When Detroit-based artist Douglas Jones was commissioned to create an art piece commemorating the Michigan State University Spartan Bus Tour’s trip to the city in spring 2025, he turned to an unlikely source for inspiration: a napkin.
“So many of our biggest monumental spaces were conceived over coffee or lunch or cocktails — and written on napkins. When I saw [MSU] President [Kevin] Guskiewicz jotting some notes on a napkin at the bus tour’s closing ceremony, I became curious about what he was building and the visual language related to that,” Jones said.
The result of Jones’ curiosity about the Detroit bus tour is “Kevin’s Map: 256.3 Miles”, the second completed artwork commemorating the Spartan Bus Tour — a twice-yearly event that builds community connections and advances MSU’s education, research, and outreach missions — through the lens of an artist with ties to the region visited.
“Kevin’s Map” is a 29-by-41 inch work based on palimpsest, in which images are layered over each other to evoke a sense of time or memory. The piece was made with green India ink on white Stonehenge paper and took approximately two weeks to complete. It is housed in a custom-washed green frame from Detroit framer Eric Vaughn.
“When we etch the stones in early printmaking, we might only have one flat stone. After the first page, we buff it out, and we etch in the second page, so on and so forth; it doesn’t matter if we’re printing 1,000 pages or 5,000, evidence of all the pages that were etched before still show up. They’re still visible,” said Jones, who earned his MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art.
“This is quite literally how the past wills itself into the future. This piece mimics etching the image. You find little fragments of gestures, and your brain starts to make sense of it.”
For the artwork’s imagery, in addition to Guskiewicz’s napkin notes, Jones largely drew from a recap video the MSU University Communications and Marketing team produced ahead of the Detroit Bus Tour’s closing ceremony at the Scarab Club, an art gallery in the city’s Cultural Center Historic District.
“I’m very much interested in ephemera and the way that that works. You know, these things are meant to be disposable. So it was impressive that the team put together this really cool film in just a few minutes, and then it was immediately broadcast to the world, not just to the group that was there,” Jones said. “With ‘Kevin’s Map,’ I wanted to preserve forever something that is otherwise ephemeral, such as a napkin or a YouTube video.”
“Kevin’s Map” clearly features some of the people, places and iconography associated with the tour, such as a “Nothing Stops Detroit” sign and a Michigan Agricultural College logo. But there are also smaller details that aren’t as obvious: the intersection outside the Fisher Building and contours representing the MSU-Detroit Partnership for Food, Learning and Innovation farm.
“In my work, I explore the idea of ‘What does our brain do when we only show part of a picture?’ This often happens with memories,” Jones said. “‘Kevin’s Map’ integrates language from the closed captioning of the video and there is so much visual data of not only the physical spaces visited on the bus tour, but also conveying what I think the tour represents: learning and generosity.”
Jones also looked to capture the idea of movement, which connects with the fast pace of the bus tour, but also the transformational experience of participants.
“I love watching people move, he said. “This piece is filled with movement; it captures movement in a still frame.”
Jones hopes that Guskiewicz discovers something new each time he looks at the piece once it eventually moves to its permanent home, either in the president’s residence at Cowles House, or Guskiewicz’s office.
“It’s embedded with so much that it’s meant for contemplation,” Jones noted.
Jones said working on “Kevin’s Map” was rewarding because it emphasized two key values that shape his artistic approach: collaboration and community.
“I’m so grateful to be continuously engaged with communities that are committed to lifelong learning and curiosity,” Jones said. “My favorite experiences as an artist and designer are when I engage with vibrant thinkers, and I felt that way about this project.”
