The Exhibit
Mother Lake is a body of work rooted in rhythm, presence, and deep attention to the natural world. Living near Lake Michigan, Bryanna Manning has spent countless hours walking its shore. Day after day, she returns knowing what will meet her: water moving in and out, sand shifting beneath her feet, and sky stretching everywhere. Each visit is different—the light shifts, clouds gather or break, waves calm or rise—but the constants remain. These constants are what ground her.
The concept of the “Mother Lake” has been a central thread in Bryanna’s work for several years. She understands Lake Michigan as a nurturing, living body—vast and all-encompassing, yet deeply intimate for those who experience it. Its waters and shores carry both immense sorrow and great joy. Always changing, yet constant, the lake’s rhythm anchors the western coast. Day in and day out, it gives generously—to the land and to those who return to it. It is power and beauty. It is the Mother Lake.
The paintings in this exhibition follow the physical and emotional journey of stepping out toward the lake. The path begins in the sheltered woods, moves through wind-shaped dunes, and opens onto the shoreline. Along the way, sweeping landscapes and big skies are balanced by intimate details of leaves, forest floor, and shore. Bryanna invites viewers to experience the work as she experiences the lakeshore: lingering, circling, doubling back, noticing what catches the eye, and discovering the rhythms that connect land, water, and life.
This body of work draws inspiration from the wild places that have shaped her most: the shores of Saugatuck and West Olive, and the northern coastlines near Charlevoix and Petoskey. These are not literal portraits but emotional anchors—sites of memory, refuge, joy, and wildness. Returning to the rhythm of the lake has often helped Bryanna move from abstraction into presence, wave by wave, breath by breath. Through repeated brushstrokes, layered textures, and familiar forms, she echoes the experience of being in nature: it is good. It is steady. It endures.
At the heart of Mother Lake is the invitation to slow down, look closely, and feel our connection to a place that continues to hold us all. Vast yet intimate, always changing yet dependable, Lake Michigan reminds us of memory, grief, joy, and renewal, offering a constant rhythm that guides both artist and viewer alike.
The Artist
Bryanna Manning is a West Michigan–based painter inspired by the natural world and the Great Lakes. Living in the woods near Lake Michigan, and drawing inspiration from her family cottage in Northern Michigan, she seeks to capture the magic of childhood summers spent at the shore—capturing the sense that anything is possible, that the natural world is good, and that beauty surrounds us.
Her work is influenced by modern impressionism, featuring loose brushwork, vibrant color, and a strong sense of light. Bryanna builds texture through paint, medium, and the interplay of line, shape, and color, creating layered surfaces that invite close observation.
Through her paintings, she hopes to evoke the feeling of cherished places and time spent outside with loved ones. Bryanna’s landscapes celebrate the joy, freedom, and wonder of nature, reminding us that the places we love will be there for us, again and again.
Bryanna's Statement
My relationship with the lakeshore began in childhood. I remember when nothing else mattered, only the canopy overhead, the architecture of a blossom, the steady rhythm of waves. That way of seeing continues to shape how I move through the world and why I paint.
When we pause in nature, we experience something both humbling and comforting: we are small, yet we belong. Forest, dune, beach, and lake rely on one another. So do we. My work attempts to translate that recognition of connection into paint.
In the studio, I look for the current I call creative flow. Painting becomes a conversation between technical decisions and instinct. When I release control, unexpected meanings surface. Viewers often discover their own memories, griefs, or joys inside the work—feelings I did not deliberately place there. When that happens, I sense the painting has become a shared space.
“Coincidentally, this series developed over the same nine months that welcomed my first daughter in late May—every canvas guided by a spirit of patience, nurturing, and new beginnings learned from the lakeshore.”
Related Programming
Center On – February 27, 10am – 11am in the SCA Lobby
Join us for an artist talk with Jaer as he shares his vision for a year-long residency at Saugatuck Center for the Arts. Jaer explores how landscapes carry our histories—and what happens when those histories are buried by the environments we reshape. Drawing on his Mexican-American heritage and his work at CREA, an alternative art space in Holland dedicated to experimentation, gathering, and shared creative inquiry, Jaer creates “soft spaces”—moments of presence and community that exist beyond traditional art objects. Through these practices, he invites us to rethink how art can foster connection, justice, and care in the spaces we inhabit together.
This event will all serve as the public opening reception of El Punto de Reposo
Camps + Classes
All ages are invited to experience the transformative power of creativity with our 2026 Artist in Residence through year-round workshops, exhibitions, public installations, and storytelling guided by our 2026 theme of FLOW and SCA’s artist-centered values.
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