About the Class
In collaboration with the Outdoor Discovery Center, featuring artist Michael Belmore.
Join us for a rare and exclusive look at Canadian Anishinaabe artist Micheal Belmore’s exhibition, Ningaaseg, before it opens to the public! Hosted in his temporary studio space at the Outdoor Discovery Center, guests will enjoy light seasonal refreshments and a behind-the-scenes tour of his in-progress works. Learn about his materials, methods, and artistic background while engaging in inspiring conversation with the artist and fellow guests. The works being created on-site are specific to the West Michigan coast and are inspired by our local landscape and natural materials. Don’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to view brand new artwork created by a renowned sculptor surrounded by the very landscape inspiring his works.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Michael Belmore
Michael Belmore utilizes a variety of materials and processes that at times may seem disjointed, yet, the reality is that together his work and processes speak about the environment, about land, about water, and what it is to be Anishinaabe. A graduate of the Ontario College of Art & Design, he completed his Masters of Fine Art at the University of Ottawa in 2019.
Practicing for over 25 years, Belmore is an internationally recognized artist and is represented in the permanent collections of various institutions including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the National Museum of the American Indian – Smithsonian Institute. Belmore is a member of Unsettled Ground Artists Inc and is currently involved in the creation of a multi-year public art project for four light rail stations as part of Phase 2 of Ottawa Light Rail. His exhibitions include: Every. Now. Then: Reframing Nationhood at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON, Shapeshifting: Transformations in Native American Art at the Peabody Essex in Salem, MA and HIDE: Skin as Material and Metaphor at the National Museum of the American Indian – George Gustav Heye Centre in New York.
Seemingly small things, simple things, inspire his work; the swing of a hammer, the warmth of a fire, the persistence of waves on a shore. Through the insinuation of these actions, a much larger consequence is inferred.
