6 Art by the Beach

One hundred artists in a variety of mediums are about to descend on Suttons Bay this weekend for the 43rd annual Suttons Bay Art Festival. They’ll compete for four Best of Show slots among other awards, while festival-goers can shop the work of local and visiting artists alike. There will also be a community library book sale, food vendors, and a children’s area to enjoy. Proceeds from the event are invested back into the community through grant and scholarship programs, supporting local arts-related education projects like music and dance performances, artist in residence programs, and scholarships for local art students. The Suttons Bay Art Festival runs Saturday, Aug. 5, from 10am-5pm and Sunday, Aug. 6, from 10am-4pm at Suttons Bay Marina Park. (And if you can’t make it this weekend, be sure to save the date for their M22 Art2Art fall tour, which features ceramics, painting, furniture, and sculpture work October 8-9.) For more details, visit suttonsbayartfestival.org.

OTP Looking for Local Artists

Ready to put your art skill to the test?

Old Town Playhouse in Traverse City is seeking six local artists for their new “At the Corner of Art & Culture” project. The playhouse sits on the corner of 8th and Cass streets, and this project will bring a pop of color to the neighborhood by decorating the building facade with artwork that spotlights the arts scene in TC. (Think pieces focused on various disciplines including theater and drama, music, dance, painting, artwork, literature, and film.) If selected, your work will be converted into a banner to hang along the large windows of the building for a minimum of one year. OTP notes that they will give “preference to modern and abstract representations in the mosaic or stained-glass style” and that all six pieces will “need to have a cohesive feel.” (You can submit up to six pieces or just one.) Submissions are due by Aug. 5, 2023. For more information and to submit your work, head to oldtownplayhouse.com/artist-call.html.

Stuff We Love: U.P. Trolls

Wait a second—aren’t we under-the-bridge-dwellers here in the Lower Peninsula called trolls? Typically, yes, but this time around, we found a big ole troll above the Mighty Mac. In July, Danish rapperturned-artist Thomas Dambo came to Germfask, Michigan—about halfway in between St. Ignace and Marquette—to build one of his iconic recycled-material trolls at the Northland Outfitters Campground. Michigan’s own troll, a 14-foot tall guardian who sits along the Manistique River, is named Benny the Beard Fisher and is Dambo’s 117th piece. Similar sculptures can be found all across the globe and are made from discarded wooden pallets and other upcycled materials. (The art pieces last about five to seven years in the elements.) Dambo has also had stops in New Jersey, Vermont, and soon Colorado before heading to the Pacific Northwest on his “Way of the Bird King” tour across the U.S. See more of Dambo’s work at thomasdambo.com.

Ever heard of a Belgian-style Pilsner? We hadn’t either, until we discovered Stormcloud’s seasonal brew, The Hat Dept., and we can’t think of a better sunny day pairing! Belgianinspired, but with a local twist, this crusher of a summer lager blends Belgian malt with Michigan Saaz hops for a full-grain flavor with a zesty backbone. The result is an easydrinking beer that floats on the palette and finishes dry with a crisp snap. Treat it as a digestif (we’re told it’s all the rage in Belgium), or, for some extra European flair, enjoy a pour from the Taproom’s new side pull faucet. Shots of frothy beer foam are highly encouraged! Grab a pint of The Hat Dept. ($6.50) at Stormcloud Pub (303 Main Street) and Parkview Taproom (366 Parkview Lane) in Frankfort, and be sure to keep your eyes peeled for its upcoming release in 16-oz cans! stormcloudbrewing.com

Where Facts Go To Die

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says Florida is “where woke goes to die.” He could have more accurately said Florida middle schools are where facts, history, and reality go to die.

Those Florida students will receive some interesting information about racism in general and slavery specifically in the new school year. What a shame much of it will be based on old, racist lies.

Under laws championed by DeSantis and recently passed by a compliant Florida Legislature, the appointed Florida Board of Education is creating new standards and all lessons involving race must be “objective,” “include both sides of the issue,” and may not “persuade students to a particular point of view.”

So, a subject like slavery cannot be taught with a particular point of view like, for instance, that slavery is completely and totally evil. No, students will be taught there are two sides to the issue, and this goes way beyond the usual excuses about state’s rights.

The new curriculum suggests students be taught that “…slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit…” Yes, this means teaching slavery was a vehicle for personal improvement because, you know, slaves learned things like carpentry and blacksmithing and agriculture. That slavery somehow improved the lot of slaves is an ancient and ugly racist trope now unpleasantly regurgitated by education officials in Florida.

Unwilling to back down from this offensive gibberish, two participants in the working group that came up with the new standards were quoted in the Miami Herald responding to criticism: “Florida students deserve to learn how slaves took advantage of whatever circumstance they were in to benefit themselves and the community of African descendants.”

“Took advantage of” and “benefit themselves” are interesting language choices that make it all seem not quite so terrible if there were advantages to be taken and benefits to be gained.

The lesson that should be taught is there is no advantage or benefit to being enslaved and never were. These are human beings who were kidnapped or captured and transported here in conditions so deplorable as many as 20 percent died en route according to The Resource Bank. Then they were sold like pieces of furniture, stripped of their given names while their families were ripped apart. Most slave children were forbidden from learning how to read, write, or do even basic arithmetic. The men were often shackled and whipped, and those trying to escape could be legally hunted down and killed. Women were raped, sometimes repeatedly, by slave owners. (There is a reason so many Black Americans still have traces of European DNA. )

Yes, some slaves, once freed, went on to become blacksmiths or cobblers or carpenters. But they could have just as easily learned those trades and made an income without being someone’s property and calling anyone “master.”

There is no benefit to being enslaved, and to suggest otherwise is racism at its most basic and naked.

Unfortunately the Florida lesson re-writers weren’t quite done. They’ve decided the race riot and massacre in Ocoee, Florida, on Election Day, 1920; the Tulsa race massacre in June of 1921; and other race massacres should be described as “Acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.”

Here’s a brief refresher, courtesy of the Florida Historical Society: On November 2, 1920, a group of Black citizens attempted to vote in Ocoee, Florida, as they were legally entitled to do. They were met by members of the Ku Klux Klan who then followed and systematically murdered 50 of the would-be voters in what contemporaneous reporting described as a massacre with no mention of violence perpetrated by Black citizens.

In Tulsa, on May 31, 1921, as recounted by the Tulsa Historical Society, a young Black man entered an elevator with a white woman, who complained he had made advances, which he denied. It didn’t matter. At the time, the Greenwood District of Tulsa had successful and affluent Black business owners and professionals and had become known as the Black Wall Street. White Tulsa seized the opportunity to end that success, and for the next two days, white citizens, some deputized and armed by local officials, rampaged through Greenwood, looting, burning, and killing. When they were done, 35 blocks, the entire Greenwood District, had burned to the ground and somewhere between 35 and 300 people, all Black, had been killed. Press at the time referred to it as a “race massacre.”

There were no acts of violence by Black citizens precipitating or contributing to these events, regardless of what Florida teachers must now claim. It is absurd to believe there is another side to a massacre perpetrated by white sheet wearing thugs.

Or to teach children that, hey, at least those slaves learned useful trades while being owned, whipped, shackled, raped, hunted, lynched, and violated in every way imaginable.