Artist Residencies in America's Parks

Patricia Canelake

Patricia Canelake, Northern Minnesota

Patricia Canelake participated in the first year of Sleeping Bear Dunes Artists-in-Residency program. Instead of staying in a modular home as originally planned, she lived in a tent. "It was cold," Canelake says, "I was outside for three weeks, but I loved it. I had the sand dunes and Lake Michigan right in back of my tent. I'd pick wild apples and bake them over my fire at night or roast vegetables from a roadside stand. I became kind of primitive."

Patricia Canelake, Yellow Sail Green Boat, 20 x 30 in. oils.

I painted Lake Michigan and the empty yellow buildings and big elm trees of Glen Haven, a ghost town. I lived, ate slept and painted outdoors for three weeks. Everything was very immediate and direct. The paint stayed on my hands and clothes until I got home.

- Patricia Canelake, Duluth, Minnesota. Artist-in-residence, 1993.

Patricia Canelake, Land Near Sleeping Bear Dunes, oils on linen, 12 x 24 in.

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