Where Beauty Gathers Us
Dear friend,
There's a particular rhythm to late July in northern Michigan. The days are long enough that conversations spill into the evening, events fill our small towns, and art has a way of finding its way out of studios and into the world. It feels like a season of open doors.
And I'd love to invite you into these next few weeks with me.
Tomorrow, I won't be exhibiting but I'm honored to serve as a judge at the Bay Harbor Arts Festival. It's always a gift to spend time with artists who are pouring so much of themselves into their work, and I look forward to seeing the creativity this community brings each year. Come check these artists out if you're near Bay Harbor!
Bay Harbor
4000 Main St
Bay Harbor, MI
On Monday evening, July 27th at 6pm, I'll be at The Robin Nest in Elk Rapids sharing some of my newest work and the stories behind it. These conversations are some of my favorites because they create space to slow down, ask questions, and connect in a more personal way. I'd love for you to join us there.
The Robin Nest
135 River St
Elk Rapids MI
Then, mark your calendar for Thursday, August 13 at 5:30pm, for my artist reception celebrating the opening of my newest exhibition at the DELAMAR hotel in Traverse City curated by K/P Cultural.
DELAMAR Traverse City
615 E Front St
Traverse City, MI
This exhibition marks the inaugural show in the DELAMAR Traverse City Artist Series, which makes the evening especially meaningful. I'm also deeply grateful to be working alongside Jessica Kooiman Parker and Maggie Pavão, whose vision through K/P Cultural is helping weave artists more intentionally into the places where we live, work, gather, and belong. Their belief that art can shape the life of a community is one I wholeheartedly share.
If you're nearby, I'd be honored to welcome you, introduce you to the new work, and spend a little time together.
As I prepared for these gatherings, I found myself thinking about something I often forget.
So much of making art happens alone.
There are quiet mornings in the studio. Long afternoons of painting over something that almost worked. Hours spent wondering if a piece is asking for one more mark or one less. It's slow work. Hidden work.
But eventually every painting asks to leave.
It asks to leave the studio and become part of someone else's world. It asks to begin conversations I could never have imagined while standing alone in the studio. I've come to believe that a painting isn't complete until it begins to live inside someone else's experience.
It becomes part of someone else’s story.
That's one of my favorite parts of this season. I love seeing familiar faces, meeting someone for the first time, hearing the stories people carry with them, and watching how differently each person experiences the same work. Those conversations have shaped me just as surely as the hours I've spent painting.
Beauty was never meant to be kept to ourselves.
It invites us toward one another.
Whether it's standing together in front of a painting, lingering over a conversation after an artist talk, or simply sharing the gift of noticing something beautiful, we leave changed by those moments of connection.
May you find beauty that draws you closer—to the people around you, to the places that restore you, and to the quiet reminder that some of life's most meaningful moments are the ones we experience together.
