Season Fair 2026
Season Fair returned to Detroit September 10–13, 2026, for its second edition. At The Shepherd, 12 galleries from Detroit, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and Aalborg, Denmark, showed alongside Form, a new section dedicated to sculpture and object-based work. Next door at Aleo, Detroit Presents gathered six Detroit-based artists under the theme “Other Routes,” while Season Talks, presented with Modern Ancient Brown Foundation at the College for Creative Studies, opened the week. New this year, curator-led tours guided by Detroit collectors and cultural workers were open to all visitors. With support from artists, galleries, collectors, institutions, and partners, Season Fair continued to make collecting more accessible while strengthening connections between Detroit and the wider contemporary art world.
Exhibitors
Set within The Shepherd, a restored Romanesque church in Detroit's Little Village, Season Fair's second edition brought together local and international voices in contemporary art. Exhibitors included Abattoir Gallery (Cleveland, OH), HAGD Contemporary (Aalborg, Denmark), Library Street Collective (Detroit, MI), M Contemporary (Ferndale, MI), Museum of Creative Human Art (Cleveland, OH), and Season Office (Detroit, MI). The new Form section, dedicated to sculpture and object-based practices, featured Chela Mitchell (Washington, D.C.), Cruise (Minneapolis, MN), Grüna Gallery x Buffalo Prescott (Grosse Pointe and Detroit, MI), Nik Pence (Franklin, MI), and PLAYGROUND DETROIT (Detroit, MI).
Detroit Presents
At the heart of Season Fair was Detroit Presents, the fair's exhibition platform for the city's most vital artists. Now in its second year, the initiative continues to connect Detroit's creative community directly with collectors, curators, and institutions from across the country and abroad.
Presented next door to The Shepherd at Aleo, the 2026 exhibition, Other Routes, brought together six artists who came to their practices by unconventional paths and build their work from salvaged and inherited materials. Exhibiting artists included Mobolaji Ayeni, bree gant, India Solomon, Jessica Nabongo, Miriam Uhura, and Oshun Williams.
Season Talks
Presented in partnership with the Modern Ancient Brown Foundation and the College for Creative Studies' Woodward Lecture Series, Season Talks opened the fair on September 10 with a free, day-long symposium at CCS. The program featured three moderated conversations, Apertures and Affect, Alternative Institutions, and Seeing Sonics, along with featured talks by essence harden of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Dejha Carrington of Commissioner. Speakers included Taylor Aldridge, bree gant, Theo Parrish, janera solomon, Sterling Toles, and Ricky Weaver.
Institutional Support and Partnerships
Season Fair's second edition was made possible through the generous support of lead partners Jennifer Gilbert and ARTPOWER, with major support from the Gilbert Family Foundation. Community partners included the College for Creative Studies, Commissioner, eugenie, Modern Ancient Brown Foundation, Nika & Co, Planning Alternatives, PS_Detroit/Ashara Ekundayo, SMPLFD, and Gretchen & Ethan Davidson. Their commitment reflects the fair's collaborative spirit and a shared investment in Detroit's creative economy.