If you're heading to DLECTRICITY, the new Detroit art festival turning Midtown into a canvas[Cheap Canvas Shoes] for light art this weekend, make sure to step slightly off the main drag for spectacular installations, discreet gems and ephemeral events.

Art Detroit Now collaborated with Midtown Detroit, Inc. to select 35 international, national and local projects from more than 200 submissions, producing the festival and offering artist stipends with a total budget of $600,000. The gathering of light art projects along the Woodward Avenue corridor will be on display Friday and Saturday.

"This is more about the experience of simply being in the midst of all this light art," said Marsha Miro, who headed up the festival's curatorial committee and is the founding director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. "You can really have an adventure as you make this journey [along Woodward]."

While some might think to skip the northernmost stop, located an entire block east of Woodward(!), the site is worth the trek. Art adventurers can find "Contour1" by heading toward the lit-up Kresge-Ford Building at John R Street and Ferry Avenue, where lighting designers Robert White and Brienne Willcock have installed a forest of 550 silver Mylar balloons in the College for Creative Studies sculpture garden. Lit from below and suspended at different heights, the balloons will reflect the new, existing and incidental light.

"We wanted the balloons to be a sort of community ... we've strung them all separately they can move independently from each other," said Willcock. "We do so much interior stuff ... but this is sort of up to nature."

The duo has designed the lighting for architectural projects nationally and locally with the Ypsilanti-based firm Illuminart. (You may recognize White's older work in the stunning Light Tunnel in the McNamara Terminal at the airport.) But White, who attended CCS, now teaches there and designed the campus' lighting several years ago, said they enjoyed the freedoms and challenges of doing "art for joy's sake" and helping people see Detroit in a new way.

They're hoping to create "a little sense of tranquility in a busy downtown area," White said.

"Reflective light is so beautiful ... but it's something we overlook," added Willcock. "We hope people will see things a little differently, even it's just for a moment, like when you pass a mirror quickly."

DREW Barrymore's own "big miracle" will soon make an appearance.

Having played everything from the friend of alien ET to a 25-year-old who'd never been kissed, Barrymore is preparing for her most important role yet - that of mother.

Married to art consultant Will Kopelman, the newlyweds, who tied the knot last June in the backyard of her Californian home, will welcome their first child in the next few weeks.

Her marriage to Kopelman marks the third trip down the aisle for the actress-writer-producer, and hopefully her last.

"I love being a romantic. When you're young, you think that easy might be boring. Although danger is a little fun and thrilling when you get older you realise actually, easy, functionality and commonality is really wonderful."

Now at 37, she says people grow up.

"These days I'm making safer choices and gravitating towards stability," she smiles. "The fantasy was not necessarily about the wedding itself, but in meeting somebody amazing and having a life with them."

The fairytale appears to have come true (she was previously married to bar owner Jeremy Thomas for two months in 1994, and comedian Tom Green for a year in 2001), but it takes courage to take the plunge again.

"I think it's important to go in with total optimism, but not amnesia. You don't want to keep making the same mistakes."

Kopelman's father is the former CEO of Chanel and he was brought up in a traditional Jewish family. Barrymore is in the process of converting.

"The religion as a faith is so beautiful and it's so much about family being together, first and foremost. I subscribe to that so much in my own life, so that's a really wonderful and easy transition," she says.

Barrymore and Kopelman have much in common.

"I love art so much and it's great to be with somebody that works in that world and appreciates art and teaches me about things when we go to museums and galleries. When you have common interests with someone, although our upbringings are very different and we're quite different people, for us, art is a brilliant bridge."

A keen animal lover, Barrymore has been rescuing dogs for more than 25 years. So playing a Greenpeace activist in new drama Big Miracle, which also stars John Krasinski and Kristen Bell, wasn't a big stretch.

"I've always had love and empathy for animals," she says.

Big Miracle is about events in 1988 when three grey whales were trapped underneath the Beaufort Sea in Alaska a few miles from open water.

"I just loved the story," Barrymore says.

"I just thought it was such a good, positive and interestingly woven story, and I can't believe this is all mostly true, so I really wanted to be involved."

