Community

Bay art faculty gains international recognition

ESCANABA -- Kristine Granger, Bay College art faculty and fine arts coordinator, has received several awards that have emerged from a series of opportunities and residencies she has participated in over the past few years.

Granger was the recipient of a four-week artist's residency and the Denise Diderot scholarship at Chateau d'Orquevaux in Orquevaux, France in January 2020. When Granger arrived at her residency in January 2020, she found that her art supplies were stuck in transit. As a temporary fix she was shuttled to the local hardware store where she was able to purchase a range of basic supplies including wire, thread, and other supplies that allowed her to make a sculpture of a figure entitled jouissance.

She explains "the piece just flew out of me" and she was thrilled when jouissance was requisitioned by Ziggy Attias, the founder and director of the Chateau's residency while Kristine was still in residence. This piece became part of the permanent collection at the Chateau d'Orquevaux and was the first piece to be permanently installed in the Chateau. That sculpture gained international recognition over the last two years and based on the positive reception the Chateau sought to acquire a second piece from Kristine Granger. This summer, in June of 2022 she returned to France to install the The Red One (the healer). Kristine now has two pieces permanently installed in the Chateau where they are inspiring artists and community members who visit the Chateau.

Kristine has also continued to receive accolades closer to home. On July 10, 2022, she was awarded the grand prize for the juried exhibition, Poetic Visions of Mackinac hosted by the Center for the Arts at Mission Point. This grand prize was awarded for her photograph and the responding poem, Winter Blue. The photograph has subsequently been published in the Michigan Blue Magazine. The photograph was made while in residence at the Center for the Arts at Mission Point in January 2022.