Center Gallery & Forest Gallery
In 1983 Becky Thatcher and Ananda Bricker invited all the artists they knew (including Suzanne Wilson) to a potluck at Ananda’s beach on Glen Lake. This group, informally organized, then met every Thursday morning at the Soda Shop (now the Western Avenue Grill) to discuss plans on how to market their art. The following year five studios opened, with several artists exhibiting at each place. Between 1984 and 1986 a Co-Op Gallery was established, first at The Homestead in a seasonally empty ski warming house and two years later in the Arbor Light Building – becoming the first art Gallery in Glen Arbor.
Contact information:
6023 S. Lake Street, Glen Arbor … (231) 334-3179 … www.lakestreetstudiosglenarbor.com
The Center Gallery, which is located between Nori Obata’s space in the North Gallery (where Suzanne Wilson once worked) and the Bricker family’s Forest Gallery to the south, features a new show from a different artist each week. The Center Gallery is a completely blank room with a gray concrete floor, white walls and a black table.
“The life that comes out of there is just cool,” says Beth Bricker. “One week there were bright, almost neon colors: paintings, quilts, and a copper enamel sculpture. It was vibrant. Then we had Kirsten Hurlin’s work, which is fabulous, but more reserved. It changes the room.” Beth looks forward to being a part of this transformation each week.
