Grayling Visitors Bureau

The AuSable Artisan Village Gallery is proud to present a showing of the photography of Anne Beckwith and Deborah Schreiner. An opening reception will be held at the Gallery at 108 Michigan Ave., Grayling MI on Friday, July 30, 5:00-7:00 p.m. There is no fee to enter the Gallery which will be open from July 30-August 12 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10:00a.m.-5:00p.m.

Anne Beckwith grew up in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan and moved to Grayling where she and her husband raised their family. While attending college for behavioral science, she also enrolled in a Kirtland Community College photography class and found she really had a passion for art as well.

She credits this journey to Joseph Donna, an Art Professor at Kirtland Community College. Although her favorite part of photography will always be in the darkroom with black and white film, she enjoys the instant gratification of digital imagery.

Anne’s work encompasses landscapes, animals and candid shots of people but also has an eye for the abstract. Senior pictures, weddings and even a small clientele in Los Angeles for actor headshots are a few of Anne’s accomplishments. In addition to her photography, she takes great pride in framing and matting in her own home.
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Deborah, daughter of Karl and Marge Schreiner, is a native of Grayling, MI.  Raised in Grayling, Deborah attended Grayling High School and later attended Kirtland Community College.  Her love of music attracted her to a job at the Grayling High and Grayling Middle schools as choir accompanist for four years.

Though music is near and dear to Deborah’s heart, one of her biggest passions is photography.  Choosing to pursue photography as her career, she moved to Grand Rapids, MI and began working as office manager and assistant photographer for McConomy Photography.  Having been able to learn and grow in this art, Deborah is excited to have the chance to share her work with The AuSable Artisan Village Gallery and her hometown.

Deborah resides in Grand Rapids with her husband Matthew and they are expecting their first child in December.  In addition to her photography and music, Deborah has also self-published three novels and is currently working on her fourth.

For more information, please contact the Chamber of Commerce at (989)348-2921.

The folks around Wellington Farm, USA are ending the month of July with two of the hottest events of the season, Sticky-buns Day on the 17th and a Barndance on the 31st. Sticky-buns Day has become a tradition at Wellington Farm, USA. It was started 12 years ago as a means of giving recognition to some of the baking skills generally practiced by the homemakers of the Great Depression.

Since that beginning, Sticky-buns Day has grown into a full blown event at the 60-acre living history farm. In addition to all the Sticky-buns being created in the kitchen, the Grist Mill will be in full operation, turning out the whole wheat flour used to create the famous culinary treats. Across the way the Sawmill will be sawing lumber, powered by one of the farm’s two steam engines. Throughout the farm, there will be music and demonstrations, and of course, interpreters will be working throughout the entire complex, explaining the lifestyle of years long past. Just the regular park entrance fee will gain you admission to all the events of Sticky-buns Day on July 17.

Following Sticky-buns Day Wellington Farm, USA will present, on Saturday, July 31, the first performance of the season of The Wellington Barndance Show. If you like old fashioned, country music, and old fashioned corney country humor, then this show is a must. Presented on one of the most picturesque outdoor stages in Northern Michigan, the Wellington Barndance is a full evening of very enjoyable entertainment. Price of admission for the Barndance is only $12.50 and tickets are presently available at the farm’s Visitor Center or by phone by calling 989 348 5187. Steel guitars sing, the banjos ring and Ezra and Ethel Frogmire banter at the Wellington Barndance.

Wellington Farm, USA is within easy reach of Exit 251 of I-75 and Exit 206 of US-127. This historic agricultural complex is open from 10 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. seven days a week. Reservations are also now being accepted for the July 31 Barndance Show which is scheduled for 7:30pm; gates open 6:30pm. More information can be obtained by calling the farm at 989 348 5187 or visiting the website at www.wellingtonfarmpark.org.
Wellington Farm, USA is owned and operated by Wellington Farm Park, Inc., a 501©3 non-profit corporation.

“The JOY of the Image” workshop will be presented at the Apollo’s Lyre Art Gallery in Grayling, Michigan on Thursday, December 2. The instructor, Ken Wright, will provide you with suggestions and ideas that will make your photographic images stand out. Mr. Wright is a professional photographer whose award-winning works can be seen on display at Apollo’s Lyre Art Gallery in downtown Grayling.

This short course will teach you how to take better photos no matter what kind of camera you use.  The cost is $20 per student. Beginning, casual and amateur photographers will leave this class knowing the tips and tricks the pros use to draw attention to their images. You will be taking better photos with your next shot.

Ken has been a photographer since 1956. He made the transition from film to digital in 1996, and is a graduate of the New York Institute of Photography’s Digital Photography: The Complete Course. In addition, Ken is a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, specializing in photo restoration.

His photographs have been displayed on over two dozen websites including that of the AuSable River Canoe Marathon. Ken’s photography subjects and interests range from old barns, bridges and lighthouses, to cityscapes, scenery, flowers and people going about their lives. Tombstone photographs supporting genealogy research is another of his interests.

