Searching for Sleeping Bear artists
From staff reports
The Leelanau Press is searching for artists who painted the Sleeping Bear Dunes and surrounding landscapes before 1970 for possible inclusion in the historical preface for its 2013 publication, The Art of the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Several artists known to have painted in the area include Frank Dillon, Fred Dickinson, Mathias Alten, Charles Vickery, Charles Hetherington, Mary Moore, Kit Miller Knowles, Harry Weese, Sue Frank, Clarence Brower and Kay Smith.
The Leelanau Press is conducting an inventory of these artists and others who painted in what is now known as the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and asks that area owners look at paintings in their summer cottages or homes to see if they have paintings by these artist or others who may have painted before 1970.
“Sometimes these wonderful paintings have been in cottages for so long that no one really knows much about them but they are often important images, even if not by well-known artists,” says Barbara Siepker, owner of the Cottage Book Shop and co-founder of the Leelanau Press.” It is also interesting that to our knowledge, J. Ottis Adams and students of the MSU art school did not venture this far west of Leland to paint.”
Barbara and Frank Siepker and Suzanne Wilson founded the Leelanau Press in 2001. The nonprofit publishing company is run by volunteer staff and its sole purpose is to publish books on Leelanau County subjects, writers and artists. In addition to the 2008 award-winning Historic Cottages of Glen Lake by Barbara Siepker and photographer Dietrich Floeter, it has published Painting the Magic of Sleeping Bear Country by Hank Feeley, and two history books; Mapping the Grand Traverse Indian Country: The Contributions of Peter Dougherty by Helen Hornbeck Tanner and Glen Arbor Pioneers: John LaRue, John Dorsey and John Fisher by Jim Tozer.
If you think you might have an older painting that depicts the Sleeping Bear area landscape whether it be the lakes, dunes, forests, or farmlands, please contact Barbara Siepker at siepker@aol.com or call (231) 334-4395.
