Bonifas Art Gallery
Travelers planning a Michigan day trip to the Bays de Noc communities usually see themselves hunting or cross-country skiing through beautiful tracks of forest, boating or swimming on Lake Michigan, or perhaps ice fishing on one of the frozen bays. The Bays de Noc do nurture activities like these, but the shores of Lake Michigan are also the natural habitat of artists, writers, craftspeople and performers whose work is inspired by the natural setting, spirit and history of this unique area.
The William Bonifas Fine Arts Center in downtown Escanaba claims the title “home to all the arts” for the Central Upper Peninsula region. Each year the Alice Uren Powers galleries in the Bonifas Arts Center host a series of local and regional art exhibitions along with traveling exhibits on loan from institutions like the Smithsonian or Detroit Institute of Arts. The center focuses most of its efforts on art created by artists of the area. An Upper Peninsula regional competitive exhibit each fall titled Northern Exposure showcases the best of the U.P.; a Bay Area Art Association show in the spring features work in all media; and special theme exhibits are featured in the summer, such as “Companions and Choices,” a quilt exhibit or “Re-Visioning Nostalgia: the Agrarian Roots of Contemporary Life.”
Whatever the season, the gallery bespeaks the imaginative riches of the region. And just how good are these regional artists? Well, the answer may lie in the recent request by the governor that the Bonifas provide artwork for her entire executive suite in Lansing. Only eight institutions were asked to furnish artwork for the offices, and the talents of these Bonifas artists put them shoulder to shoulder with some of the huge downstate institutions. The arts center adds a surprising twist to a vacation busy with outdoor activities. A gift shop of local artists’ wares is also located inside the Bonifas Arts Center, and the staff cheerfully guides visitors to the other galleries in Escanaba’s Cultural District.
If your Michigan day trip to the U.P. “bays” is especially charmed, your visit may fall on a weekend when one of the arts center’s nine affiliate organizations is holding an event. Local community theater group Players de Noc stages three plays and one musical each year in the 240-seat Bonifas Theater. Theaters from across the Midwest send actors, administrators, and technical people to learn from these superbly professional volunteers. The Bay Area Arts Association, the local visual arts group, hosts the Waterfront Art Festival each August on the first Saturday of that month. With a gorgeous setting in Escanaba’s Ludington Park, the Waterfront Art Festival attracts thousands of visitors to this busy outdoor marketplace of fine art and crafts featuring artists from the Upper Peninsula and beyond.
Lifelong educational opportunities abound at the Bonifas Arts Center. If you are planning ahead, call the Arts Center for a copy of the upcoming schedule of classes and workshops. Well-known regional artists teach beginner and artist-level classes for teenagers and adults throughout the year. For the young set, drop-in registration is available during the center’s popular Art in the Park program scattered throughout the Delta County parks system.
Information on the Bonifas Arts Center’s events and affiliated groups is available on the Bonifas Arts Center web site at www.bonifasarts.org. There is always something new to explore or take part in at the Arts Center.
For more information on programs and events, call 906-786-3833. www.bonifasarts.org.
