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Editor/publisher of the Glen Arbor Sun, Jacob Wheeler has written a new book titled “Angel of the Garbage Dump: How Hanley Denning Changed the World, One Child at a Time” (Mission Point Press), which recounts how a young woman from Maine launched a school in the hovels of the Guatemala City garbage dump and helped pull thousands of children out of the teeming filth of one of the largest urban landfills in the Americas. Join Wheeler for any of the following upcoming readings in Leelanau County: Suttons Bay Library (with Bay Books), Tuesday, Nov. 22, at 6 pm; Glen Arbor Arts Center (with fellow author Anne-Marie Oomen) Saturday, Nov. 26, at 11 am, and Glen Lake Library in Empire (with Cottage Book Shop), Wednesday, Dec. 7, at 7 pm.

The Glen Arbor Arts Center’s 2022 Small Works Holiday Exhibition is an annual showcase of 2D + 3D work that offers small, original art at affordable prices, $150 or less. The exhibition takes place November 4-December 15, and features more than 100 works of art, 12” x 12” or smaller, by 17 artists working in mixed media, collage, paper, painting, wood, clay, and photography. The GAAC hosts a holiday kickoff on November 4, from 5-7 pm.

Michelle Jahraus and her dog arrived at Good Harbor beach before dawn. She made it a point to get there early enough to choose the perfect spot to set up her easel and paint supplies in time to capture the sunrise over Lake Michigan. Jahraus, a Maple City resident, had just begun to block in the scene when she felt a powerful whoosh of air accompanied by the sound of beating wings. She looked up to see a bald eagle flying away from a perch right above her head. It is moments like this that draw artists to the act of en plein air, a French expression meaning “in the open air” and the practice of painting outdoors, on location.

The Glen Arbor Arts Center’s current VESSELS exhibit offers an out-of-the-box look at bowls, baskets, urns, pods, and other objects that store and carry things. This juried exhibition is on display until Oct. 27 and features 28 exhibitors from Michigan, California, Illinois, and Rhode Island. Of particular note, the exhibit includes the Creation of the World 6/9, a needlework tapestry from Judy Chicago’s “Birth Project”—a feminist initiative from the early 1980s, in which Chicago collaborated with more than 150 artists to create dozens of images combining painting and needlework that celebrate various aspects of the birth process; from the painful to the mythical. This series celebrated the birth-giving capacity of women along with their creative spirit. With women’s reproductive rights under siege, and the arts reemerging as a forum of social and political expression, we chatted with the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s gallery manager Sarah Bearup-Neal about VESSELS and the inclusion of a work from “Birth Project.”

Percussionist Lori Fithian brings her collection of hand drums and percussion instruments to the Manitou Music series on Saturday, August 27, from 1-3 pm at the Glen Arbor Arts Center, located at 6031 S. Lake St., in Glen Arbor.

Nine Glen Arbor galleries and artists studios are keeping the night light burning this summer as part of Art After Hours. Art After Hours takes place one last time on August 17, from 5-7 pm. It offers visitors a chance to take a self-guided walking tour of galleries located in Glen Arbor’s art district – a five-block area from Lake Street to M-22 to M-109 West.

The Glen Arbor Arts Center will host the Beach Bards, Leelanau County’s hometown wordsmiths, for an evening of poetry, stories and music about flags on August 2 from 7-9 p.m. The event takes place in the forest grove behind the Arts Center. This special edition of the Beach Bards is open to poets and writers of any skill level. Bring a poem or story to share. No pre-registration is required.

The TC Dance Project returns once again to Leelanau County’s historic barns and pastoral landscape. In collaboration with the Glen Arbor Arts Center, the dance performance will be held on Saturday, July 30, from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Nash Road Red Barn near Maple City—on property owned by an Arts Center board member.

The Glen Arbor Arts Center’s second, 2022 artist PopUP is July 10 from 11 a.m.–3 p.m. The PopUP turns the GAAC’s front yard and parking area into open-air exhibition and music venues. 

Fiber artist Valerie Mann will explore and fabricate a new body of work based on grief, both personal and global, during her Glen Arbor Arts Center (GAAC) residency June 12-25. Mann, a resident of Saline, Michigan, will combine and sew repurposed materials into sculptural pieces.