Just four days into our second summer season, our three resident artists have been hard at work in the studio, as well as taking the time to get to know each other, the locals, and the Pentwater scenery.
Rose Beerhorst, joining us from Grand Rapids MI, brought her sewing machine and got to work straight away on piecing a quilt top, then a back, then a middle layer made of sweatshirt scraps, and by the third day she was hand-quilting. We were also joined this weekend by 2012 resident artist Marlee Grace, who joined the quilting party, working on basting and quilting her first quilt that she pieced last week.
Rose Beerhorst, joining us from Grand Rapids MI, brought her sewing machine and got to work straight away on piecing a quilt top, then a back, then a middle layer made of sweatshirt scraps, and by the third day she was hand-quilting. We were also joined this weekend by 2012 resident artist Marlee Grace, who joined the quilting party, working on basting and quilting her first quilt that she pieced last week.
Grant Heaps arrived from Toronto Canada, and has spent the majority of each day studiously working away at a massive work in progress. He is piecing a 9 by 6 foot mural with pieces of fabric as small as his thumbprint, hand stitched onto single square foot panels. This mural is only one in an ongoing series. The series documents shifting emotional states through life in whimsical imagery, constructed by his technique of optical blending, using an array of personally sentimental fabrics. He will be speaking about his work, which ranges from working wardrobe for the National Ballet of Canada to using plastic packaging and other found materials in his very inventive quilting work, this Sunday at our weekly slide talk.
Sarah Haas, a Michigan native who studied dance and improvisation in Illinois, and has since become a traveling artist, has graced our grounds with her traveling stage. She can live inside of the custom trailer, and fold down three wall panels to create a stage for her own performance work, or open it up to anyone who has talents or opinions to share. She presented her work at our first Visiting Artist Slide Talk of the season, and guided us through the evolution of her movement career from graduate school to her fairly recent life-altering commitment to living and working out of a traveling art space. Sarah also works in carpentry, creative tile work, photography, and writing.
We paired Sarah Haas with Marlee Grace at the slide talk, and it was very interesting to see their similarities and contrasts, and to be able to watch video of both of the artists improvisational dance projects. Marlee also owns a trailer that functions as a shop for handmade goods, and a temporary artist work/live space. She showed us a little bit of all the things she does as a maker and organizer, including opening her storefront for Have Company in Grand rapids, just three weeks ago.
After the talk, visitors got the chance to tour both of the artists' trailers. Marlee sold a few books and zines before she hooked up her camper and drove back to Grand Rapids. We are now in the works of planning an event in and around Sarah's trailer; a story-sharing event open to anyone called Home Share. On Tuesday August 13th, from 12-2pm and again from 6-8pm, the public is invited to drop in and share memories, dreams, imaginings, and stories about home. Please join us to activate the stage in an event where you are participant, presenter, and audience.
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