Category: Talks and Lectures

A conversation with John H. Hartig, Ph.D, author of the 2022 book Great Lakes Champions, the story of 14 people who loved the Great Lakes so much that they devoted their careers to leading grassroots partnerships to clean up the most polluted of these freshwater seas.

In 1987, the Leelanau Historical Society began documenting, interpreting, collecting, and preserving birch bark and quillwork baskets, and black ash baskets. In 2005, a conservation grade exhibit space was created to display this collection.

There are now 600 + historical objects in the collection, that give insights into the late 19^th and 20^th century culture of the Odawa and Ojibway people whose ancestral lands in the upper Great Lakes include Leelanau and Grand Traverse counties.

Laura Quackenbush played an instrumental role in the creation of the collection and the space in which it is displayed. Quackenbush is a Leelanau County curator with a special interest in traditional Anishinaabe arts. GAAC Exhibitions Manager Sarah Bearup-Neal spoke with Quackenbush about the role of the baskets in Anishinaabek life as part if the VESSELS exhibition. Read more about VESSELS here: https://glenarborart.org/events/exhibit-vessels

Read more about the Traditional Arts of the Anishinaabek Museum in this virtual exhibit here: https://www.leelanauhistory.org/taar/

Alison Kysia is the creator of the multi-media visual art and storytelling project 99 Clay Vessels.

In 2017, Kysia – a potter and educator living in Maryland – experienced sustained anti-Muslim bigotry. She channeled her anger and sadness into her artwork, and out of that the 99 Clay Vessels project was born.

Kysia’s project uses clay, which is changed through physical touch and fire – and becomes a powerful symbol of transformation. Kysia talks about how she was transformed by the work and process of creating this project; and how visual language is sometimes more powerful than just stating the fact.

GAAC Exhibitions Manager Sarah Bearup-Neal talked with Kysia as part if the VESSELS exhibition. Read more about VESSELS here: https://glenarborart.org/events/exhibit-vessels. Read more about the 99 Clay Vessels Project here: https://www.99clayvessels.com/