Lets Help Our Kids Stay Artists

I love it when parents bring their children into the Artists Market. I think it is great when they show them around and talk with them about the art, and especially when they ask the kids what they like.

When a young person is walking around in our gallery, I frequently ask them what kind of art they like to make and encourage them to keep doing it. Almost everyone I ask enjoys doing art, especially the young ones. Based on this careful research and years of data, I think most of us start out as artists and then lose it somewhere along the way. At some point someone told us to stay inside the lines or not to color on the table or some other DON'T.

While I was thinking about this today in the Market, a song came on and caught my attention. Doesn't it seem that when you are thinking about something with music playing, a song will come on that is in some way relevant to your musings? Today it was Katy by Tom Paxton. (At least he was singing it and I think he wrote it.) I wrote down some of the words:

Oh you might believe in miracles,
And you might believe in saints.
But you never believe my Katy
When she's playing with her paints.
For there is red upon the window
And there's green upon her face,
In her hair and in her eyes ...
But on the paper, not a trace.

I just smiled, enjoyed the moment and decided I had to share it with you.

Preserving Northern Michigan's Natural Beauty

There is still about a week left to see some of Northern Michigan's great outdoors from the warmth and comfort of an art gallery. A Sense of Place, is a breathtakingly beautiful juried exhibition featuring photographs taken on location in land conservancies in Northern Michigan.

Land conservancies are an important part of preserving the great, undisturbed woodlands and lakeshores of Northern Michigan. The photographers did an excellent job of capturing the peace, solitude and beauty of these vital preserves and of reminding us of the important work the conservancies do in making sure that Northern Michigan will retain its heritage of natural splendor.

When you visit the exhibit, don't miss the work of Northern Michigan Artist Market artist Dr. Lucien Joubert on the east wall. His entry is a "double" photograph of a stand of trees that has been reflected on a vertical axis through the middle of the piece. It is representative of the excellent vision and creative presentation that characterizes his work.

After you see the show, be sure to walk a few paces down the hill on Mitchell Street to the Northern Michigan Artists Market and view more of Dr. Joubert's photography and the work of other Northern Michigan Artists.

The show, the 26th annual juried photography exhibition, A Sense of Place, runs through March 3rd at the Crooked Tree Art Center.