Glen Arbor Arts Center hosts Hudson-Casanova, McWhorter
From staff reports
Chicago musician Michael Hudson-Casanova is the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s first artist-resident of 2026. During his two-week stay, beginning May 3, Hudson-Casanova will compose music for an ensemble consisting of four saxophones, four brass players, and a four-piece rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass, drums). His instrumentation for this composition is inspired by the American big band tradition. Hudson-Casanova will talk about his residency during a public presentation May 14, at 10 am at the GAAC.
“I am exploring a new direction within a genre that is familiar to me,” Hudson-Casanova said. “Composing for large ensembles takes a more thorough-composed approach than writing for small groups, meaning more time, care, and thoughtfulness. There is no greater teacher than trial and error, but trial and error takes time, which a GAAC residency would provide.”
The GAAC has been hosting visiting artmakers as part of its residency program since the 1990s. For more information about the GAAC’s AIR Program visit GlenArborArt.org/ARTISTS.
Lobby Gallery: Poetic Visions Of Port Oneida
Images and poetry are the essence of the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s next Lobby Gallery exhibit. Poetic Visions Of Port Oneida: Painting And Poems That Reimagine is a series of oil paintings and corresponding poems created by Grand Traverse County artist Wendy McWhorter. This exhibition is in the GAAC’s Lobby Gallery from April 30-Aug. 27.
McWhorter’s focus is the iconic farmsteads in the Port Oneida district of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Each painting is enriched by a poem McWhorter composed; and her imaginative reworking of the sites’ gardens. “My vision of the eight paintings included in this exhibit was guided by my passion for historic Port Oneida as well as other buildings in SBDNL,” McWhorter said. “This began with reimagining the spaces. With the lakeshore so close I added slices of water in the distance. I thought of myself as the farmhouse gardener. I planted flowers or flowering trees in all paintings.”
Poetic Visions Of Port Oneida is on view in the Lobby Gallery during GAAC business hours; or may be viewed online at GlenArborArt.org/Exhibits.
