Happiness will abound in 2024. The Glen Arbor Arts Center (GAAC) will host “Happy” an exhibition of the work of 26 artists, Jan. 12 through March 21. For this exhibit artists were asked to tell and show: What makes you happy? What does that look like? Like a dog with two tails? Like a pig in mud?
Are you happy as Larry? Over the moon? Something entirely other? Is happiness in reach or always just beyond, or other?
The exhibit includes pieces that explore and interpret the many facets and meanings of happiness: literal to metaphorical, in 2D + 3D. The exhibit travels the happiness spectrum: from representational to nonrepresentational, realistic to abstract. Happy exhibitors are: Dorothy Anderson Grow, Reyna Colombo, Stephanie Cope, Cherie Correll, Mike Cotter, Nancy Crisp, Linda Alice Dewey, Denise I. Dunn, Tia Sunshine Dye, Ellie Harold, Debra Howard, Kristin Hurlin, Louis Katz, Sarah Kime, Jessica Kovan, Julie Kradel, Marti Liddle-Lameti, Clay Maas, Cynthia Marks, Mark Mehaffey, Pam Spicer, Kimberly Stoney, Margaret Tcheng Ware, Michelle Tock York, Trisha Wolfe, Lisa Marie Yontz.
An opening reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Jan. 12.
Those who would like to delve deeper into Happy, they can Walk + Talk the exhibit with gallery Manager Sarah Bearup-Neal between Jan. 27 and Feb. 24, from 1 to 2 p.m. daily. This is offered free of charge.
Ongoing throughout the exhibit, the GAAC will be in conversation with University of Michigan professor Vic Strecher about his thinking and writing about the role purposeful living plants in human happiness. His latest research now focuses on living life with purpose. His books “Life on Purpose” and the graphic novel “On Purpose” are true to the old adage “Write what you know.”
The recorded conversation can be found at www.glenarborart.org.
Also after the first of the year, Traverse City artist Mary Fortuna explores the Tree Of Life / Connecting The World in a mixed media installation at the GAAC. This small show runs Jan. 5 – April 25 in the GAAC Lobby Gallery.
Fortuna’s years-long exploration of the mythic Tree Of Life continues with this rendition of the ancient image. The tree symbolizes the many ways in which life is connected. “Stories of a great tree that symbolizes our connection to the world around us, and to the supernatural world, appear everywhere throughout our history,” she said. The Tree Of Life that will “grow” in the GAAC’s Lobby Gallery is populated with animals, birds and insects. Each one is a hand-sewn soft sculpture.
“The hours of repetitive hand stitching, embroidery and beading are as close as I come to a spiritual or meditative practice,” she said. Fortuna’s creatures are an unmistakable celebration of hand work, each one articulated using layers of thick wool felt, silk, and other fabrics, embellished with appliqué, embroidery and beading. The tree, itself, is drawn with Sumi ink on Japanese paper.
To read more about Mary Fortuna go to https://glenarborart. org/ creativity- qa- withmary- fortuna.
