Artist in Residence: Leland, Michigan

I had the honor of spending the last week in Leland, Michigan, creating work for Two Fish Gallery, a fabulous store near historic Fishtown in the northern part of the state on Lake Michigan in Leelanau County. I’ve worked with Jennifer & Michael at Two Fish for many years, but it was such an incredible opportunity to go see this little lake town in person, explore, and create work on-site. I flew up to Traverse City on May 14th and spent the next 7 days hiking, needle felting, and sharing my love of this medium in a state I had never been to before. What an amazing week!

Fishtown is a very unique place, it’s famous for its “shanty” buildings right on beautiful Lake Michigan. These shanties and the famous tug boats, Joy and Janice Sue, have been featured heavily in my work for Two Fish Gallery in the past, but it was so special to finally see them in person. Fishtown also has a small marina, several beaches, a variety of little shops and boutiques, and some delicious restaurants. My favorite meal of the trip was the halibut at Riverside Inn, just down the street from Two Fish! I also enjoyed a cheese sub from the famous and highly recommended Cheese Shanty (even the guy at the rental car place recommended it when I told him I was heading to Leland).

During my time in Leland I did 2 in-person needle felting demos inside Two Fish Gallery, creating work for those interested in my process and answering questions while working in realtime. On Sunday May 18th, I got to teach 2 workshops at Dune Bird Winery to 44 students, most of who had never felted before. They did such a great job! Everyone was able to complete the 6” felted landscape featuring a scene inspired by the local dunes and beaches. The winery was a beautiful location for this event and I’m thankful for the space to teach the local crafty community.

I hiked every single day, sometimes in 80 degree sunshine, sometimes in 40 degree wind and rain, and my favorite treks were Empire Bluff Trail and Pyramid Point, in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The lake really is that blue, the sand dunes really are that bright, it’s almost too beautiful to be real and I even took small tufts of wool roving on my hikes to match them up to what I saw, to be sure my work was correctly reflecting the world around me. I loved hiking through cedar forests, seeing birch trees and a bald eagle. Hiking through the sand tunes was physically tough but worth it. There were several trails in Leelanau State Park near Grand Traverse Lighthouse that I also enjoyed, thanks to the rocky beach views.

There’s quite a few little towns within less than an hour’s drive from Leland, so I made time to explore them as well: Northport, Cedar, Port Oneida, Empire, Maple City, Glen Arbor, and my favorite, Sutton’s Bay, which is just 10 minutes east from Leland. If you visit Sutton’s Bay, I highly recommend eating at Martha’s Leelanau Table and shopping at Silver Slag and Stone. The artist behind the store uses unique rocks found the local beaches, particularly the Leland Bluestone and Petosky Stones. It was hard to choose just one!

I also spent time in Traverse City exploring the parks, trying some local cuisine, and shopping on Front Street. Although, as much as the downtown shopping area had to offer and I could have easily spent all day there (and eaten ALL the tacos at Mama Lu’s Taco Shop) I was really blown away by The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, which is a historic preservation project that has turned an old asylum into a mixed use property featuring shopping, restaurants, offices, and apartments. Plus, you can take a tour of the building and see the cool/creepy tunnel underneath!

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to travel to a new place, take a week to explore and create, teach others meet others, and get to know the owners of Two Fish a little bit better. Thank you again for hosting me and for this incredible opportunity, Jenn and Michael!

I hope you’ll enjoy this little recap video of my time in Leland. It’s such a beautiful place! All pieces are now available for your viewing and purchasing plesure exclusively at Two Fish.

NEW JEWELRY!

I’m excited to announce the addition of hand painted jewelry to the Once Again Sam website. Expanding on my palette knife painting series, I’ve added a new (and very bright) colorway called Great Lakes, inspired by the gorgeous turquoise and blue waters of Lake Michigan. Additionally, I have a limited series of painted landscape pendants avialbe online as well, featuring a scene from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Also, a huge thank you to SCAC for helping me get there:

This project is funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. This project is also funded in part by a generous award from the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of The Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina.

Artist-In-Residence: Dreher Island State Park

My 5th Artist-in-Residence opportunity with South Carolina State Parks brought me to Dreher Island State Park this October, just outside of Columbia, SC. I spent the week hiking, exploring, observing, and creating art. The spacious lake-side villa gave me an opportunity to watch the sunset every single day of my stay and also a peaceful place to create fiber art & paintings surrounded by nature.

I only left the park for a few hours one day to hike the Firebreak Trail in Harbison State Forrest, but other than that, all of my hikes and explorations were inside the park. There’s enough trails and flat walkable roads that you can see almost all of the park on foot, if you like. It’s a large park but most of it is lake, so although I didn’t have a boat, I can see why so many people visit just for the fishing. The park is on a series of islands in Lake Murray and so there’s an enormous amount of shoreline, countless coves and plenty of peninsulas.

During my time at Dreher Island I created eleven needle felted landscapes, one mixed media fiber art landscape, two small paintings, and two series of painted pendants, all inspired by the natural beauty around the lake and forest. I loved the way the color of the lake depended on the sky, and one of my favorite color observations was the shock of orange at the shore where the water meets the red clay.

A huge thank you to South Carolina State Parks for selecting me for this program - it’s an honor! And thank you to Dreher Island State Park for hosting me for the week - I really enjoyed it! South Carolina really is a beautiful state and we are lucky to have so many parks to visit. I can easily find inspiration in all of them!

I hope you enjoy this short recap video of my week and all pieces are now available at www.onceagainsam.com

Artist-in-Residence: Cheraw State Park

Time in the woods, by a lake, or anywhere out in nature is what restores me the most. Making things with my hands is what gives me energy and joy. Put the two together and I’m one happy adventuring artist! My week as Artist-in-Residence at Cheraw State Park in South Carolina was such a wonderful experience. This was my fourth consecutive residency through the Parks program and as before, each experience is totally unique and always exceeds my hopes and aspirations. I feel so lucky to be invited to these parks each time, and it’s definitely one of the highlights of my year.

Cheraw is a small town near the Great Pee Dee river in northeastern South Carolina. I’ve lived in SC since 2010 had never been to this part of the state, so I was eager to get out and explore. The park sits on 7,000 acres of lake and woodlands, and is home to a huge variety of birds and other creatures.

Each day during my stay, I watched the sun rise at the lake, then went off for several hours of hiking either around the park or within a 30-40 drive. The afternoons were spent back at the cabin, creating needle felted landscapes, jewelry designs, and paintings inspired by what I’d seen earlier that day. Then I’d head back over to the lake for the sunset and a quiet stroll before a little more creative time back at the cabin in the evening. I love this schedule - explore, create, explore some more!

Favorite Things: about Cheraw:

Hiking Trail: The Cheraw State Park Trail

Sunrise Viewing & Birdwatching Spot: The Eureka Lake Boardwalk

Park Wildlife: Fox squirrels, woodpeckers, and deer!

Plant Life: Cypress trees growing in the water and the carnivorous flowers by the beach

Daytrip Destination: Carolina Sandhills Wildlife Refuge (Tate’s Trail)

The new collection created while at the park is now available on my website. I hope you’ll enjoy this short recap video of my art-cation experience!

A huge thank you to the South Carolina Parks program for hosting these residency’s and a special thanks to the Park Rangers at Cheraw for making me feel so welcome.

If you’re interested in hearing about my past residency’s with the South Carolina Parks Department, you can find them here:

2020 Devil’s Fork

2019 Edisto Beach

2018 Poinsett