Glen Arbor Arts Center hosts Moran, theater discussion, art gardens
From staff reports
Ann Arbor fiber artist Susan Moran will use her Glen Arbor Arts Center (GAAC) residency to begin a body of work “specifically inspired” by Leelanau County. Using photographs and sketches of mosses, fungi, and rock surfaces, Moran plans to create a series of hand-dyed, printed and stitched textile collages. She will talk about her project during a public presentation on Sept. 22 at noon, at the GAAC, 6031 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor. The presentation is free.
Since the 1990s, the GAAC has welcomed visiting artists who want to immerse themselves in their work. The GAAC’s Artist-in-Residence program offers up to seven, creative practitioners a two-week respite from their daily lives in order to focus on a new idea that needs space, or to develop an on-going project. For more information visit GlenArborArt.org/EVENTS.
In Translation: Theater as Mirror? A Discussion
In his 2000 play The Laramie Project, playwright Moises Kauffman asked: How can theater reconstruct history? Also: How does it translate current events? Social issues? Is the theater a place of refuge from the world? Or, a giant mirror reflecting it back? Those questions will be considered during a discussion with a Northern Michigan director, and the artistic director of a small, nonprofit theater company September 24, 1 pm at the Glen Arbor Arts Center. The panel discussion is part of In Translation, the GAAC’s multi-pronged project exploring how the arts—visual, performing, musical and literary—translate the contemporary world.
Terri Heffron and Lesley Tye, both Northern Michigan residents, will be in conversation with GAAC Gallery Manager Sarah Bearup-Neal about their experience translating the contemporary world through theater. Heffron directed the Old Town Playhouse 2023 production of The Laramie Project, about the reaction to the 1998 murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming. Tye is the artistic director of Mashup Rock & Roll Musical. Mashup productions “remix popular culture not just to entertain, but to celebrate and question the society we live in, with stories that promote inclusion and tolerance.”
A grant from the Michigan Humanities Council provides support for the In Translation project. It continues through October 26. For more information visit GlenArborArt.org/exhibits. The program is free. No reservations are required.
Artists in The Shadows: Women Who Turned Gardens Into Art
Gardens have always been a favorite subject for artists. Yet the most familiar works are by men. Were women not painting them or sculpting them or photographing them? Carolyn Doepke Bennett, a researcher and lecturer in garden conservation, explores that question in her slide presentation Artists In The Shadows: Women Who Turned Gardens Into Art. The lecture takes place at the Glen Arbor Arts Center on Oct. 20 at 11 am. Seating is by reservation. Tickets are $10 GAAC members, $15 nonmembers. Seating is limited. Reserve seats by Oct. 18 at 3 pm. To reserve visit GlenArborArt.org/EVENTS.
Using the artists’ words, and a wide range of media—from painting, to fiber, to sculpture—Bennett delves into the makers’ personalities, adds context by looking at the societal and economic challenges they faced, and the circuitous routes they followed to depict garden splendor in their artwork.
Bennett received a Master’s Degree in the Conservation of Historic Landscapes, Parks and Gardens from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. She lives in California, but has a long history with Leelanau County. Bennett began visiting Glen Arbor as a child, and returns annually to Glen Lake.
