News Release

September 2019 Artist-in-Residence Program

Artist in her studio

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News Release Date: September 16, 2019

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (National Lakeshore) welcomes 2019’s September Artist-in-Residence (AIR) Ani Garabedian, a Michigan artist currently working and living in Detroit. 

Ms. Garabedian is a drawing, design, painting, and humanities professor at local Detroit colleges and universities and the Community Arts Coordinator at the Detroit Institute of Arts Museum. Driven primarily through the foundations of drawing and painting, and working from a compilation of found and vintage photographs, thrift store memorabilia, and personal memories, Ms. Garabedian explores the ideas of family, nostalgia, impermanence and change, and the passing of time. The resulting work is a balance of these captured moments during an “in-between” state - a state of tension between a world of reality and abstraction; past and present; family and strangers. It is derived from a place of empathy and compassion and captures the awkward, melancholy, hopeful, and uncomfortable qualities that memories conjure, whether they belong to a stranger or oneself.

Ms. Garabedian will open her creative process to park visitors at the Tweddle Farm (Norconk Road off of M22, south of Empire) on Tuesday, September 24 from 10:00 a.m. to noon and Thursday, September 26 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. when all are welcome to come talk, observe, ask questions, and learn more about her work. And, if you are interested, she will be collecting stories of connections with the National Lakeshore as well as copies of family photographs that she may include in future work. 

The National Lakeshore has sponsored the AIR program since 1993, and it is open, through competition, to American writers, composers, and visual artists, whose work can be influenced and enhanced by the outstanding features that are protected by the National Park Service and enjoyed by millions of visitors year after year. In exchange for the opportunity to live in the park for a short period, Artists-in-Residence donate an original piece of art to the park, interact with visitors while conducting their craft, and offer at least one public presentation of their work in a formal setting. There are only two sessions (September and October) available each year. For more details, please go to www.nps.gov/slbe/parkmgmt/artistinresidence.htm.



Last updated: September 17, 2019

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