Artist-in-Residence Workshop with Printmaker Nicholas Hill Posted March 26, 2021 2017 Guggenheim Fellow Nicholas Hill will use a small printing press to create printing plates based upon on-sight drawings that he’s created at various sites on the island. His printmaking processes are environmentally-friendly and water-based. He also looks forward to open studio sessions where visitors can come to his studio to see the printing process as he would use hand-made papers and demonstrate a variety of printing techniques with each plate. The press is small enough and portable and he plans to offer these demonstrations at other sites or even out-of-doors in good weather. Printmaking history is rich and complements the historical periods of the history of the island, so he plans to share these parallel histories during his demonstrations. The primary demonstration will take place at the Station 256 Conference Room, located above the Mackinac Island State Park Visitor’s Center. The entrance is located to the rear of the building. Admission to all events are free.
Artist-in-Residence Workshop with Photographer Raymond Gaynor Posted March 26, 2021 Photographer Raymond Gaynor will lead a presentation/workshop on the images he’s taken while in residence. He’ll provide a detailed explanation on what drove him to take that particular shot, what he saw, and what he felt. Additionally, he will also discuss the technical aspects and processing workflow for each image. This is a free workshop presented in the Station 256 Conference Room located above the Mackinac Island State Park Visitor’s Center. Entrance is to the rear of the building. #thisismackinac
Artist-in-Residence Workshop with Woodcut Artist and Printmaker Benjamin Bohnsack Posted March 26, 2021 Woodcut artist and printmaker Benjamin Bohnsack will present a continuous demonstration of block printing during his residency, so keep an eye open for him while on the island! For his scheduled workshop, he will showcase a half hour presentation about the story of literacy and printing, with a visual description of what he does to create his art. He’ll also do a brief show and tell of the work he’s done while on the island, leaving time for questions at the end. This program will be presented in the Station 256 Conference Room, located above the Mackinac Island State Park Visitor’s Center. Entrance is located at the rear of the building. Admission is free. #thisismackinac
Artist-in-Residence Workshop with Constructed Watercolor Artist Elizabeth Spitz Posted March 26, 2021 Constructed watercolor artist Elizabeth Spitz will demonstration how her artwork is made, showing the technique of constructed watercolors. Sheets of solid watercolor paper are painted, then cut and glued in layers to create dimensional images. She will have examples in many stages of completion, to show how the process works from start to finish, because it is a very time consuming series of steps. Having the examples will allow her to talk through the process, illustrating the kinds of questions that arise. This presentation will take place at the Station 256 Conference Room, located above the Mackinac Island State Park Visitor’s Center. Entrance is to the rear of the building. Admission is free. #thisismackinac
Artist-in-Residence Workshop with Poet Elizabeth Klein Posted March 26, 2021 Writer Elizabeth Klein will present a reading of her poetry collection titled Upon a Shoreline Exile. The pieces include: “Bench at Marquette Park,” with context on how Pere Marquette influenced the poem; “Night on Main,” which includes a brief anecdote about the poem’s origins as a scene in one of her fiction pieces; “Freighter at Windermere Point,” with mention of the poem’s connections to Somewhere in Time; “Arch Rock,” with comment on the Native American legend which served as an inspiration for the poem. Workshop will take place at the Station 256 Conference Room, located above the Mackinac Island State Park Visitor’s Center. Admission Entrance is located to the rear of the building. Admission is free. #thisismackinac
Artist-in-Residence Workshop with Painter Kurt Anderson Posted March 24, 2021 Primarily a plein air artist, Anderson will present his process of creating work, and review the materials he used to create it. He will also do a short painting demonstration. This program will be presented in the Station 256 Conference Room, located above the Mackinac Island State Park Visitor’s Center. This is a free event. #thisismackinac
Girl Scouts and the Mackinac Island Scout Service Camp Posted March 22, 2021 The Mackinac Island Scout Service Camp has been a long-honored tradition for many scouts within Michigan. Since its creation in 1929 the program has gone through many changes, however none quite as notable as the inclusion of Girl Scouts. In 1929, visitors who trudged up the ramp to Fort Mackinac had a breathtaking view as a reward for their climb, but the fort buildings revealed little of their past. At the time only a small museum of assorted artifacts had been assembled in part of the Officer’s Stone Quarters. Roger Andrews, vice chairman of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, wanted to create a new way to present Mackinac’s rich history for their visitors. Andrews organized a contingent of eight Eagle Scouts, the highest rank of Boy Scouts, to help at Fort Mackinac for the month of August 1929. These scouts were well trained in the historical background of the island and gave free tours to fort visitors. Their routine included putting the fort flags up and down, firing the sunset gun, and blowing “Reveille” and taps on the bugle. Famously, future president Gerald Ford was one of these Eagle Scouts. After the successful summer, the news of the service camp quickly spread. In 1934 the program briefly went nationwide – scouts were invited from fifteen other states to spend two weeks serving as guides at Fort Mackinac. With the overwhelming response, the Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Company sponsored an essay contest to select scouts within Michigan. By 1947, twelve different troops were coming, with more than 400 scouts each season. During the 1940s, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission received numerous requests for the inclusion of Girl Scouts. Instead of allowing the scouts to join the Mackinac Island Scout Service Camp, the commission offered temporary usage of the Scout Barracks, located behind Fort Mackinac, and land for a Girl Scout camp to construct their own barracks on Mackinac Island. Nothing came of this offer, but the idea of having Girl Scouts as part of the program did not die. Scouts with Governor and First Lady Milliken. In the early 1970s the Girl Scouts again asked to be part of the contingent, this time securing the support of Helen Milliken, Michigan’s First Lady. Since the Boy Scouts and Girl Scout organizations are separate, the request was carefully studied to see if Girl Scouts could meet the camp requirement. In 1974, the scout camp policy was changed to include Girl Scout troops, and Cadette Troops 464 from Ann Arbor and 1463 from Grosse Pointe Farms served with distinction. Over the years the number of Girl Scout troops coming to Mackinac has increased. Today, approximately half the scouts serving on the island are Girl Scouts. Several Girl Scout troops have now had more than forty consecutive years of service since coming to the island. Instead of only providing guided tours of Fort Mackinac, scouts can be found performing duties on the island ranging from flag duties, answering guest questions, assisting with service projects across the park, and many other duties that have been historically completed by their scout counterparts. Occasionally scouts will have the opportunity to participate in special events, including marching in the June Lilac Day Parade and helping with Independence Day events. Sadly, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused the program to be suspended for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The scouts are a vital asset to Fort Mackinac, though, and will be warmly and excitedly welcomed back as soon as it is safe to do so, hopefully in 2022.
