New Art
Center |
Our
new Art Center in Glen Arbor was
completed in the spring of 2002, formally dedicated at the
Annual Meeting in July and has quickly proven to be the "home" we
were looking for and promised when we embarked on our fund
raising compaign in the fall of 2000. Besides being our administrative
center and providing artist-in-residence accommodation, it
has become a focal point for our primary business - nurturing
and encouraging interest in "art" in its many forms.
Typically, lack of suitable facilities and departure of summer
residents have made the winter months rather unproductive.
We went into the 2002-2003 season with a somewhat tentative
schedule and have been most pleased with the response. A
variety of art classes, a weekly open artist studio, poetry
and prose readings, artist-in-residence presentations and
receptions, yoga classes, a monthly open quilting studio,
and Board Meetings have shown what we already suspected;
our art center activities satisfy a year-round yearning and
we can confidently plan beyond our characteristically busy
summer season. We are most grateful to our supporters whose
faith in our mission and in our ability to move forward has
resulted in this fine new building.
To those of you unfamiliar with our organization please call, e-mail or write
to us. We will gladly add your name to our mailing or e-mail list for notification
of art classes, Music Festival schedules, special events, and for our newsletters.
Glen
Arbor Art Association at Thoreson Farm For
the past three years, building on an initiative developed
by our founder members, GAAA has been working with
the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to restore
one of the historic farms in the Park. The objective
is the development of a site which can expand our programs
such as Artist-in-Residence, summer workshops and Manitou
Music Festival events to be enjoyed in beautiful surroundings
where the previously decaying buildings will be restored
and preserved for the nation and future generations.
The Park has agreed to proceed with the partnership
and building restoration has moved from the point at
which the first art-related events took place in 2001
to a substantial program scheduled for 2003. This has
involved the creation of a large classroom facility
in a former implement shed (well-used in 2002), a nearly
fully restored granary, a former dairy space now ready
for weavers, a farm house free of damp, and a chicken
shed and a privy brought back to their former glory!
All this has been achieved by tremendous goodwill and
hard work on the part of the GAAA and Park personnel.
We are particularly proud of our volunteers, who received
US Dept. of Interior recognition for 618 hours of work
in 2002, and our donors who gave so generously for
the purchase of material and specialized skills.
Thoreson Center for the
Arts |
The farm
is located in a quiet setting in the Port Oneida Historic
District on Thoreson Road a couple of miles north of Glen
Arbor about 1 mile west of route M22.
For those
of you unfamiliar with our organization call, write or
email us. We will gladly add your name to our mailing or
email list for notification of art classes, Music Festival
schedules, special events, and for our newsletters.
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