Exhibit: Poetic Visions Of Port Oneida

Artist’s Statement

Imagine arriving by horse and buggy to Port Oneida. The year is 1900, and the month is May. As you travel down the dirt roads there are fields of newly-planted crops, carefully-tended flower gardens, and farmhouses that proudly stand in testament to the perseverance of immigrants who homesteaded here. All of this is nestled on the shores of Lake Michigan. One had to be of hardy stock to withstand the cold winds off the lake and the winter that kept you snowbound for weeks. Your reward came in summer when your family gathered on the top of the dunes for picnics and then slid down to the shoreline to dip in the water.  With these thoughts, I began to paint my poetic visions of Port Oneida. My first time seeing the area was in 1973; Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (SBDNL) was only three years in the making. The farms and farmhouses were standing silently and decaying.  SBDNL reached out to partner with a newly-formed nonprofit, Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear, which was dedicated to preserving the historic buildings and their importance to the history of rural farming.

My vision of the eight paintings included in this exhibit was guided by my passion for historic Port Oneida as well as other buildings in SBDNL. This began with reimagining the spaces. With the lakeshore so close I added slices of water in the distance. I thought of myself as the farmhouse gardener. I planted flowers or flowering trees in all paintings. The architecture of the farmhouses often aligned with the styles of the owner’s motherland. The sunbeam motif on the Olsen farm was inspired by Norwegian country homes. I chose to paint granaries as focal point in two paintings as their form, which I find beautiful and yet simple, is integral to their function. My color choices were inspired by the light and shadows of the day, and the flowering trees and flowers that bloomed from the sandy soil. In the past 10 years, I have painted each of these buildings on site and I referred to those paintings when I painted these in January-March 2026.

Lastly, each painting has a poem.  I began writing poems about my paintings three years ago. I wanted to add language and voice to my visions. This exhibit is the first time my paintings and poems will be side-by-side. The poem below, May, I wrote first in 2023 (and rewrote this year) pairs perfectly with my artist statement.

May 

She begins her splendid nest,

with seeds of phlox, daisies and hollyhocks.

An oasis of color to look forward to

while peeking out

parlor window and a

cutting garden for bouquets.

She cannot tame this wild land of glacial dunes,

that sting her eyes when the big lake blows.

She can bring life through her sense of aesthetics,

Petals of soft pink, linen white and sunbeams of yellow.

They sway with the wind and spread their scent.

Bees descend, drink the nectar and with

Nature’s guiding hand, life continues.