Grand Rapids painter George Peebles’s panoramic, atmospheric view of Sleeping Bear Dunes bluffs is the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s selection for the 2024 Manitou Music Poster. Aptly titled Empire Bluffs, Peebles’s painting is notable for its brilliant – and characteristic – hues, and breathtaking perspective. He depicted this iconic scene in oil paint.
The brilliant array of color Peebles’s works into his paintings stands in stark contrast to the fact he has red-green colorblindness. Peebles regards this not as a disability, but as a challenge and a gift. He paints in his studio, and – unlike many artists focused on the landscape – paints not from photographs, but memory.
The child of a Traverse City, Michigan native, Peebles’s parents introduced him and his six siblings [Peebles is the youngest] to the Sleeping Bear Dunes before the landmark natural feature was preserved by the National Park Service in the early 1970s. As a child, Peebles and his family “camped on top of the Sleeping Bear Dunes for many summers. It is still a go-to vacation spot for my family.”
Peebles received a BA from Kendall College of Art Design, but his approach to learning continues. He paints with regularity, and approaches learning as a life-long undertaking. He is a chef at Mercy Hospital in Grand Rapids.
The GAAC’s Manitou Music Poster project began in the early 2000s. Now an invitational, the Manitou Music Poster Committee selects original paintings that offer a quintessential view of the Glen Lake region and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. All the past Manitou Music Poster winners may be viewed here. Empire Bluffs is available at the GAAC or online.
