Tag Archives: Michigan

Mar1

How a little girl a half a world away saved my Christmas

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After a long day spent teaching art in Ethiopia, one of our staff members summoned me on behalf of a student. Now 12, Mekdes was one of our first students and is with me as a helper/mentor with the little kids. I am told she wants to tell me something privately, and I am guided to an empty room where I find her standing in the corner for privacy, with a beautiful gourd in her hand. The gourd is carved out and dressed up to be used as a carrying vessel. She has the teacher help her translate to me that, because of my sponsoring her and my commitment to coming to Ethiopia, I have made a difference in her life and she wants to thank me. Tears stream down my face as I hug her, knowing it is a memory that will always be with me.

If the story had ended there it would still be worth telling, but it doesn’t end here. I finished up my time in Ethiopia and got on a plane bound for my family and home in Michigan, arriving back in the States just days before Christmas. The holidays are a pretty wild time to return from Ethiopia with the culture shock I still get every year, going from kids who have nothing to fully decorated trees with piles of gifts for children who have piles of stuff.

I found myself contemplating these differences on Christmas Eve while sitting in front of my fireplace aglow with flames … and then my little gourd caught my eye, and I noticed a crack that must have happened in transit. My heart sank a bit, until I noticed a flash of white visible inside the gourd through the crack Opening the gift had not occurred to me. I now wondered what was inside, opening it up to see what I would find. A note. I quickly opened the note, finding a written thank you from my little sweetie Mekdes. The note was accompanied by the lyrics to Bob Marley’s “One Love”. She asked me to listen to the song and think of her. Oh, the tears that followed.

As an adult, there is nothing on my Christmas list. Yet, I received an incredible present on this Christmas Eve none the less, and ironically it came from a little girl in Ethiopia who has so very little.

I think of the Bob Marley song “One Love” and of the One World we all share. I ponder our interconnectedness, and the power of a kind act. I will never forget the gesture of gratitude from Mekdes. It appears Mekdes will not soon forget that half a world away is a woman who cares enough to be sure she is in school.

Acts of Love.
Acts of Kindness.
One Love.

Jan26

On The Michigan Wine Trail: An Artist Statement

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I’ve spent much of my adult life adventuring off to every corner of the earth I can reach.  Each trip is its own adventure–a quest to quench a  thirst to see and to know what’s out there.

Of all the places in the world that have enchanted me on my travels, I was surprised to find one of my favorites right in my own backyard.  Barely a three-hour drive from my home in Grand Rapids lie the peninsulas of Leelanau and Old Mission.

The region is deeply layered in every shade of green you can imagine.  Its hills seem to roll on for forever, before spilling out into the waves of Lake Michigan.  I’ve been captivated by this enchanting place, and I find myself returning again and again.

Each season brings its own something special to this wine country.  Spring always takes her time arriving. And just when you think she might have forgotten this year, the earth starts to stir, driving up from the ground hints of green–little promises of all the new life to come.

Before you know it, the apple and cherry trees are in full bloom, painting the landscape in a beautiful pastel rainbow, as winter melts into a distant memory.  By the time August has come and gone, the vines that course through the valley are so full and wild, dripping with fruit that’s almost ripe for the picking.

Autumn is perhaps the most magical time of year on the wine trail.  Its colors burn–bursting out in their fullest glory, creating a vivid, breathtaking backdrop for the harvest. Soon after the productive time ends, winter sweeps in, covering the land in its still, peaceful white slumber, giving the land and its people a chance to rest before the cycle repeats itself all over again. 

This is the Michigan wine country I’ve fallen in love with. As an artist, I want to know it.  I want to hear the stories of the people who live there and who farm the land and make its wine.  I want to explore their artistic processes from the ground to the vine, from the grape to the glass.

“On the Michigan Wine Trail” is more than just a series of paintings attempting to recreate the beautiful sights of wine country.  It captures the essence of the people there, and what happens to them as they inhabit and grow attached to this enchanting place.

My series, like their wine, tells of their journeys, their art, and the relationships they’ve built with the land.  The stories are all there on canvas, like a bottle of wine, waiting for us to uncork it.