This afternoon in Beverly Hills, she is dressed down in jeans, a sweater, and sans make-up. Unlike her peers who arrive camera-ready for an interview, she shrugs and says: "I like being myself. I also like dressing up and being in a fairytale, too. But God, I do love sweatpants."

Worlds away from her wild child days, which included trips to rehab from the age of 13 for drug and alcohol abuse, she is now a major force in Hollywood.

Her production company, Flower Films, is responsible for such commercial hits as Charlie's Angels, 50 First Dates, and He's Just Not That Into You. The company has grossed more than $US780 million worldwide.

"Respect is something you definitely have to earn, which I appreciate very much," Barrymore says. "I've been doing this for a very long time. I expect a lot from myself and I like working really hard."

Barrymore has also found some new passions in her life, her cheap Canvas Shoes.

"I'm really into cooking these days. I love to listen to Puccini and cook lobster fra diablo. To me, that is a perfect date night," she says.

In a reflective moment, she adds: "This is a wonderful time in my life. It feels really balanced, I'm getting to spend more time with the people I love and everything feels really healthy, happy and good."


DREW Barrymore's own "big miracle" will soon make an appearance.

Having played everything from the friend of alien ET to a 25-year-old who'd never been kissed, Barrymore is preparing for her most important role yet - that of mother.

Married to art consultant Will Kopelman, the newlyweds, who tied the knot last June in the backyard of her Californian home, will welcome their first child in the next few weeks.

Her marriage to Kopelman marks the third trip down the aisle for the actress-writer-producer, and hopefully her last.

"I love being a romantic. When you're young, you think that easy might be boring. Although danger is a little fun and thrilling when you get older you realise actually, easy, functionality and commonality is really wonderful."

Now at 37, she says people grow up.

"These days I'm making safer choices and gravitating towards stability," she smiles. "The fantasy was not necessarily about the wedding itself, but in meeting somebody amazing and having a life with them."

The fairytale appears to have come true (she was previously married to bar owner Jeremy Thomas for two months in 1994, and comedian Tom Green for a year in 2001), but it takes courage to take the plunge again.

"I think it's important to go in with total optimism, but not amnesia. You don't want to keep making the same mistakes."

Kopelman's father is the former CEO of Chanel and he was brought up in a traditional Jewish family. Barrymore is in the process of converting.

"The religion as a faith is so beautiful and it's so much about family being together, first and foremost. I subscribe to that so much in my own life, so that's a really wonderful and easy transition," she says.

Barrymore and Kopelman have much in common.

"I love art so much and it's great to be with somebody that works in that world and appreciates art and teaches me about things when we go to museums and galleries. When you have common interests with someone, although our upbringings are very different and we're quite different people, for us, art is a brilliant bridge."

A keen animal lover, Barrymore has been rescuing dogs for more than 25 years. So playing a Greenpeace activist in new drama Big Miracle, which also stars John Krasinski and Kristen Bell, wasn't a big stretch.

"I've always had love and empathy for animals," she says.

Big Miracle is about events in 1988 when three grey whales were trapped underneath the Beaufort Sea in Alaska a few miles from open water.

"I just loved the story," Barrymore says.

"I just thought it was such a good, positive and interestingly woven story, and I can't believe this is all mostly true, so I really wanted to be involved."

This afternoon in Beverly Hills, she is dressed down in jeans, a sweater, and sans make-up. Unlike her peers who arrive camera-ready for an interview, she shrugs and says: "I like being myself. I also like dressing up and being in a fairytale, too. But God, I do love sweatpants."

Worlds away from her wild child days, which included trips to rehab from the age of 13 for drug and alcohol abuse, she is now a major force in Hollywood.

Her production company, Flower Films, is responsible for such commercial hits as Charlie's Angels, 50 First Dates, and He's Just Not That Into You. The company has grossed more than $US780 million worldwide.

"Respect is something you definitely have to earn, which I appreciate very much," Barrymore says. "I've been doing this for a very long time. I expect a lot from myself and I like working really hard."

Barrymore has also found some new passions in her life, her cheap Canvas Shoes.

"I'm really into cooking these days. I love to listen to Puccini and cook lobster fra diablo. To me, that is a perfect date night," she says.

In a reflective moment, she adds: "This is a wonderful time in my life. It feels really balanced, I'm getting to spend more time with the people I love and everything feels really healthy, happy and good."

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