Reflections of Superior: Artists Under Sail

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Reflections of Superior:
Artists Under Sail
(At the Saginaw Art Museum Through Aug. 31)

By Robert E. Martin

Long before international borders were set and government copper
prospectors started roaming the lush terrain; Lake Superior has filled
explorers throughout the ages with awe and inspiration.

The 'Alwihta' in St Lawrence Bay

Out of this inspiration, technical animator and illustrator Fritz Seegers had a vision. He built by hand and carved a stunning sailboat called the 'Alwihta' using only the most traditional means of labor. After sailing Lakes Michigan & Huron, the Caribbean and the inner passage to Canada, he formulated from the beauty of these places an idea to organize a Lake Superior circumnavigation for his artist colleagues to said together as kindred spirits and realize a larger group vision.

From June through September, Seegers along with photographer Scott Spink,
printmaker Ladislav Hanka, painter Brent Spink, woodcut print artist Mary
Brodbeck, artist Centhia Cote, and three other artists set off on their
singular journey to circumnavigate Lake Superior and create works of art
from their experience.

Because of the length of the journey and confines of the Alwihta, each
artist sailed for six to eight weeks on different segments of the journey,
working on images and works of art that would aptly capture what they saw.

"In these large spaces and in the silence you hear and see differently,"
notes Seegers. "Because of the purpose of our journey, visual interest
determined our routes instead of convenience."

Currently on display at the Saginaw Art Museum, Reflections of Superior:
Artists Under Sail is a remarkable exhibit combining nearly 50 renderings
of the collective artists that circumnavigated Lake Superior on the
Alwihta.

According to Museum Director Sheila Redman, "We are very pleased to be able
to feature this remarkable exhibition and feel that the timing is perfect
with the Tall Ships coming to Bay City."  The exhibit will run through
August 31st.

The Lake Superior circumnavigation required several years of preparation
and was a lifelong dream of Seegers, who had 25 years of sailing &
exploring experience.

The resulting exhibition is a flowering of innovative works among the
participants.  Each crewmember had the opportunity to combine their love of
creating from nature with their passion for the geographic, historic, and
mythical features of the region.

Photo by Scott Spink

Especially engaging is the painting Seegers created entitled
Upbound/Downbound, showing two large freighters passing each other through
a channel.  Another striking image is one of Spink's photographs,
Breakwater in Grand Marnais, which captures the primitive terrain of the
region perfectly and looks as if it might have been shot on the moon.

Indeed, all of the work tends to carry a common theme of isolated splendor,
which is not surprising considering that birth of this region began
violently when it was wrecked with volcano eruptions and earthquakes for
hundreds of centuries.  Then a billion years later, it was hit by a huge
meteorite wiping out most of life on earth.

Lake Superior, the largest fresh water lake in the world, is 10 to 15,000
years old and sits on some of the oldest exposed rock on earth of up to 3
billion years.

Today, there are busy shipping bays in Duluth and Thunder Bay on the west
side, and vast remote wildlife areas on the east side of the lake. Between
there lies a litany of abandoned towns, fur trading posts, Indian villages,
fish camps and mining operations.

Here at the edges of pre-Cambrian shield, with but a short, cold summer,
nutrients are rare and life tenuous. Only the strongest survive and then
not for long. There are few large trees, but many shipwrecks and ghost
towns.

Reflections of Superior is a contemporary mix of artwork that reflects
post-modern sensibilities and spans the richness of traditional media, as
well as multimedia explorations of cutting-edge technology.

The common denominator is the artists' fascination for this unforgiving,
yet exquisitely beautiful environment.

Be sure not to miss this remarkable exhibition of creativity born out of
challenge and an unyielding love for the primacy of nature.

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