New Ferndale Gallery Opens Its Doors as a Hub for LGBTQ+ Creativity
Queer artist Jarrad Tacon-Heaslip showcases bold abstract work in his new Ferndale gallery
On a recent afternoon at the Tacon-Heaslip Gallery, the only thing doing the talking — aside from queer artist and founder Jarrad Tacon-Heaslip — is the art. Just days ago, on Nov. 15, the 4,100-square-foot gallery buzzed with the grand opening crowd — so many people that Tacon-Heaslip didn’t consider whether guests could fully take in the large abstract works. “I was like, oh, damn, we kind of screwed that up,” he said, laughing. “I think we might’ve invited too many people.”
Now, in the quieter aftermath, the intentions behind the new space — at 22100 Woodward Avenue between Eight and Nine Mile Roads in Ferndale — come into clearer focus. Formerly operating out of a small studio on Hilton, Tacon-Heaslip sees this larger gallery as more than just an upgraded workspace. He wants it to function as a visible, supportive hub for the LGBTQ+ community, with plans for Pride Month programming, artist collaborations and community-centered initiatives woven into the gallery’s future.
Inside, the art finally has room to breathe. Vibrant colors from Tacon-Heaslip’s bold abstract expressionist works, both large-scale and more intimate renderings, brighten the space. After viewing the pieces from afar, I could understand why freely walking around them made sense: They beg for you to experience them from multiple perspectives, the same way he hopes visitors will engage with the broader roster of artists he plans to uplift here.
“When you're further back, you're experiencing the colors as a whole,” he says about his work. “When you come up close, you get to see them in isolation, nearly, and you see how they're responding to the other colors.”
In talking with Tacon-Heaslip — whose work reaches national audiences in places like Provincetown — the precision behind his vibrant pieces becomes clear. Before any color goes down, the works start as meticulously taped and measured line drawings, each tiny segment isolated and painted in multiple layers. A single piece might require six full rounds of taping and painting, plus repairs and adjustments — including moments where he’ll scrap an overworked section and paint an entire block black just to reset it.
Color planning shifts between structure and instinct. Sometimes he digitally mocks up palettes or scribbles color notes along the canvas edge; other times he wakes up with a configuration fully formed and rushes to the studio to paint it. His styles cycle every several months — from black-and-gold minimalism to today’s bold broken gradients and darker, sexier overlays with pops of color. Some canvases are siblings that can live together or apart, while others function as single, inseparable installations. Whatever form they take, the works seem to arrive with their own demands, and Tacon-Heaslip simply follows where they lead.
“I am curious to see what his next style is going to be,” says artist assistant Jeremy Isaacson, stationed at a working table in the back, mid taping process. “Every eight months he switches things up. So different color combinations, different pattern designs. It's always changing.”
Tacon-Heaslip, who lives in Palmer Woods, painted casually for years in his native home of New Zealand before his practice took professional shape in Detroit nearly a decade ago. A summer trip to the U.S. with his husband unexpectedly turned into a longer stay, and with employment limited by visa restrictions, painting became the one thing he could pursue seriously.
“We had a large basement, and I had plenty of time. I had plenty of space,” he recalls. “I finally had time to be able to actually paint something, but then friends would come around and people started seeing what I was producing, and then people would be like, OK, I think I want to buy that.”
Aside from Tacon-Heaslip’s own works, the gallery is currently hosting a range of artists — about half of them members of the LGBTQ+ community. James Charles Morris brings his striking digital collage portraits, with three pieces hanging along the main wall. Ceramic artist Kaiser Suidan's cubes and jacks are arranged in a 24-piece configuration that looks as if it's just been tossed midair. Matthew Shlian, a Cranbrook alum now working out of his Ann Arbor studio, contributes several of his meticulous folded-paper pieces — intricate geometric works that have earned him over 100,000 Instagram followers.
Architecturally trained artist Patrick Ethen's installations use light, mirrors and layered materials to create shifting visual effects that change as viewers move through the space. And Birmingham-based artist and interior designer Barry Harrison rounds out the collection with his whimsical birds and expressive canine sculptures. Harrison is also part of the design team that helped shape the gallery itself.
But Tacon-Heaslip envisions the space as more than a showroom — it’s a gathering point for LGBTQ+ artists whose identities have historically shaped, and sometimes constrained, their visibility. Every year, he donates a piece to the Ruth Ellis Center, a gesture he describes as both personal and necessary in sustaining local queer youth programs. And next Pride Month, he plans to spotlight artists from the Detroit Queer Sketch Series, a community-driven meetup that has become an incubator for emerging queer talent in the region.
“I’d love to find as many LGBTQ+ artists as we can get our hands on,” he says, immediately acknowledging the unintended innuendo. “That sounds weird, but yeah, the LGBTQ+ community is super important and because we’re in Ferndale, we’ve got a large LGBTQ+ community.”
For now, the gallery hums quietly with possibility — a space where art and community meet, and where Tacon-Heaslip’s vision for queer creativity can continue to grow.
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