Join author, photographer, and historian Dale A. Carlson as he explores the life and career of Corrado Giuseppe "Joe" Parducci (1900–1981), Detroit’s most prolific architectural sculptor. From 1924 to 1981, Parducci created ornamental work for more than 600 buildings while living in metro Detroit.
Carlson will trace Parducci’s early years in New York, his major commissions both locally and beyond, and several notable works near the Detroit Historical Museum—including the Museum itself. Featured pieces include the interior plasterwork of the Detroit Masonic Temple, the bears of the Detroit Zoo’s Rackham Fountain, and the iconic entrance sculpture of the Guardian Building.
Author, photographer and architectural historian Dale A. Carlson was born and raised along the northeastern shores of Lake Michigan where, as an adolescent, he developed a fascination with the city of Detroit. Throughout the 1990s Mr. Carlson studied art, journalism and graphic design at four Michigan colleges including Michigan State University, while simultaneously migrating closer and closer to the Motor City. In 2004 he made southeast Oakland County his permanent home, and in 2019 he earned an associate degree in photographic technology from Oakland Community College. He serves on the City of Berkley’s Historical Committee and is the author of Corrado Parducci: A Field Guide to Detroit’s Architectural Sculptor, Kahn’s Detroit: A Field Guide to Albert Kahn Designs of the Metro Area, and Stained Glass New Orleans: A Field Guide. Mr. Carlson lectures regularly on the architectural history of Detroit and the state of Michigan, for a variety of public libraries, historical societies and retirement living facilities. Currently he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in art history at Wayne State University and expects to graduate in December of this year. He credits his late wife, Carolin Venegas Jones, whom he married in 2014, for inspiring his ventures into publishing and photography.
OTHER DETROIT ARCHITECTS LECTURES
Frederick D. Madison: Architect of Royal Oak | Saturday, October 25
Albert Kahn: Unintended Consequences | Saturday, November 15
William E. Kapp: Architect of the Detroit Historical Museum | Saturday, January 17