A chronicle of creativity. Interviews with creative practitioners – writers, performing and visual artists, GAAC artist-members, and other Northern Michigan makers – about process, technique, tools, materials and the influence of place on practice.
Creativity Q+A with Meg Staley
There has never been a straight line through Meg Staley’s career. But every experience — from sale clerk, to department store clothing buyer, to printmaker — has factored into the […]
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Creativity Q+A with Melonie Steffes
Melonie Steffes, 48, learned by doing. And by reading library books about practice and process. And by finding other makers to mentor her. Her paintings are filled with bears, insects, […]
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Creativity Q+A Video with Linda Alice Dewey and Anne-Marie Oomen
A conversation with painter Linda Dewey and poet Anne-Marie Oomen about their collaborative project On The Precipice, a small exhibition of four paintings and four companion poems…
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Creativity Q+A with Kaz McCue
Kaz McCue’s lives as an educator, studio artist, and regular-guy-walking-around-the-place blend seamlessly into one another. Everything is connected. Everything cross pollinates, whether it happens in the studio or the classroom. […]
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Creativity Q+A with Karen Anderson
Karen Anderson came “out of the womb searching for meaning.” The Traverse City writer has found it in a bowl of oatmeal, buckle snow boots, canoeing the Manistee River, and […]
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Creativity Q+A with Bob Downes
Bob Downes, 69, “always wanted to be a novelist.” And, that is what he became. Bob Downes is the essence of peripatetic. The author of seven books, many of which […]
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Creativity Q+A video with Rodney Martin
Woodland Studies is a series of black and white photographs by Grand Rapids photographer Rodney Martin. The region’s woodland, rivers and natural areas are well documented by all manner of […]
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Creativity Q+A video with the Big Heads Corp.: Papier Mache
As part of the GAAC’s PaperWork exhibition, we’re in conversation with two people for whom the old art of papier mache is foundational to their work – Dorienne Sherrod and Sharon Morris of the Big Heads Corp.
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Creativity Q+A video with Mary Beth Acosta: Collage
Leelanau County artist Mary Beth Acosta works in collage, under the creative nom de guerre “The Feral Housewife.”
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Creativity Q+A video with Geo Rutherford: Artist’s Books
The genre known as “artist’s books” is not easily defined. People have been making beautiful, artful books for centuries. But “artist’s books” defy convention, and occupy a niche all their own.
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Creativity Q+A with Shanny Brooke
Shanny Brooke, 42, is a classically-trained singer who found her way into visual art + painting after she hit a career/life roadblock. A package of student canvases and a tin […]
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Creativity Q+A with Nick Preneta
Nick Preneta, 37, works in wood. Green wood. Mostly with his chain saw. Notching and carving and creating marks, both intentional and serendipitous. The Leelanau County artist, trained as a […]
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Creativity Q+A with Shanna Robinson
Shanna Robinson, 63, moves fluidly between media. “I’m a fiber-sculptor,” she said, “but I work in whatever medium suits my idea at the time.” The Horton Bay resident, newly retired […]
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Creativity Q+A with Lynne Rae Perkins
As part of the GAAC’s Everyday Objects exhibition, we spoke with Leelanau County author + illustrator Lynne Rae Perkins. Lynne, 66, is the author of 14 books for children, including […]
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Creativity Q+A video with Michelle Stitzlein: The Art of Repurposing
Ohio artist Michelle Stitzlein is a creative force whose sculptures elevate familiar objects to a new level of art.
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Creativity Q+A Video with Steve Palmer: Maker of Fish
As part of the GAAC’s exhibition Everyday Objects, we’re in conversation with Leelanau County artist Steve Palmer – maker of mixed media fish from found and antique objects.
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Creativity Q+A with Susan Thompson
Benzie County artist Susan Thompson believes “Art is a gift that is meant to be received and that touches others. Art is an essential and primary means for mutual understanding, […]
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Creativity Q+A with Susan Tusa
Photographer Susan Tusa learned her craft in the days before digital, and plied it in the field of print journalism. She was a staff photographer with The Detroit News; and […]
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