Glen Arbor Artisans gallery opened on July 5 to feature Kristin Hurlin’s and Paul May’s art. The building, across M-22 from the Lakeshore Inn and kitty-corner from the tennis courts, is sleek, industrial and striking. Like the new M-22 store on the east end of town, the Artisans gallery features a board and batten exterior that leads the eye on a vertical path, not a horizontal one. “It makes you feel taller,” said Hurlin.
How do lovers of Glen Arbor who don’t have immediate access to our beautiful dunes and lakeshore stay in touch with their favorite destination? Chances are they follow the Glen Arbor Facebook page, which is facilitated by Paul May and his son Keenan (with help from Glen Arbor Sun co-editor Mike Buhler, and occasionally Simon Winograd, too). Paul May and wife Kristin Hurlin produce and sell their furniture, photography, ink and watercolor illustrations under the brand Glen Arbor Artisans.
Most of us in Glen Arbor head for the fireplace, a hot pot of soup, or Art’s Tavern, when the temperature dips below 30 degrees and a brisk breeze blows off Lake Michigan. But not intrepid photo-videographer Keenan May. Before heading back to San Francisco, the local dude drove down M-109 to Glen Haven, walked down the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail with his surfboard in tow, then pushed into Sleeping Bear Bay to catch a few December waves.
A graduate student in architecture at the University of Michigan, Keenan May has created an unassuming, simplistic space to show off his printed canvas photos and to disseminate his passion for Leelanau County. While most graduate students choose to celebrate the end of their first year with friends and brews, Keenan wasted no time converting the garage and designing the layout of the empty space for the Memorial Day gallery opening.
The windstorm that hit Leelanau County this week was the strongest storm ever to hit the continental United States, rivaling the pressure of tropical storms and surpassing the winds that doomed the famed Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975 in Lake Superior.