Michelle Leask is an artist, too!
Photo: Graeme and Michelle Leask
By Norm Wheeler
Sun editor
“Wow, this is good! I did this?” exclaims Michelle Leask, after writing a poem as part of the Consenses art project, a multi-genre game of telephone hatched by the Old Art Building (OAB) in Leland. Starting with the purple glass Infinity Disk in front of the OAB, artists were invited to take inspiration from and respond to the creation of only the previous artist in the series, resulting in multiple expressions in a linear creative conversation. The show opened in July, and viewers can walk from work to work to see the multi-media series as it was created, one art form at a time.
Michelle’s poem is her response to “a nice soft watercolor of flowers in a vase. The poem is called Beauty in Brokenness, because I saw so many contrasts of old and new. A small part of the vase is broken. There are fresh and dying flowers, all positioned by a window so that you sense opportunities on the other side. The flowers are cut flowers, so they are at the end of their lives, but in a jar of Earth’s life-sustaining water.” Michelle previously taught beading classes at the OAB, and she also paints (“but I don’t usually share my work publicly”), does photography, and makes regalia for powwows.
“I have written poetry my whole life, but this is the first time I’ve shared my poetry publicly. I’ve published stories before, but not poetry. This feels much more intimate, it’s a short piece and the word choices come from feelings and thoughts I don’t always share aloud,” Michelle says. “Typical of most of my poetry, this reflects how in navigating reality I see this duality in the contrasting colors, things being broken but still functional. I hope people come to their own conclusions about what they see, but I also hope that the words I’ve chosen can lead them to a new perspective. Nothing is just black and white, all good or all bad, ugly or pretty. It just IS! To me that’s what makes a poem, a story, life in general, exciting.”
Michelle brings a rich variety of skills to her work. Her day job is working for the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, a non-profit that is a consortium of the 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan. “As a project director my current focus is on early childhood development, social and emotional learning, and birth equity,” Michelle explains. “I’m also an ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) master trainer.” She is a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and “grew up mostly in Michigan despite moving around a lot.”
As co-owner of the Little Traverse Inn with her husband Graeme Leask, Michelle also stays busy helping to run the gastro-pub. There at their wedding reception, held on May 4 a few years ago, Michelle sang/chanted an honor song in Ojibwa that sent chills down your spine. “In chanting, the story is told through the notes that are sung, the sound. It is to honor everybody who was there, and for protection in the journey Graeme and I are taking as a couple. We also included a strawberry (Ode-imin, heart berry) ceremony, where each attendee gets one strawberry, to heal the heart, or to express love or forgiveness.” Because Graeme is from Scotland, the wedding also included a “quach ceremony,” a common Scottish wedding ceremony where everyone shares in the cup of friendship (scotch). This tradition evolved after James VI of Scotland (the first Stewart king) gave quach to Ann of Denmark at their wedding ceremony to assure that “nothing could ever come between them.”
Michelle and Graeme also have a travel company, Radiant Moments, where they take small groups to Scotland, Ireland, the UK, Wales, and Italy. In 2023, they have already been to northwest Ireland and southwest Scotland, and will visit Ireland again in July. In 2024, they plan to visit the Shetland and Orkney Islands, the Isle of Sky, and the Hebrides. Check out their Facebook page at Radiant-Moments Travel LLC.
As for the artistic side of Michelle, she says, “I went to college wanting to be an artist, but then I went a different way. I still consider myself a closet artist, but I would love to make it the primary thing I do every day – to make art!” See Michelle at Little Traverse Inn, or take a trip with Radiant Moments Travel, radiant-moments.com, and please see the Consenses art walk in Leland.
