The official kickoff to a three-month outdoor art show throughout downtown Royal Oak is today at Noir Leather, courtesy of the Detroit Institute of Art's Inside|Out program.

The DIA installed six high-quality reproductions of art pieces from its collection in Royal Oak on Thursday. Noir Leather will present the first unveiling, of Selene and Endymion by Nicolas Poussin, at 1 p.m. today. Complimentary soft drinks and juices will be served at the event.

Royal Oak is one of 13 Michigan communities selected to host the Inside|Out program.

Most of the pieces hang on the sides of buildings, with one freestanding piece. The pieces are clustered throughout the downtown area within walking or biking distance from each other to encourage people to get out and view all of them.

The Royal Oak Commission for the Arts suggested about 20 locations for the pieces, according to Keith Howarth, a member of the commission and owner of Noir Leather.

"In the end it was up to them where they went," Howarth said. "They wanted the works be be in areas where they would have maximum exposure."

The largest of the works, Cotopaxi by Frederic Edwin Church, was installed on the green wall of Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle on Fourth Street.

"I was hoping for Four Dogs Playing Cards," Ridley joked.

Kidding aside, Ridley said he was really excited to have his club chosen for the progam.

"It kind of fits right into what my customers keep telling me they like about the Royal Oak experience," he said.

Inside|Out runs through Sept. 30. A number of events, both announced in advance and spontaneous, will be held by the Royal Oak Commission for the Arts in conjunction with the DIA over the three months, including a high-tech treasure hunt in which players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, placed near the reproductions using GPS-enabled devices.

Another idea being tossed around is Moonlight Mondays. The idea is to have guided evening tours of the pieces by flashlights with a docent from the DIA.

Other ideas are to have musical and theatrical performances in front of each of the works and bike tours that would trek to Ferndale and Clawson –two other cities participating in Inside|Out this summer.

Royal Oak residents also benefit with a day of free admission to the DIA on Aug. 26.

Here's a list of Royal Oak's art pieces:

• Cotopaxi by Frederic Edwin Church, on Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle 
• Warrior with Two Pages by Peter Paul Rubens on Pronto 
• Selene and Endymion by Nicolas Poussin on Noir Leather 
• Eleonora of Toledo and her Son by Agnolo Bronzino on Ariana Gallery 
• The Recitation by Thomas Wilmer Dewing outside the Royal Oak Public Library 
• Staunch Friends by William Federick Yeames on Qdoba Mexican Grille

To see some of the work being installed, check out our photo gallery attached here.