19th Century Women Writers and Mackinac Island Posted March 5, 2021 By Maria Bur For decades, Mackinac Island and the Straits area has been a rich source of inspiration for writers. Some literary ties remain well remembered, like Herman Mellville calling Mackinac by name in Moby-Dick, while others fade and are largely forgotten in time. Two such 19th century women writers, long overlooked compared to their male contemporaries, nevertheless also took inspiration from Mackinac’s one-of-a-kind scenery and made notable, even remarkable contributions to literature. Jane Johnston Schoolcraft. Courtesy U-M Library Digital Collections. Bentley Image Bank, Bentley Historical Library. Accessed: March 05, 2021. It is only in recent years that the private writings of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft have been uncovered and recognized for the accomplishment they are. History better remembers her husband Henry Schoolcraft, a geographer, ethnologist, and United States Indian agent for Michigan beginning in 1822. He made a career studying American Indian tribes. But it’s the poetry and translations of his wife Jane, a Métis, or mixed Ojibwe and Scotch-Irish woman, that have just as much to say about Ojibwe life, culture, and womanhood in the 19th century. As a woman straddling two different cultures, Schoolcraft took inspiration from places like Mackinac Island, where she lived for most of the 1830s, and from her Ojibwe heritage to craft collections of poetry in English and Ojibwe, wrote, in English, at least eight traditional Ojibwe stories, and transcribed and translated a variety of other Ojibwe tales. Schoolcraft is among the first American Indian writers, the first known Indian woman writer, by some measures the first Indian woman poet, as well as the first to write poems in a Native American language. Recent scholarship has even determined that Schoolcraft’s Ojibwe tales served as inspiration for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha. Another 19th century women writer familiar with Mackinac Island, and whose literary talents remain partially eclipsed by her contemporaries, is Constance Fenimore Woolson. This American Realist is perhaps most remembered for her friendship with Henry James and for her well-known great uncle, James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Last of the Mohicans, but recent scholars argue she should be celebrated in her own right. Woolson spent portions of her childhood and young adulthood in the midwest and on Mackinac Island, which is where several of her short stories and novels are set. Of particular note is Anne, an 1880 novel published first as a serialization in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, is partially set on the island. In Anne the protagonist begins her journey in her village on Mackinac Island headed for the northeastern United States, only to return home at the end to familiar ground. Forever known for her picturesque and vibrant descriptions of the natural world, Woolson’s Anne pays fitting homage to Mackinac Island. Woolson’s work remains a product of her time and echoes other 19th century literature, but also departs from the norm in important ways. Woolson is a woman writing often about other women as explorers setting out into the new and unknown, deepening their own mental and spiritual lives as they go. Though her heroine in Anne tends to be extremely self-sacrificing, a common literary depiction of the time, Woolson also imbues her with a sense of independence and self-determination, that coupled with Woolson’s own desire to write about uncomfortable, difficult subjects, sets her apart from other 19th century writers. Although she’s little more than a footnote in 19th century literature, Woolson’s legacy remains alive on Mackinac Island in the form of a bronze plaque located within Mackinac Island State Park next to Fort Mackinac. Overlooking a bluff, part of the plaque dedicated in 1916 honors Woolson for “her love of this island and its beauty in the words of her heroine, Anne.” Maria Bur is a freelance writer and graduate of Saginaw Valley State University. She enjoys writing about women’s history, literature, media, and culture.
British Landing Nature Center Opening Day Posted October 29, 2020 Take the bike ride around M-185 and stop at British Landing to learn about the plants and wildlife that call Mackinac Island home. Talked to a naturalist, read the interpretive panels, and explore the exhibits. Free admission. #thisismackinac
Twilight Turtle Trek Posted September 23, 2020 Mackinac Island Turtle Trek – A lantern-lit ski and snowshoeing trek through some of Mackinac Island’s natural winter wonderland. The trail begins at Greany Grove (corner of Arch Rock Road and Huron Road) with a bonfire and hot chocolate. The trail is groomed, track set, lit by lanterns and approximately two miles long. This is a free event sponsored by Mackinac State Historic Parks, Mackinac Island Community Foundation and the Mackinac Island Ski Club.