Ken is the staff photographer of Johnathan Rand’s Author Quest, the Definitive Writer’s Camp for Serious Young Writers, the North of 45 Retreat for Writers, and the folk singing duo Ann and Will Rowland.

His photos have been the subject of paintings by artists Terry L. Dickinson and Sandra Walterhouse. His works including the award winning photograph, The Wishing Door, may be purchased in Apollo’s Lyre Art Gallery in Grayling, as can Headwaters Fine Art Cards, which feature Ken’s work alongside that of other renowned artists.

Note: Class size is limited to 10 students. You are asked to please pre-register Apollo’s Lyre Art Gallery. Class time is 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., 203 Michigan Avenue

The AuSable Artisan Village Gallery is proud to present a showing of the photography of Jeff Gaydash and the sculpture of Lon Gauthier. An opening reception will be held at the Gallery at 108 Michigan Ave., Grayling MI on Friday, July 16, 5:00-7:00 p.m. There is no fee to enter the Gallery which will be open from July 17-29 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10:00a.m.-5:00p.m.

Jeff Gaydash has a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in photography from The College For Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. He was a partner in a commercial photographic and digital imaging studio for 6 years and is now a web developer at Wunderman Team Detroit building websites for Ford Motor Company. Jeff has recently made a conscious decision to focus more seriously on his love of fine-art black and white image making. Jeff lives in Troy, Michigan with his wife Michelle and three daughters.

Lon Gauthier’s body of work focuses primarily on mixed media sculpture that merge industrial aesthetics with the organic forms of nature. Using found objects, fabricated metal and castable materials, Gauthier’s work is an attempt to tear down the walls between nature and what is deemed “Man Made” exposing the infinite layers of connections between all things, organic and inorganic.

Gauthier left art school at the University of Montana, that houses some of his early bronzes in their permanent collection, to move to Detroit and start a working studio. While in Detroit, Lon showed his two and three dimensional work at the Majestic Café, Detroit Contemporary, Tangent Gallery and Johansen Charles Gallery. Before leaving Detroit in 2004, Gauthier was co-curator of the show “Ordinary Things”, a group show with working artists from Detroit, and Graduate students from Cranbrook, turning the mundane objects of the everyday into objects of higher meaning.

Currently Lon has work displayed at the Twisted Fish Gallery in Elk Rapids and The Inside Out Gallery in Traverse City. When not making art, Gauthier owns and operates “4 Mile Welding LLC” in Grayling Michigan, making one of a kind architectural elements and performing repair work for the community.

For more information, please contact the Chamber of Commerce at (989)348-2921.

The AuSable Artisan Village Gallery is proud to host a show and series of workshops with Djam Vivie, master wood carver. The opening reception will be held on Friday, August 13 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. The gallery will be open on Sat., August 14, 10am-5pm and Thursday, August 19, 10am-5pm. There is no fee to view the gallery.

A Drum Making workshop is scheduled for 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. on Sat., Aug.14. Class fee is $350. From 5:00-6:00 p.m. also on the 14 is a Wood Gouging demonstration. Sunday, August 15 he will hold a Chainsaw carving demonstration from 1:00-2:00 p.m. All events will be hosted at the Gallery at 108 Michigan Avenue in Grayling Mi. All workshops are for adults only. For more information, call the Chamber of Commerce at 989-348-2921.

Djam Vivie is a master wood carver from the Volta region of Ghana, West Africa. Both his grandfathers were wood carvers, and as a child he picked up the craft. He made his first sale at the age of fourteen by selling a ceremonial stool for $10. After spending years as a wood carver in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, Djam arrived in the U.S. in 1995. His first winter was experienced in New York City, and he has since made his home in Madison, Wisconsin. Djam’s work includes hand crafted drums, beds, masks, furniture and sculptures. His work has been displayed in various exhibits, including the Art of the Lega at Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri; Wisconsin Arts Board’s Lobby Exhibit in Madison, Wisconsin; and at the American Embassy in Ivory Coast, West Africa. Currently Djam is working on carving a mural for the Madison Public Library, South Madison Branch in Madison, Wisconsin.

Djam is a natural teacher and has extensive experience in workshops on wood carving, drum-building, and drum-playing. He was recently chosen to take part in apprentice program with Wisconsin Art Board, where he will be taking on two apprentices to teach them the art of wood sculpture. Previous projects include teaching elementary school students West African drum-building and drum-playing techniques. He has also taught African Mask Carving and Wood Sculpture classes for groups of all ages. Djam conducted his first drum-building workshop in Grayling, Michigan back in April, which was a big success. Besides carving wooden masterpieces and teaching classes and workshops, Djam plays drums for two African music bands in Madison, the Ghanaian folk band Atimevu Drum and Dance Ensemble and Malian music group Tani Diakite and the Malian Blues.