Want to find public art in Michigan? There's an app for that

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Public art is everywhere in Michigan.

Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker" rests in front of the Detroit Institute of Arts on Woodward Avenue, the Motor City's main drag, which hosts the annual Woodward Dream Cruise.

Alexander Calder's "La Grande Vitesse," in front of Grand Rapids City Hall," dominates Vandenberg Plaza, scene of festivals throughout the summer in Michigan's second largest city.

The former sculpture is well known. The latter is really big. But the thing about public art is, you have to know it's there before you can go looking for it.

Then you need to know how to find it.

Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs this summer has unveiled a Michigan art tour app to help travelers discover outdoor, public works of art and culture in the Great Lake State.

"MI Amazing Art Tour," created by Venturit, Inc., shows you where the nearest public art is, what it is, and how far away it is.

Available for free from iTunes for Apple iOS and from Google Play Store for Android platform, the app provides photos and information about the work as well.

"For me the real attraction of the app is, no matter where I am in Michigan, I can find the nearest public art," said John Bracey, executive director of MCACA. "Whether I knew it existed or not."

What's more, it also can help you get there.

MI Amazing Art Tour also gives directions on how to travel to see the work whether by car, bike or on foot.

Expert curators have helped organize art tours around particular themes such as New Deal Art with 41 murals in newly constructed U.S. post offices during the 1930s and 40s or "The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright in Michigan."

Tours also are based around geographical locations such as "Public Murals in Kalamazoo" with 23 pieces, or "Experience Jackson- Historical Tour" with 12 works.

After downloading the MI Amazing Art Tour app, users can search various categories of art, including murals, sculpture, and architecture, and the app will then lead them through a tour of those pieces, some within a small radius, others spanning the entire state.

Other features include the ability to bookmark and “like” various tours on Facebook and exploring pieces of art within a certain radius of the patron.

The app launched in July with 209 individual works of art and 19 tours, but it continues to grow. MCACA is the first state arts council to host a statewide mobile art tour.