Wildwood Studio

Welcome to Wildwood Studio! Take a moment to browse our gallery of folk art paintings celebrating the Northwoods. Just click on a picture or description below to view the paintings in that particular series.

Woodland Seasons Series: This series depicts the Northwoods’ deep past in a land of lakes, streams and bogs left as a legacy of the glaciers. By 5,000 years ago Woodland Indians enjoyed an abundance of fish, caribou, deer, moose, bear, waterfowl, wild turkeys, and grouse. There were berries galore, wild plums, crabapples, leeks, other greens, wild potatoes, maple syrup and sugar, wild rice in western regions, and later corn, beans and squash from small gardens. The paper birch provided bark for canoes and wigwams, reeds made mats for floors and for insulating walls, and clean, fresh drinking water was always near. Such small-scale cultures are perfect examples of long-term cultural sustainability.

Mackinac Series: For millennia the Straits of Mackinac have been a gathering place. Three of the greatest freshwater lakes in the world (Superior, Huron and Michigan) mingle their waters here on their route to the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Atlantic Ocean. It was a favorite place for Native American families to gather and to hold council on sacred Turtle Island, and later, those involved in the fur trade made Mackinac Island their rendezvous point. Today tourists from all over the world gather to enjoy the magic of its timeless beauty and fresh Summer breezes, and Turtle Island is still an attraction for political leaders.

Homespun Series: The paintings in this series portray quiet days and simpler ways — snapping beans on the front porch, planting a new fruit tree in the orchard, enjoying recess at a one-room school, creating your own music on an old guitar, sledding down a nearby hill, hauling firewood while the Autumn woods blaze with color, stringing daisy chains in a meadow, and taking in the view from an old tree swing. These activities were once commonplace in this region, and some are enjoyed to this day by those who choose to reside off-the-beaten-track here.

Esprit du Nord Series: This series celebrates a time when northern waterways and forests echoed to the wood flutes of the Anishinaabe and the chansons of the voyageurs. The French were the earliest Europeans in the region and from their marriages to Native American women came a new people, the metís (may-TEE). Metis culture was a mix of Indian and French. With the decline of the fur trade, the Metis turned to small-scale farming, fishing, logging, or to supplying nearby towns with venison, berries and other forest products. Their spirit can still be felt in smaller towns like St. Ignace, Manistique, L’Anse and on the Garden Peninsula.

Growing Up Country Series: The paintings in Growing Up Country are an attempt to capture some everyday moments in the lives of children growing up in the back country of the wilder regions of the northern Great Lakes area. There are lakeshores to enjoy each Summer, visits to grandparents to look forward to, old, abandoned orchards to gather apples from in Autumn, as well as garden chores and the companionship of dogs, cats, and even wild critters. Such country childhoods, though they may be materially poor, are rich in family love and full of the magic of the woods, waters, and changing seasons of this beautiful land.

All images © Spirit of the Wildwood LLC
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