The Glen Arbor Art Association has invited Minnesota artist Andy Evansen to teach a workshop titled “Creating Impressionistic Landscapes in Plein Air”. During the four day workshop, Evansen will provide a combination of studio and plein air instruction, October 15-18 at The Homestead Resort near Glen Arbor.

The Glen Arbor Art Association is accepting artwork submissions until Oct. 1 for the 2013 Manitou Music Festival poster. The limited edition posters are hugely popular and sold through the art association at selected shops and art galleries in Leelanau County. Past posters and guidelines for submission can be viewed at Glenarborart.org. Click on “Manitou Music Festival” or “Artists” tab, then on the right side of the screen click on “Call for Entries”.

Glen Arbor artist Kristin Hurlin’s latest naturalist installment.

Artists have long known what others were to learn when the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Park was designated by viewers of Good Morning America as “the most beautiful place in America”.

“The Freedom Anthem of Your True Self,” which inspires powerful life change and incorporates a photo of ABC Good Morning America’s ‘Most Beautiful Place,’ is being given as a free gift in association with International Self-Awareness Month.

It all begins with a photograph for Maple City painter Don Drabik. The camera is the tool he uses to record scenes of unexpected, overlooked settings that become his watercolor paintings. An exhibition of new work opens Aug. 24, 6 p.m. at Center Gallery, 6023 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor.

The Leelanau Press is searching for artists who painted the Sleeping Bear Dunes and surrounding landscapes before 1970 for possible inclusion in the historical preface for its 2013 publication, The Art of the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Several artists known to have painted in the area include Frank Dillon, Fred Dickinson, Mathias Alten, Charles Vickery, Charles Hetherington, Mary Moore, Kit Miller Knowles, Harry Weese, Sue Frank, Clarence Brower and Kay Smith.

This painting is an imaginary place, based on an adventure at Good Harbor Bay with my friend Marilyn. Years ago, we were having a hot, dry summer similar to our present conditions. We hiked for miles down the beach under sunny skies, while a dark cloud appeared in the northeast above the Whaleback. The storm moved in so rapidly we were engulfed long before we expected, far from our cars. Lightning and thunder crashed down all around as we ran for the relative shelter of the fore dune pine copes. We could just feel the great joy of all the plants as the heavy down pour washed off the dust and filtered down the root zone. Marilyn and I however had to run two miles through the violent storm, covering each lightning strike, and reaching our car, soaking wet. We laughed all the way home.

Ever wish you could own a private slice of Pyramid Point or Overlook #9 at Pierce Stocking Drive? Well, now you can own at least a virtual piece of it, or any other favorite spot in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore — “the most beautiful place in America”. The Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear organization announces a new program in partnership with the National Park Foundation, which allows supporters and fans to claim their very own virtual inch or inches of the National Lakeshore. Just like services that allow people to buy a star in the sky or a pixel, you have a similar opportunity to support the parks through the “My Inch of Earth” program.

The Glen Arbor Art Association’s children’s classes provide a variety of art experiences for young artists. Last summer’s successful Art Studio for ages 10-13 is again being offered on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3-5 p.m. for students who want to learn and expand their drawing and painting skills. Wednesday is Drawing Studio and Thursday is Painting Studio. The classes run for six weeks and students can register for one or as many sessions as they want to during the summer. Different sessions will focus on perspective, contrast, tone, line, color mixing, brush techniques, and other painting skills.