Art is often encountered in curated stillness—hushed in museums, framed behind velvet ropes, and stripped from the context of its making. But what happens when we encounter art at its source, in the textured, paint-splattered, light-filled rooms where imagination finds form? That spirit of transparency, invitation, and intimacy echoes here in Leelanau County in the quiet corner of Burdickville. Along Bow, Lanham, and Fritz Roads, a small but vibrant community of artists has embarked on something extraordinary: opening the doors of their studios to the public. They have come together under the banner of the Burdickville Studio Tour—11 artists inviting visitors into the heart of their creative process over Memorial Day weekend.
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TART Trails has unveiled a new art installation at the Fouch Trailhead on the Leelanau Trail called “Wiigwaasi-jiimaan: A Mural for the Fouch Trailhead” by local artist Nik Burkhart. “Wiigwaasi-jiimaan,” the Anishinaabemowin word for birchbark canoe, honors the relationship between water and land, likening it to an embrace that connects communities through nature and history. Burkhart’s mural draws on Anishinaabe canoe craftsmanship, illustrating the remarkable birch, cedar, spruce roots, and pine pitch that historically fashioned these boats and enabled the Anishinaabe people to navigate Northern Michigan’s waterways.
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Artists in northern Michigan are known for landscape paintings: Green hills plunging into blue water, sunsets over Lake Michigan. But Nik Burkhart’s landscapes are a little different than most. His black and white paintings depict ripped out, cut down cherry orchards and ask questions about the region’s changing landscape. This story was adapted from a radio piece last month by Interlochen Public Radio.
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