By DARRELL PRESSLEY
n
n -rn n om­
ion - i draw­
from 11 over
ion.
HOWE R, WITH eli nts
Tom Monaghan, chi f xecutive
of Domino' Pizza, and "Tonight
Show" host Jay Leno, Whitfield
work i makin i way around
th auto de ign indu try.
The arti t's cre tions range
from 700 to 7,000 and
n Au
011 tibl s in
h r gall ri .
bout 40,000
in earnings annu lly.
Th artis udied utomo-
tiv body d sign a Macomb'
.ounty Community Colle and
tr n port at ion de ign at th
Center for Cr ative Studies in
D troit ..
Whitfield got tart d in 1987
with Cars & on p ngin r­
ing in Brighton dr wing proto­
type vehiel s. H worked h r
for th Y , until th eoon-
omy tarted to d lin and h
w I id off.
In 1990, Whitfield decided to
go into bu in for him If,
v n though hi friends thought
hi id w crazy.
But" ch year things just
med to double," lie aid.
Whitfield, who wor out of
hi hom, ha paintings of a
1938 P ckard, a cu tomized
1956 Chevrolet 1992 Dodge
Viper and other el ic v hicl
hanging in his Rochester Hills
ap rtment ..
Bu clas ic v hicl aren't hi
only passion. Whitfield is also
de ign r of futu ristic vehicle ,
.;e ching as far ahead as 2016.
T E DE IG ER SAID he
w tched movi lik "Star Trek"
nd "2001: A pa Ody ey" to
com up with "Th weirdest of
car ." .
An xample is his Cobra
Eliminator, which i a concept
car k n from the body style of
th 1992 Viper and geared for
2000. His painting won the
first-place runner-up award in
las year's Kit Car Illustration
conte t.
And there's the painting of
Cobo Arena in 200 I, with new
ca and revamped arena.
T is �nT \ . \ "
hi c tio t, troit Au
how at Cobo how in Detroit.
Peopl were 0 urprised that he
was the artist that "I had to sit
th re and start ketching to
how people I was for real. "
Along with the stylish curves
nd colors Whitfield u as for his
p intings, the artist also giv
hi paintings an international
flavor. With every painting,
'Whi eld igns hi name in Eng­
li h and writes a title for the
artwork in Chinese,
11
id }' U 11 u' hn t hi w -k's f.. vortto quot
from th ·2.()()O-.\'(·HI' ( I 'Art of War" :-.' 'unTzu' I'M,' m n
mt () ba ttl· and, hr-n t I',V t () figure ou t : w: Y t Win, but t h WI
m:1I1 fir t fih'll" out how to win and th '1'1 'Into att lo
h akur at Arts Foundation
looking for new plays
(
Heralding Martin Luther King Day on January 16
and Black Hi tory Month in February, Ann Arbor
Civic Theatre will pre ent August Wilson's Pulit­
zer Prize-winning drama, 'The Piano Lesson" as
a MainStage production in the Lydia Men­
delssohn Theatre, January 11th-14th, 1995. For
tickets and information, call the Ann Arbor Civic
Theatre at (313)-971-AACT (2228).
Ann Arbor Civic Theater's MainStage production of August Wilson's drama The Piano Les
(left) and Damon Gupton as Boy Willie.
BEHIND-TIlE-SCENES BY LISA COLLINS
I
o
e
20 p pl P 00 p r
p r: ( n f( r dinn -r with Mi­
r h aul-Ior an and hIS ( nily
n t.h ocr c 'I 11 f t h fi ft h
ann ual Iu ndr ai-« I' f r t h
:vi j(' h ao I . J 0 r d a n f 1I TH I a -
In
brat her dir torial d u with
film entitled" il nt Bomb"
mber
By the way
in M( I it 11' n xt
MICHAEL JORDAN
rt ir ,B('l')'\'\'\'llh h -r finnrc 'I.
\'hl)' ll'ilT11 lei \�'Ith Oprah
11 n arn I
Did You
'Twas t e night after
Christmas and 'Kwanzaa began
Kw nzr a 1 not "Blr k hrrst.ma: "It 1'" not
a r ligious h It y or' n alt 'mat iv« t o Chrtst-
nl� , .
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