin Golden.