Brenda J. Clark celebrates 20 years in Leelanau
By Katie Dunn
Sun contributor
The natural world of Leelanau County is resplendent with a panoply of saturated color: deep blues of the surrounding waters, raw yellows of spring, warm greens of summer, blazing reds of autumn, and stark greys of winter. This glorious, ever-changing landscape is very much that which defines our collective memories of the area. To characterize this land that is Leelanau as picturesque would be a resounding understatement. Instead, it is unequivocally stunning.
Countless artists have gravitated to the area to capture its wondrous essence. The many artistic iterations of Leelanau County are remarkable, and some indelible. Think: Suzanne Wilson, Margo Burian, Greg Sobran, David Westerfield. Among the pantheon of local artists, Brenda J. Clark’s paintings of Leelanau are so entirely unique—and so singularly vibrant—that they can easily be recognized as hers.
This summer marks the 20th anniversary of Clark’s eponymous gallery, the Brenda J. Clark Gallery, which she founded with her husband, Johnston Mitchell. Located in downtown Suttons Bay, after a brief nascency in nearby Leland, Clark’s “working gallery” abides by an accessible approach: doors always open to encourage communal interaction.
“It’s our 20th season, and it’s amazing that some of our earliest patrons still swing in and want to see the work. They reflect on visits to the gallery and how my work may have changed or not. We have built strong relationships, friendships and supportive patrons,” Clark reflected.
“What started as a late summer experiment—two decades later finds our gallery into a second generation of patrons and collectors from the same extended families and on and on. Our clients span America and internationally—our biggest patron lives on the island of Guernsey,” Johnston shared.
“Boldly expressive” is how Clark characterizes her work. “I like to challenge the viewer beyond the scene—engaging them in color, mark-making and movement to stir up a feeling beyond representational.”
That which most resonates with Clark about Leelanau County is the breadth and depth of the landscape. “The range of waterscapes to farmscapes, or the merging of it all keeps me in awe—the orchards to the vineyards to the villages are all dialed into my visual assortment of subjects that I often choose spontaneously,” Clark said.
Clark paints in acrylics, and she paints primarily, if not exclusively, in plein air. “I prefer to paint on location. Painting on location moves me to spontaneity. Whenever I go out to paint on location, I do not preconceive what the painting will look like.”
Despite its accompanying challenges, Clark’s enthusiasm for painting on location is boundless. “There can be so many distractions—imperfect weather, no energy, not in the mood. There is a lot of gear to bring [on location], and it’s not always easy to gather it up. I’m good at improvising if I forget my palette, water or whatever else. I’ll never not paint when I’m on a mission,” said Clark.
Fluidity is something that drives Clark’s creative approach, allowing the surroundings to direct her vision. It is not impulsive, however, but deeply intuitive. Additionally individualistic about her work: a palette that is comprised of the most vivid of colors, and brushstrokes that are entirely unfettered. It is all at once nuanced and deliberate.
“I often explore the landscape’s emotion through animated undertones, symbolic color, or masking in. I intuitively tap my graphic design background to interpret and structure each painting’s composition,” Clark said. “My paint strokes and colors take over, moving my paintings from the concrete to the abstract. Some part of a given painting may reflect reality, while another part of it may escape into abstraction.”
Among the artists whom Clark finds most inspiring are Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), and Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890). Those proficient in the history of early 20th century European art would readily identify Clark’s work as being very much in the same vein as the Fauves—the “Wild Beasts.” Fauvism was the avant-garde movement conceived in Paris, and cultivated from 1905-1910, at the behest of Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958), and André Derain (1880-1954).
Clark perpetuates Fauvism through a contemporary, Northern Michigan lens—refusing to use color in a way that literally corresponds to the subjects she depicts. Instead, Clark retains a palette of unnaturalistic colors, using intense color for representing mood, space, and light. “A sky does not have to be blue to be understood,” Clark shared. Similarly, Matisse proclaimed: “When I paint green, it doesn’t mean grass; when I paint blue, it doesn’t mean sky.”
Born and raised in Green City, Missouri, Clark attended public school from kindergarten through the 12th grade. From there, Clark enrolled at Truman University where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in commercial art in 1984. Clark then worked at Kansas State University as a graphic designer from 1984-1986. Ultimately, in 1989 she received her Masters in Fine Arts at Kent State University. Clark then taught graphic design at Michigan State University (MSU) from 1989-1999. It was in East Lansing where she met her husband in 1998, and they married in 1999.
The Clarks were drawn to Leelanau County by Johnston’s fond memories of camping and fishing in the area during his childhood. Clark herself was unfamiliar with the area until she joined the faculty at MSU.
“The year I was hired at MSU, the older faculty were mentioning the summer art program not being offered anymore—in Leelanau County. I had no idea where that was or what they were talking about. The Old Art Building in Leland was where many of my older colleagues had taught summer courses. The department ended that program in 1989—the year I was hired as new faculty at MSU. When we moved up here, I ran into several retired colleagues who had settled here as they had bought property while they were teaching up here,” Clark said.
The Clarks moved to Leland in June of 2000 and still reside there. Johnston, from the very beginning, has been an integral part of the success and longevity of Clark’s gallery; it has been very much a collaborative effort. They have two daughters, Helene and Flora, both University of Michigan Wolverines: the former a senior, the latter a freshman. Both daughters spent their formative years at the gallery—Clark opened her gallery when Helene was just nine months old.
In keeping with her fluid approach to art, there is no formal event to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Brenda J. Clark Gallery. “It is a big bash year—our 20th year in business! We currently have no celebration planned, but that could change in a heartbeat! Just like my spontaneous ventures to paint various scenes at various times of the day and evening—our celebration is likely to be spontaneous,” Clark exclaimed.
