Category: Talks and Lectures

Leelanau County artist Mary Beth Acosta works in collage, under the creative nom de guerre “The Feral Housewife.” Using simple, familiar tools and a range of recycled, vintage papers, Mary Beth creates collages about mid-century housewives, big-finned cars, and “labor-saving” appliances that were promoted as drudgery-busting machines that would revolutionize the modern home. Watch this conversation – part of the GAAC’s exhibition PaperWork – here.

Pictured: Kneel No More, collage, Mary Beth Acosta

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. The Big Heads are the world’s largest collection of papier mache sculptures: animals, cartoon characters and famous people, and they’re a beloved component of the 98-year-old Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit. Watch the conversation here.

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. They come in many shapes and sizes, and the interior “pages” aren’t always paper with text; or contained between two covers. As part of the GAAC’s PaperWork exhibition, we’re in conversation with Wisconsin artist-educator Geo Rutherford. Geo creates prints, artist’s books and more, and focuses on invasiveness, impermanence and the unseen in relation to the Great Lakes. Watch the conversation here.

Pictured: Death Of The Great Lakes, artist’s book, Geo Rutherford

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 visual artist. In this case, Rodney Martin has elected to make images in black and white – a creative departure worth exploring.

A conversation with painter Linda Alice Dewey and poet Anne-Marie Oomen about their collaborative project On The Precipice, a small exhibition of four paintings and four companion poems on display in the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s Lobby Gallery [April 29 – August 11, 2022]. The GAAC’s exhibition, and this conversation, is an exploration of how artists collaborate, and the tradition of ekphrasis – the practice of creating a literary description of a work of art.