Music / Visual art
Josephine Harreld Love
1914–2003 · concert pianist, musicologist, museum founder
Concert pianist and musicologist who moved to Detroit in 1941 and in 1969 co-founded Your Heritage House, a fine arts museum and studio for the city's children.
- Born
Atlanta, Georgia- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 88- Birth name
- Josephine Harreld
- Detroit years
- 1941–2003
- Field
- Music, Visual art
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Josephine Harreld was born in Atlanta in 1914 into a musical family and became a concert pianist and musicologist. In 1941 she moved to Detroit, where she ran a private piano studio, lectured and gave an enrichment series for the Detroit Public Schools, while also teaching at Bennett College, Oakland University and the University of Michigan. Convinced that children should learn from professional artists and be taken seriously as artists themselves, in 1969 she and the textile artist Gwendolyn Harkless Hogue founded Your Heritage House, a children's museum and 'laboratory center' in a house on East Ferry Street. For more than thirty years it offered classes in drawing, painting, ceramics and music, performances, a library and exhibitions on the cultures of the world. She received the Spirit of Detroit Award in 1982 and died in Detroit in 2003. In 2022 a mural honoring her was unveiled at Cass and Forest avenues.
Highlights
- Co-founded Your Heritage House children's fine arts museum (1969)
- Ran a piano studio and school enrichment series in Detroit from 1941
- Taught at Oakland University and the University of Michigan
- Spirit of Detroit Award, 1982
- Honored by a Cass Corridor mural in 2022
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 1969–2003
Your Heritage House
Closed
The children's museum and arts 'laboratory center' Love co-founded in 1969 on historic East Ferry Street; it faded from view after her death in 2003.
Memorial · 2022–present
Josephine Harreld Love and Dell Pryor mural
A mural by Ijania Cortez unveiled on September 30, 2022, honoring Love among the matriarchs of Detroit's art scene.