The sisters’ initial instruction in art was at the Detroit Art Academy, after which they attended the William Merritt Chase School in New York City, spending summers abroad with the Chase Art Class in Spain. 

Alexandrine was a bookplate artist and painted miniatures. She also authored many of the early plays produced by the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts. 

Katherine (left) and Alexandrine McEwen with their great aunt Sarah Alexandrine Sibley, a founding member of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts in 1906. (The man is unidentified.) The founders of the Society were inspired the English Arts and Crafts movement.

The Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts began with a small group of artists that included several DSWPS founding members: Katherine and Alexandrine McEwen (whose studio on Jefferson was one of the homes of the Women Painters) and Mary Chase Perry.

#48     Original home of Arts & Crafts on Farmer St., second floor

At their original location on Farmer Street, Society members began teaching informal classes in basic design, drawing and woodcarving. 

#49-50  second home of Society of Arts and Crafts, 25 Watson St., Detroit

In 1933, it was one of the first art institutions to recognize the automobile as an art form. This was around the same time that programs in industrial design and commercial art were introduced to the school’s curriculum.

#51     Stage at DSAC

Society founding members Alexandrine and Katherine McEwen wrote and created the costumes and props for plays presented there.  People liked the idea that the audience chairs could be moved about the floor.

#52     1957 Society of Arts and Crafts Building

Imagine a street flanked by tall trees and turn-of-the-century brick and stone houses. It was in this setting that Minoru Yamasaki designed a facade almost entirely of glass. In order to soften what would otherwise be a harsh exterior, Yamasaki surrounded the building by a brick wall. This wall helped what was otherwise a starkly Modern building to harmonize with its surroundings. Its perforated pattern of red bricks provides textural interest that contrasts with the smooth surface of the building's glass and steel facade.

#53     Interior garden space between the brick wall and glass façade of building on Kerby

The wall enclosed a garden walkway and also shielded the building occupants from the noise, traffic, and distractions outside, creating a more intimate space within.

#54     1975 Kresge-Ford Building

The Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts changed its name to the Center for Creative Studies—College of Art and Design.

#55     2005 Kresge-Ford Building and Josephine F. Ford Sculpture Garden

In 2001 CCS changed its name to the College for Creative Studies to more clearly communicate its identity as an accredited, degree-granting “college.”

The Josephine F. Ford Sculpture Garden was added in the fall of 2005.

Alexandrine died in 1955.