Description

LEGACY OF AN ARTIST IS A TRUE GIFT FOR ALL
 
“Gift of a Lifetime” Exhibit - December 9 - 31, 2022
 
We all think about the existential question of how we will be remembered when our life comes to an end. For artists, especially visual artists, legacy is a reward inherent in their profession. Their work continues to give joy, expound beauty, enhance aesthetics, lead us to introspection, inspire our own creativity, and release our emotions long after the artist has passed. The late local artist, Joani Braun, was keen to the spirit of giving gifts—often spontaneous and quirky but always from the heart—long before her passing last December.
 
It is fitting that Joani’s lifetime of art is a gift to us all this holiday season. Worthy of pause and an excursion to witness, her retrospective art show, “Gift of a Lifetime” will be on display beginning with an opening reception, Friday, December 9, 6pm-8pm, at Twisted Fish Gallery in Elk Rapids, and continuing through December 31, 2022.
 
In recent years, Joani was mostly known for her watercolor paintings of subjects ranging from landscapes to homes, portraits, and animals. Her expressive style chronicled life and the natural world in northern Michigan with a flourish often gracing the covers of her hometown newspaper, and adorning homes, restaurants, and businesses. Visitors to the exhibit will also experience her gifts in other mediums such as wood carving, oil paint, pen and ink, collage, art therapy and education, illustration, and other experimental works. 
 
Joani’s gift giving philosophy—as described so accurately in daughter and singer/songwriter Jen Thomas’s song, Wrap It Up: “When you find a little joy in life, wrap it up and give it back.”
 
“Apple heads, bird’s nests, old fossil stones | Cedar boughs, driftwood, books and bears, and bones Organic vegetables, a big, a very big ball of string | These are a few of the gifts that Joani brings
Brown eggs, black tea, yellow roses, pinecones | A river ride, a painted sky, letters from home
Fresh baked granola, a perfect butterfly’s wing | These are a few of the gifts that Joani brings”
 
Archival prints & matted originals from Joani’s collected works will be available for purchase. In homage to Joani’s example, all proceeds from the exhibit will be donated to arts education within Elk Rapids Schools.