Rita Cochran has helped organize Harbor Country Art Attack since its inception, and she can hardly believe the scale that it has grown to today. “It started almost 20 years ago as a small art trail to fill a lag in the tourist season,” she said.
Now in its 18th year, Art Attack extended far beyond the visual arts realm, and featured more than 60 artistically inspired events scattered throughout most of the communities that comprise Harbor Country “Art permeates many businesses in the area, and Art Attack is a great opportunity for businesses to showcase the creative spirit that runs through our communities, said Cochran.
For a glimpse of Harbor Country’s inspired side, hit the road with me as I highlight some of my favorite events from Art Attack weekend.
Backstage With a Coffee Brewer
One of my first stops was at the Lark and Pear, an intimate coffee shop located at 13057 Red Arrow Highway, Sawyer. From the road the Lark and Pear looks like an ordinary house and is easy to miss. Before I even closed the door of this quaint café behind me, I felt like I was in Grandma’s kitchen. Bernadette Lynch, owner and founder of the Lark and Pear, smiled unassumingly from behind the counter and discretely whipped me up a Carmella while I joined the small crowd of coffee enthusiasts.
Special guest barista Tristan Coulter of Metropolis Coffee Company commanded guests’ eyes, ears and noses as he walked them through a crash-course in molecular gastronomy. Molecular gastronomy investigates the physical and chemical processes that transform food ingredients, often mixing bold flavors and textures that are not traditionally associated. My favorite sampling featured a fresh strawberry, rolled in Pop-Rocks fizzing hard candy and fennel that exploded in my mouth in an indescribable flavor experience.
The pleasantly strange reaction transformed my mouth into a European disco club, taste buds fully raving to deafening techno music, until finally I raised a china cup to my lips and a soothing, “leafy and savory” espresso washed down the volume. Culinary revolution, or spiritual awakening? Yes.
Thing-a-Ma-Jigs & Do-Hickeys
With Pop Rocks still crackling on my tongue, I pulled up to Local Color Gallery on Red Arrow Highway in Union Pier where I met Rita Cochran. The gallery was opened in 1984 by Cochran and her sister, Jennifer, and featured an ecletic assortment of artwork from more than 90 local artists, including paintings, pottery, photography, sculptures, jewelry and fine crafts at affordable prices. www.LocalColorArtGallery.com
Sand Pirate
Not far from Local Color Gallery, I arrived to a large sand pit in the yard of the home studio of Janet Moore Schrader a.k.a. Sand Pirate. Schrader, a sand sculptor, was putting the finishing touches on an eight-foot sand-serpent. Three-year-old Mack Moody of St. Joseph helped her give the serpent scales with an empty pop can and, when the sculpture was finally complete, the beast came alive with purple and pink smoke billowing from its nostrils. Schrader also gives private and group lessons, where she teaches students to create an assortment of sand sculptures. www.SandPirate.net
Craig Smith Art Gallery
Next I stopped by the Gordon Beach Inn, 16220 Lakeshore Rd., Union Pier, for a sneak preview of the forthcoming modern art exhibit “New Works by Gallery Artists”, opening soon at Craig Smith Art Gallery, 13648 Red Arrow Highway, Harbert. We were hoping for wines and chocolates from around the world after playing in the sand at Sand Pirate, but we arrived a little early. I spoke with Satch, one of the artists featured in the exhibition, about her artwork while she helped Craig Smith set up hors d'oeuvres for the party. Satch is from Caramel, Indiana, and has used Harbor Country as a get-away for around 20 years. In 2006 she abandoned the corporate banking world to pursue the unlimited boundaries of her artwork, she said.
www.Satch-Artist.com and www.CraigSmithGallery.com
A Community of Artists
I began the third and final day of Art Attack in downtown Three Oaks. As I walked to the first destination marked off on my event map, a woman with a nametag on her blouse greeted me on the sidewalk in front of the Vickers Theatre, 6 North Elm Street, Three Oaks. Before I could conjure even a syllable of protest she promptly and persuasively shuffled me into the theatre lobby where I found myself in the middle of the reception and opening of an exhibition of artwork by Jessica Miller.
Miller, a painter based in Aurora, Ill. is presenting her first professional exhibit at the Vickers Theatre throughout the month of May. Originally drawn to the area by relatives with a home in New Buffalo, Miller said Three Oaks is a strong art-based community with a great vibe, making it an ideal place to showcase her early artwork. “I chose the Vickers Theatre as the location because it screens artistically-minded independent films, and the type of crowd that comes out to see them is exactly the kind of exposure I am looking for,” she said.
Finally, after three days on the trail I am convinced: Harbor Country is truly a gem of the Midwest, teeming with artistic flair.
Tyler DeJong is a starving artist who likes animal crackers and play-dough, and rarely eats both at the same time.
