Glen Arbor Arts Center hosts Members Create exhibition, art school, Outdoor Gallery dedication
From staff reports
Come see the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s (GAAC) Members Create exhibition. This annual exhibition showcasing members’ talents runs July 24-August 27 at the GAAC gallery, located at 6031 S. Lake St., in Glen Arbor. On display are 24 works in both 2D and 3D from northern Michigan artists and beyond.
The online version of the exhibition is available for viewing beginning July 24. Visit GlenArborArt.org and click on EXHIBITS. Art may also be purchased online. There will be no opening reception for the Members Create exhibition.
Visitors are welcomed to enjoy the exhibition in the gallery. Because visitors’ and staff health and safety come first, visitors are required to wear a mask and practice social distancing [6 feet apart] in the gallery. If you forget a mask, the GAAC will provide them and hand sanitizer at a safety station on the GAAC porch.
Art School in session
The Glen Arbor Arts Center resumes art classes for children and adults on July 24. Enrollment is now open for a variety of online and open-air instruction.
Art Camp is a flexible, virtual experience that lets young creatives learn at their own pace. Other classes geared for adolescents and teens include bookmaking and image transfer. Adults have a chance to stretch creative muscles with instruction in painting, printmaking and more.
To read more about GAAC classes, visit GlenArborArt.org and click on CLASSES. Online registration is available.
6ft Apart Pop-Up Art
The Glen Arbor Arts Center park- ing lot becomes a pop-up gallery and demonstration site on July 25, from 11 am–3 pm. The Pop-Up Exhibition and Artist Demo is an opportunity to watch studio artists demonstrating how they work and create—part of the GAAC’s 6ft Apart Art series. Artists will show some wares, too. Come meet, talk and watch. The event is free.
Participating artists include: Kim Bazemore, metalsmith and contemporary jewelry; Lindy Bishop, painter. Painting big–on a 6ft long canvas; Angela Saxon, painter/printmaker. Monotype printmaking with wooden spoon and pin press.
Blues guitarist Blair Miller will perform during the Artist Demo + Pop- Up. Miller began his voyage through the blues by listening to the covers by the British and American bands of the 60s. He picked up a steel resonator guitar and a slide and started working on playing the blues of the Mississippi Delta. He also plays a parlor guitar and a cigar box guitar. Miller’s mini- concert is sponsored by the Manitou Music series.
The 6ft Apart Art series is a group of activities planned for Summer 2020 at the GAAC. It was developed in response to the challenges posed by COVID-19. Practices such as social distancing will be built into 6ft Apart Art events, and offer a safe alterna- tive to traditional indoor art activities, such as gallery exhibitions and performance. The series will take place at the GAAC and turn the front yard and parking area into open-air exhibition venues.
Outdoor Gallery Dedication
A public celebration and dedication of the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s new Outdoor Gallery are scheduled for July 30, from 5:30-8 pm. The GAAC unveiled its new Outdoor Gallery on May 12. The inaugural exhibition features work by Empire painter Mark Mehaffey. Five of Mehaffey’s acrylic paintings were reproduced on 5ft X 5ft aluminum panels and installed on the GAAC’s west and south exterior walls.
Preceding the 7 pm start of the dedication ceremony, Mehaffey will create and complete an original painting of the natural area surrounding the GAAC. He will begin painting at 5:30 pm. The framed painting will be available for purchase during the dedication. Proceeds from the sale will benefit the GAAC’s 2021 Outdoor Gallery project.
The GAAC’s Outdoor Gallery was two years in the planning. A committee explored the idea of placing on the walls sculptures, tiles, murals, and other media while searching for the most flexible and cost-effective answer. The weatherproof, aluminum panels on display were created by Image 360 in Traverse City.
Following a months-long, call-for-entries search, Mehaffey’s series of contemporary landscape paintings were selected by Glen Arbor juror-artists Hank Feeley and Emory Mead. Mehaffey maintains an active studio practice. He retired from the Lansing Public School system where he taught visual art from 1973 to 2002. He teaches painting both locally and throughout the United States. Mehaffey’s work remains in place until April 2021. The panels will then be available for purchase. Support for the Outdoor Gallery comes through a generous grant from GAAC members Barb and George Cochran.
The GAAC is located at 6031 S. Lake St., in Glen Arbor. and open Monday-Friday, 11 am-2 pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 11 am-2 pm during the exhibition. For more information visit GlenArborArt.org.
