Spray Cans, Welding Torches, and Handmade Dreams: 6 Lansing Artists Quietly Changing the City
Photo by Photo by The Quiet Atlas on Unsplash on Unsplash
You've probably seen their work without knowing their names. A mural on a retaining wall that made you slow your car down. A sculpture outside a coffee shop that stopped you mid-step. Lansing's creative underground is more alive than most people realize, and it's being shaped by a handful of artists who are putting in serious work — mostly without the spotlight. We went looking for them.
Here are six makers, muralists, and sculptors doing something genuinely interesting in and around Lansing right now.
1. Tasha Mireles — Muralist, South Lansing
Tasha Mireles paints big. Not just in scale — though her murals can stretch across entire building facades — but in emotional weight. Her work draws on her Mexican-American heritage and the specific textures of South Lansing, layering bright botanical motifs with faces that feel like they're holding entire histories.
"I want people from this neighborhood to look up and see themselves," she says from her home studio, surrounded by color-coded paint samples and reference photos pinned to every available wall. "Not some abstract idea of 'community.' Actual people. Actual stories."
You can find her largest completed piece on a warehouse wall near the Verlinden corridor — a sweeping 40-foot composition that's been quietly accumulating fans since it went up two summers ago. She's currently in talks for two more commissions, both in neighborhoods that rarely get this kind of investment.
Where to find her work: Verlinden corridor warehouse wall; follow her on Instagram for in-progress shots.
2. Devon Ashcraft — Metal Sculptor, REO Town
Devon Ashcraft welds things that shouldn't exist together until they do. His sculptures pull from salvaged industrial materials — pipes, gears, reclaimed steel — and turn them into figures that feel oddly organic, like machinery that decided to become alive.
His studio in REO Town is appropriately chaotic: sparks-on-the-floor, ear-protection-required territory. But the man himself is thoughtful and unhurried, happy to spend an hour explaining why a particular piece of scrap steel "wanted" to become a wing.
"Lansing has all this industrial history," he says, gesturing at a half-finished figure in the corner. "I'm just having a conversation with it."
Several of his pieces have found permanent homes outside local businesses, and a recent group show at a REO Town gallery sold out faster than anyone — including Devon — expected.
Where to find his work: Outside BierHaus on Michigan Avenue; rotating REO Town gallery exhibitions.
3. Simone Park — Textile Artist and Fiber Maker, Old Town
Simone Park's studio in Old Town looks less like an artist's workspace and more like a very organized fever dream. Bolts of hand-dyed fabric hang from ceiling hooks. Fiber in every conceivable color spills from open shelving. Finished pieces — wall hangings, wearable art, sculptural textile forms — are stacked and displayed with the kind of density that makes your eyes happy.
Her work sits at the intersection of fine art and craft in a way that refuses to pick a lane, which is exactly the point. "The hierarchy between 'real' art and craft is exhausting and kind of made up," she says cheerfully. "I just make what I need to make."
She teaches occasional workshops out of her studio and sells through a small online shop, but her most visible work appears in a rotating installation at a local coffee shop on Turner Street that she refreshes every few months.
Where to find her work: Turner Street coffee shop installation; workshops listed on her website.
4. Ray Okonkwo — Street Artist and Illustrator, Eastside Lansing
Ray Okonkwo started with stickers. Not in a vandalism way — in a I-need-to-put-something-into-the-world-and-I-have-no-money way. Now his bold, graphic illustration style shows up on sanctioned murals, local event posters, merchandise for Lansing-area bands, and the occasional skateboard deck.
His visual language is immediately recognizable once you know it: high-contrast, geometric, with a color palette that hits somewhere between vintage comic books and 90s streetwear. He's self-taught and proud of it.
"School wasn't for me," he says. "The internet was my art school. And Lansing streets were my gallery."
He's been increasingly sought out for commercial illustration work, which he takes selectively. His heart, he'll tell you, is in the public work — pieces that anyone can stumble across without buying a ticket.
Where to find his work: Several sanctioned murals on the Eastside; local event posters around town.
5. Carla Whitfield — Ceramicist and Functional Maker, Lansing Township
Carla Whitfield makes things you can use, and she considers that a radical act. Her ceramics — mugs, bowls, serving pieces — are handmade in small batches, finished with glazes she mixes herself, and priced accessibly on purpose.
"I want regular people to own handmade things," she explains, trimming the foot of a mug with practiced efficiency. "Art shouldn't only live in galleries. It should live in your kitchen cabinet."
Her work has developed a loyal following through farmers markets and pop-up sales, and a recent collaboration with a local restaurant — supplying handmade serving pieces for their tasting menu — introduced her to a whole new audience.
She's currently building out a larger studio space that will eventually include a community kiln available to other local makers.
Where to find her work: Lansing City Market on weekends; occasional pop-ups announced on social media.
6. Jonah Tremblay — Photographer and Installation Artist, Downtown Lansing
Jonah Tremblay shoots Lansing like he's trying to save it from being forgotten. His documentary photography focuses on the people and places that rarely make it into city promotional materials — corner stores, industrial workers, the quiet dignity of everyday Midwest life.
But he's not just a photographer. His recent installation work transforms his images into large-format, immersive environments that pull viewers inside the frame. A recent piece at a downtown pop-up space, which covered an entire room in floor-to-ceiling prints of Lansing's industrial waterfront, reportedly left some visitors emotional.
"Lansing gets undersold constantly," he says. "I'm trying to make people see what's actually here."
He's in conversation with several local institutions about a larger solo exhibition, which — if it happens — would be one of the more significant local art events in recent memory.
Where to find his work: Downtown pop-up exhibitions; prints available through his website.
The Bigger Picture
What's striking about all six of these artists is how rooted they are. None of them are passing through. They're making work about Lansing, for Lansing, and increasingly with Lansing — collaborating with businesses, neighborhoods, and institutions in ways that blur the line between art and community investment.
The city's creative scene has always had depth. These six are just a few of the people proving it, one wall, one sculpture, one handmade mug at a time. Keep your eyes open out there — Lansing's got more going on than you think.
