Honky Tonks, a life's work and woven drawings: Crooked Tree to open summer exhibits

PETOSKEY — The Crooked Tree Arts Center is gearing up for a busy summer and is slated to open three new exhibits over the next two weeks. 

The arts center's main summer feature — "Honky Tonk: Photographs by Henry Horenstein" — is slated to open next Friday, June 3.

The exhibit will take over the center's Bonfield Gallery and feature over 25 photographs documenting the changing world of country music and its fans. The photos were all shot by Horenstein in bars, music ranches and famous venues like Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. 

"So this is a solo exhibition and Horenstein has been doing photography and teaching for decades and published books but I was really taken with this specific subject and work of his," said visual arts director Liz Erlewine.

"It's a fun subject to share, particularly with Northern Michigan audiences as there are so many sounds, styles and key figures that have influenced a lot of the music we hear and the performances we see today," she said.

All of the exhibits include photographs that were taken during the '70s and early '80s and really capture a moment and part of country music history. 

All of the subjects are also casual, relaxed and not posed. Horenstein's work strived on capturing candid moments of his subjects, including Waylon Jennings, Dolly Parton, Jerry Lee Lewis and more. 

"It's a lot to take in with the music history, fan culture and the straight up history of these moments in time. There's also an appreciation for the images of this music and, of course, the photographer's eye and the way he saw it all," said Erlewine. 

Accompanying this exhibit will be historical writings put together by music historian Stephen Thomas Erlewine. The writings will provide some context and help explain what a honky tonk is and its influence on music as we know it today.

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The second exhibit the arts center is opening on Friday, June 3 is another solo exhibition titled "Singulars: Work by Lynn Bennett-Carpenter."

Th exhibit, as the name suggests, is work by Detroit-based fiber and drawing artist Lynn Bennett-Carpenter. 

This solo exhibit in the Gilbert Gallery will present selections of Bennett-Carpenter's recent works of intricately crafted handwoven drawings, performative and interactive sculptures and traditional drawings.

"At the end of the day I think this is a drawing exhibition but there are elements that speak to fiber and weaving," said Erlewine. 

"I was really excited by her work because it uses a lot of traditional and classical methods with straight up drawings but also weaving. It has a real fresh and contemporary take on drawing and weaving," she said. 

Erlewine said she believes Bennett-Carpenter's solo exhibition is also a real juxtaposition to the Honky Tonk exhibit. They are both about documentation but "... Lynn uses very specific places and uses them as her inspiration for the final pieces she is creating."

Exhibit visitors will also get to touch and interact with some of the work, which excites Erlewine and the arts center as yet another thing patrons can experience within the walls of their summer exhibits. 

Both exhibits open at the arts center in its two upper level galleries on Friday, June 3 with both also ending on Saturday, Sept. 3. 

The final new summer exhibit — another solo show titled "Gretchen Dorian: A Collection from 1970 to Present" — will showcase the life work of local artist Gretchen Dorian but will open a week later on Saturday, June 11 in the center's Atrium Gallery and will also wrap up a bit earlier than the other two exhibits. 

"This will really function as a retrospective as she has been doing photography and art for decades," said Erlewine. 

"She will be bringing out some of her early works as well as some of her new. I'm really excited about this show as well because I have known Gretchen since moving up here and she is just such a gracious and thoughtful artist and has such a sensitive take on her subjects," she said. 

A lot of Dorian's work is centered or focused around her love for water and nature, which is reflected in the exhibit. 

She spent her college studies exploring New England but it was her return to Detroit and the waterfront that helped shape her work through that love and passion for nature, water and boating. 

"Her passion rings through her work and she just has this way of creating personal relationships with her subjects that patrons will surely enjoy," said Erlewine.

The Crooked Tree Arts Center will also be hosting an opening celebration on Saturday, June 18 which will include square dancing on the Bidwell Plaza, hot dogs and lemonade and some different art-related workshops. 

The center is also hosting a number of lectures, workshops and classes all summer long and is largely back to a full summer schedule following the pandemic. 

"Last summer was still pretty light but we are largely back to 'normal' and have stuff going on every week with these three exhibitions," said Erlewine. 

More information about the upcoming exhibits and future arts center programming can be found on its website at www.crookedtree.org. 

Contact reporter Sean Miller at smiller@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on Twitter, @seanmillerpnr, and Instagram, @sean_everest.