Northern Michigan In Focus: The First Great Northern Art Explosion in Grayling

Right now, in Grayling, there’s an opportunity for some people to win some money for something they created and you can help and more so, enjoy!  Corey Adkins explains in this week’s Northern Michigan in Focus.

“Mostly they say wow. Wow, I haven’t been here in a while and I can’t believe what Grayling is doing and the things that are happening,” said Terry Dickinson of the AuSable Artesian Village.

What an appropriate word for what’s been happening in Grayling lately, wow. So much so the folks at the AuSable Artesian Village thought it’d be a good idea to light off a bomb downtown of art!  Welcome to the very first Great Northern Art Explosion!

“This is huge for us. This is our first time we’re trying to do a state wide juried art exhibition,” said Dickinson.

Here’s the deal. You go to Grayling, pick up this brochure and voting ballot. Then take a stroll. There’s 9 different business that are in the exhibition and you have your say.

We’ve got a guide book that tells the patron where each piece of art is and then they have a ballot that they can vote up to three times for three different pieces if they like to or they can vote for just one if that’s what they want to do.

“We juried it kind of close because we want this to be a high quality show so that when people look at it and in particular when the artists that come up look at it and say I want to be a part of this so that we can grow. We want to grow this into one of the most and more significant art shows in the state,” explained Dickinson.

So come up, over or down to Grayling.

“The real critical part is now that we are depending on the public to help us. We need a significant number of votes. Next year when we promote this and if we can say we had a thousand people looking at the artwork that means something to an artist whether they win an award or don’t want an award if there is a thousand pair of eyes that look at their piece that’s awesome so we really need the public to respond and come in and view the show,” said Dickinson.

Who wouldn’t want to be part of the first Great Northern Art Explosion? Good things are happening in downtown Grayling.

“It’s all high quality so that when people walk away, both artists and patrons, when they see the show they’re going to want to come back next year and see next year’s show,” said Dickinson.