Lake Street Studios Center Gallery in Glen Arbor opens an exhibit on Friday, Aug. 21, featuring artist Jessica Kovan and her work “It’s All About Love,” which uses birds not so much as symbols of flight, but as a way to consider connection, compassion, and our shared responsibility to the natural world.
Just as one exhibit comes down, another rises in its place—a rhythm that defines the summer art season at Lake Street Studios Center Gallery. There is little pause between them, only a seamless moment of transition, where one body of work gives way to the next. In that exchange, a living tapestry of creative work takes shape within Glen Arbor’s arts community. That rhythm was on full display as the series opened with Traverse City-based artist Charles Murphy on June 26. Murphy’s return—his first in roughly a decade—carried the weight of both familiarity and evolution, a reentry forged by years of growth in his practice. Read the story for the entire 2026 artists lineup at Lake Street Studios Center Gallery.
To know the history of the arts in Glen Arbor is to know Suzanne Wilson. A venerated artist and pillar of the community, Suzanne had the singular ability to translate Leelanau’s land, light, and water into work that felt both intimate and expansive. But perhaps more significantly, Suzanne did not simply depict Leelanau’s landscape—she transformed its cultural fabric. In the early 1990s, Suzanne began organizing Friday night art openings at Lake Street Studio’s Center Gallery, the public-facing component of her studio. The summer 2025 season of Center Gallery opens on June 27 with Joan Richmond, a Traverse City-based artist best known for her luminous landscapes.
With 2024 in the rearview mirror and 2025 upon us, we’re recognizing 25 “influencers” we covered in the Glen Arbor Sun this past year who are making a meaningful impact on Leelanau County communities, commerce, and culture. Read below about those 25 local influencers, who include everyone from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, to Leelanau Investing for Teens, to Empire’s polar dippers, to popular new destinations River Club Glen Arbor, the Sleeping Bear Inn, and the Lively’s NeighborFood Market.
William Shakespeare poignantly captured a sentiment that remains deeply resonating, particularly up here in Glen Arbor’s August: “Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” While it is difficult to witness the inevitability of yet another summer season passing, there is an upside worth acknowledging—those proverbial “silver linings.” Suddenly, the self-checkout line at Anderson’s Market is no longer a desperate option; one can actually find a table for four at Funistrada on a Thursday evening; similarly, at the iconic Mill, getting a much-coveted reservation at the bar is now a reality; Inn & Trail Gourmet’s Julie Zapoli and Liz Erdmann are back at stocking their freezer with culinary delights like homemade Beef Bourguignon and Coq au Vin; and happily, tee times are freeing up at River Club. Although the summer season of weekly art openings at Lake Street Studios Center Gallery is rapidly coming to a close, there is hope on the horizon with a new program: a special exhibit that will keep the gallery open through September. Christine Deucher, gallery manager, conceived the idea with Center Gallery co-owner Allison Stupka’s input and blessing. The exhibit is titled “See You in September,” and the format is unique for Center Gallery. This exhibit is comprised of one opening—on Saturday, Aug. 31—and it will remain on display for the succeeding three weeks.
For many years now, to accompany the excitement of the Glen Arbor Art Center’s annual Plein Air paint out weekend, Center Gallery Lake Street Studios has featured an artist who works in a medium other than paint. This year we are featuring fiber artist Susan Moran, and hosting a stitching event called a “Mend In.” Moran, who hails from Ann Arbor, uses the processes of silkscreen, dyeing and resist dyeing, drawing, collage and embroidery to create her works of art. Moran’s art will be shown Aug. 2-8 and we will hold a reception for her on Friday evening, Aug. 2 from 6-8 p.m. She will also be one of the menders at our “Mend In.”
The Glen Arbor artist community will hold a reception at Lake Street Studios on Saturday, June 1, from 3-6 pm for an exhibition that runs until June 26 with proceeds from all works sold benefiting Beth Bricker, co-owner of Forest Gallery and a pillar of the local artist community who is battling cancer. Beth’s parents, the late Ananda and Ben Bricker, were founding members of the Glen Arbor Art Association 40 years ago. “Beth has always been a champion of the artists in her community, and it is our hope that we, as artists and friends, can send love and support back to Beth and her family in this emotionally and financially difficult time,” the Lake Street Studios friends wrote in a statement.
Like so many who love this area, Jenny Robertson and Anne-Marie Oomen claim a kinship of place with Leelanau County and the Glen Arbor area—no matter where they happen to be living. In addition, both have entered literary spaces with great passion and dedication. The two authors are teaming up for a celebratory launch of their latest books at the open yard of Lake Street Studios in Glen Arbor on Thursday, August 24, at 7 pm.
Susan Yamasaki has been a Leelanau County resident for 18 years. Like many people here, she loves to walk in the woods. She lives on a hill up the road from Big Glen Lake and her home was in the line of devastation from straight line winds in the storm of 2015, when so many trees were downed. One of the trees was a very old birch tree. She began collecting bark from the fallen trees. Birch bark is naturally waterproof and does not rot easily. “They give and have given us so much in their lifetimes,” she says, “Their last stage is to decompose into the soil, providing nutrients and shelter for other living things. She decided she wanted to make something from that bark that honored the life of the tree. Come see Yamasaki’s birch bark assemblages at Lake Street Studios from Aug. 4-10. A reception for her will be held 6-8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 4.
To enhance its presence and augment its own legacy, the Glen Arbor Arts Center has developed a new program, Late Night Fridays (LNF). Designed to facilitate further creative engagement with the community, the GAAC Main Gallery will be open to the public every Friday from 5 to 8 p.m., June 9 through Aug. 25. Additionally, LNF includes four events this summer: two opening receptions for art exhibitions and two Front Porch Concerts. “We’re keeping the lights on a little longer on Friday nights this summer during Light Night Fridays,” shared Sarah Bearup-Neal, GAAC gallery manager.