MEMBERS OF THE NORTHPORT ARTS ASSOCIATION
Bob Bayer
My interest in photography started when I was a kid. I had many different cameras but really didn’t know how to use them. My interested renewed around 1991 when I took up underwater photography. Then, 15 years later, a person at my workplace held a 10 week photography class that taught me how to shoot in manual mode and how to take better images. This got me started on ‘land’ photography again.
I have met several excellent photographers thru camera clubs and they have helped me elevate my photography to where I am now.
I really enjoy underwater photography, but my scuba diving days are few. Sports would be my next choice, then nature and candid people shots.
Kat Dakota
As an artist, Kat never stands still. She explores and welcomes challenges to test her abilities and artistic expression. Her career started in video production which expanded to graphic and website design. Several years ago, her high chromatic digital paintings grabbed attention which opened doors including the opportunity to design the Northport Marina Mural which promoted cross generational participation and community pride. Her artistic journey brought her to gouache and oil painting with a focus on commissioned “Pet Portraits” in oil. Kat says, “My desire to grow as an artist feeds my discipline but it’s the enthusiastic support of my friends and customers who pump the adrenaline into my veins.” Uniquely Kat is a fine artist and commercial artist – a rare blend. Well – Kat’s kind of different.
Mimi DiFrancesca
Mimi plays with paint, photos and words. A writer, first, she also loves the process of being in the flow of creation and whatever form that takes. She enjoys making abstract acrylics and multi media pieces. Her photos and altered photos let her frame the world in a new way. Photo manipulation let's her redefine places, buildings especially, as caricatures revealing other sides of familiar locations. Look for her new collection Chicago:Sugared, at the summer, NAA Photography Show. Currently, she is participating in the NaPoWriMo - National Poetry Writing Month, challenge: 30 poems in 30 days. This month of poems can be seen on her blog.
Betsy Ernst
I have returned to my roots as an artist and designer of the land in Leelanau County. Currently I am developing a 30-acre farm into a nursery for production of perennials, trees and ornamental shrubs that will be native and/or conducive to the northern Michigan environment.
Most of my artwork originates with the land. I have researched the ways the people of the land used the rocks, beaches, forests, rivers and lakes long before the European’s came to this continent. My work is stimulated by the stories and legends that were created during the time when the land was virgin and not developed.
I have always been interested in landscapes whether it is in the design of the land or the painting of the scenes that surround the places I live. I paint how the land feels and try to portray the image of how the land and waters speak an ancient language that only those who see and listen can understand.
Marjorie Farrell
My interest in art is life long since I was first given a box of crayons and found envelopes in the trash. I love color, texture, world cultures, and history. My interest in Frida Kahlo began in college when I first saw her in an Edward Weston photograph. I was compelled to find our who this woman was. For decades, I have studied her art and life, even learning to read Spanish in order to read her diary in her own language.
I enjoy the opportunity of the holidays to incorporate whimsy into my art, letting the child in me who loved Crayons to come out and play.
Marilyn King
I work with acrylic on canvas, wc paper, and yupo. I paint landscapes, florals, people and abstracts.
Associations: Northport Art Association; Leelanau Women Artists, Art Center Manatee, Signature Member of Florida Suncoast Watercolor Society, International Association of Acrylic Painters, Ajijic Society of the Arts, Chapala Society Writer’s Group.
Carole Steinberg Berk
Carole Steinberg Berk is a Michigan-based artist: a painter, printmaker, photographer and papermaker.
In addition to her paintings, Carole's writings and other artworks have been published in Still Point and other art-related journals. Her work has also appeared on commissioned book covers and CD jackets. In her latest paintings, she's attempting to create multi-media, conceptual narratives-dialogue. She is a member of Northport Arts Association, Lansing Art Gallery and Lansing Council for the Arts.
Michael Steinberg
Michael Steinberg, has written, co-authored, and/or edited six books and a stage play. In 2003, ForeWord Magazine chose Still Pitching as the Independent Press Memoir/Autobiography of the Year. A co-edited anthology, The Fourth Genre: Contemporary Writers of/on Creative Nonfiction (with Robert Root Jr) is now in a sixth edition. In addition, he's the founding editor of the literary journal Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction.
Steinberg has taught workshops nationally and internationally in addition to being a visiting writer at many colleges and universities. Currently, he's the nonfiction writer-in-residence at the Solstice/Pine Manor College low residency MFA program in Boston.
Lydia Woodruff
Lydia has been making art since she was a little girl. She repurposes what others might call “junk” into whimsical sculptures. She works with metal, stained glass, and mixed mediums of all sorts to express her creativity. She paints, makes jewelry and upcycles old clothing to works of art. She’s currently starting a group called Unity in Art, where she helps others express their creativity through different interactive programs.
Residing in Northport, she is a part- time college student and a proud board member of the Arts Association.
Tom Woodruff
Tom has been teaching artists and illustrators since 1987. He is the illustrator of four children’s history books which you may have seen in your library: Michigan, An Illustrated History For Children, Great Lakes and Great Ships, Indians of the Great Lakes, Prehistoric Great Lakes. These books are being used in Elementary and Middle Schools throughout the Great Lakes Area. For the past thirty years he has he has shared his love for Michigan and the Great Lakes region with students and teachers in schools, libraries and conferences, throughout the state. His Great Lakes Illustration Workshops, engage students of all ages, in challenging and fun drawing and writing projects. He says, “My goal is to broaden their awareness of, and respect for their natural and societal surroundings.” His Illustration workshops can be custom tailored to most any topic, or event.
Chris Woomer
Christine Woomer is a painter, printer, teacher and illustrator. She received her BFA from MSU. She illustrated ‘THE OUTDOOR MUSEUM The Magic of Michigan’s Marshall M. Fredericks’ published by Wayne State University Press. Christine also co-authored and illustrated ‘Trapper, a Friend for Life’ published by
Paws with a Cause. She has completed many commissions. Her work has been in many shows including a solo show at Frederik Meijer Garden and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids. Christine has taught watercolors at the afore mentioned FMGardens as well as 17 years at Gilda’s Club in Grand Rapids.