Denise Lutz returns to Detroit to talk about photos and her first novel at Friday event
This weekend will be a homecoming of sorts for Denise Lutz, a former Metro Detroiter who reached the higher levels of the region’s largely male-dominated advertising world and remains active in local philanthropic circles.
It’s not like Lutz has not been back in Michigan since she moved to Kentucky horse country about a dozen years ago (her family maintains a log cabin in Ogemaw County in the northern lower peninsula), but this return is particularly special.
Lutz is in town to celebrate the official release of her first novel, “Thumbs,” and to unveil a collection of original nature photographs, “Heaven on Earth.” She’ll do both from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at the Robert Kidd Gallery in Birmingham.
Neither of these achievements is a surprise to anyone that knows Lutz, who grew up in Lathrup Village and was once married to retired automotive executive Bob Lutz. She’s frequently described as a renaissance woman because of her many interests, which range from equestrian to aviation to automotive. In fact, she’ll have her 1953 Cunningham C-3 Coupe at the Concours D'Elegance at the Detroit Institute of Arts later this month.
“I feel humbled at the opportunity to bare my creative soul with old and new friends for a wonderful cause, so excited to be welcome in the very special Robert Kidd Gallery, and blessed to be able to come home,” Lutz says in a phone interview from her Woodford County home.
In “Thumbs,” Lutz combines wicked humor and wild imagination to tell the story of modest, sweet Catherine, who is desperate for more attention from her “stinking rich 80-year-old husband, the self-proclaimed inventor of sexting … whose new retirement hobby involves him with a blackmailing personal assistant, a dominating German housekeeper, strange Italian sausages, assassins wearing kinky boots, and a sadistic, revengeful killer.”
Lutz describes the characters in her debut novel as a combination of types from “A Fish Called Wanda,” the 1988 heist comedy starring John Cleese, and “The Sopranos,” the popular HBO crime drama about an Italian American mobster. Inspiration also came from her memories of her quirky days of working at Detroit advertising agencies -- “the guys in creative used to roller skate down the hallway” -- her affinity for eccentric characters on “Saturday Night Live” and a man she once dated who always had his head in his phone.
“He probably still has,” she says, laughing, adding she’s been influenced by writers like Carl Hiaasen, who draws inspiration from news stories and wacky real-life incidents. “Facts are sometimes stranger than fiction.”
Although she had long been involved in the creative field, Lutz only became serious about writing several years ago, after her move to her Glen Lake Farm in Kentucky, where she breeds show horses. She began taking classes at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in nearby Lexington and eventually attended a conference for thriller writers in New York, where she needed a wacky idea for a story.
“People have too many things to worry about. I wanted to create something light and entertaining—with quirky characters to put smiles on people’s faces,” she says, noting she typically carves out time to write in the morning but seizes the chance to take her laptop with her everywhere.
Published by Rabbit House Press, the novel will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and local bookstores.
“Denise Lutz has this lightning-fast mind, razor-sharp wit, and fabulously dark sense of humor that would make masters of the craft from Hitchcock to Hiaasen giggle admirably,” says Erin Chandler, founder and editor of Rabbit House Press. “Rabbit House Press is beaming with pride to shepherd this most original debut novel out into the world.”
Like with writing, Lutz has always had an interest in photography. She studied art at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, where she graduated with a degree in communication design, worked in photo labs during summer vacations in college and later worked for the Film Communications Group and Screenvision Cinema Advertising.
“I shape pictures in my camera before I click the button,” she says, adding she often uses her iPhone 13 Pro Max to snap photographs but also uses conventional cameras. “I’m looking for light and balance and design in my work. Most of my pictures are of the outdoors. I love being outside, on the water, and Up North, in the mountains. There is so much beauty out there. If we choose to see, we can find peace in even the smallest places.”
Her exhibit at Robert Kidd Gallery will include 20 signed, limited-edition photographs taken at her Kentucky home, as well as in Michigan and Switzerland during the past few years.
“I’ve always loved the outdoors; nature is its own exquisite palette,” she says. “Whether I’m traveling or leisurely strolling the grounds of my old Kentucky home, the ordinary becomes quietly extraordinary when I focus on the light. I believe a good photograph evokes a wide range of emotions that tell the entire story of simple, yet magical moments frozen in time.
“I hope people will be drawn in to mine, and as I do, sense the rich aromas of fresh cedar, grass, soil and farm air.”
Her photographs made a visceral impression on Gerard Marti, owner of Robert Kidd Gallery.
“Like many landscape photographers, Denise spends a lot of time outdoors, surrounded by the beauty of our natural world, including the majestic landscape of her farm,” Marti says. “Her photographs are deeply moving, intimate, and poetic. The warmth of perfectly balanced light creates lyrical shapes, shadows, and contrast, revealing Denise’s heightened sense of aesthetic and communication with nature. Her love of animals is unmistakable as well.”
One of her favorite Michigan photos on display features her “beautiful golden retriever” looking up at an American flag. “It’s a woodsy picture. He probably caught a glimpse of a bird but looks like he’s saluting the flag,” she says.
Proceeds from the sale of Lutz’s photos will benefit Pictures of Hope, a nonprofit program founded by photojournalist Linda Solomon that helps children experiencing difficult life circumstances by putting a camera in their hands to express their thoughts, feelings, hopes and dreams through photography.
“My photographs evoke peace, calm and tranquility, and focus on the beauty around us in the same way that the children who participate in the Pictures of Hope program are able to find beauty in the midst of hardship,” says Lutz, who is a longtime friend of Solomon’s. “It fills my heart to know that my photographs may help to improve their lives in some way.”
Denise Lutz Book Signing & Photograph Exhibit
6 p.m. - 9 p.m. Friday (Sept. 9)
Robert Kidd Gallery
107 Townsend St, Birmingham
(248) 642-3909
Robertkiddgallery.com
Free
*Copies of “Thumbs” will be available for purchase at the gallery; also available at
rabbithousepress.com