Art at the Zoo

Stuff We Love

May 3, 2025

This winter, Tonya Lutz and Rick Pruckler of Alden’s Whistling Frog Tile have been working on a special installation: turning a design by Detroit artist Hubery Massey into a mural for the Detroit Zoo! The mural, once complete, will run on either side of the zoo’s new Discovery Trails, an “immersive, 7-acre experience” coming in summer 2025. This piece of art is meant to be touched, with different tile shapes and colors. Per Lutz, “The first panel features a diverse representation of patrons gazing at the second panel of flora [and] fauna.” She adds that the Whistling Frog team “invited local artist Mike Sincic of Williamsburg for assistance incorporating the use of Braille in the mural” and worked with NMC’s ceramics instructor Laura Korch and ceramic students for “the final stages of wet clay work in Traverse City.” Watch the Detroit Zoo’s website for updates on the new Discovery Trails!