John Jeffire

Artist Statement

I began drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil. Since then, the world has pulled me in countless directions, but the need to express myself has never waned. I am the award-winning author of five books, which include "Motown Burning," 2005 Grand Prize Winner in the Mount Arrowsmith Novel Competition and 2007 Gold Medal for Regional Fiction in the Independent Publishing Awards, and "River Rouge," 2022 winner of the American Writing Award for Legacy Fiction. In 2025, the manuscript for my novel-in-progress “Detroit South” won the Claymore Award for Literary Fiction. Since formally joining the local art scene in 2025, my work has been featured in shows with the Grosse Pointe Artists Association and the Lawrence Street Gallery.

As an artist, I am a scavenger. Each morning when I walk my dog, we discover shorn twigs and branches, rocks, leaves, and seeds littering the street and sidewalk of my neighborhood—these discarded pieces of nature destined for the trash are my treasures. We also journey past a local construction site and examine the trash bins; here I have discovered beautiful scraps of OSB plywood and floorboard ready for transport to the trash dump. Later, I return and salvage these gems. At home, I collect non-recyclable packaging plastic and grocery bags; I see incredible potential for beauty in all these cast-off remnants. My artistic process entails melting plastic, cutting and routing wood, assembling misfit natural and manufactured pieces together and painting them, eventually treating them with lacquer and two-part epoxy, and in the end what was once only fit for the dumpster can now bring joy, challenge, intrigue, and serenity to those who witness it. The pieces I create cannot be replicated—they are as unique as Nature itself.

My art epitomizes upcycling: repurposing and reshaping trash and creating something completely new and pleasing to the eye and mind.