R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press Attendees of the reception for “Imagination to Manifestation,” an exhibit in Manistique’s Lake Effect Community Arts Gallery, touch the surface of Stella Larkin’s “Buck Moon” diptych.

MANISTIQUE — ​The work of two found object sculptors, Larry Godfrey and Stella Larkin, is currently on display in the Lake Effect Community Arts Center. Both artists use recycled metal and other materials to craft their creations, which are quite different in form but complement one another in the exhibit called “Imagination to Manifestation,” on display until Aug. 23.

The Lake Effect Community Arts Center hosts various exhibitions, art classes and more. The building at the corner of Cedar Street and Oak Street in Manistique, which was bought for the purpose of being an arts center by mBank in 2019, is occupied by a gallery space on one side and a shop on the other. The focus of both is local art.

The new exhibit, curated by volunteer Exhibition Director Martha Fieber, was ushered in with a reception on Friday, Aug. 1. The artists discussed their processes, vision, aims and growth.

Godfrey, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie tribe of Chippewa Indians and a Vietnam veteran, said he’s been making art pretty much his whole life. Some skills he drew from the traditional crafts of his ancestors, while others he picked up from work.

“I was a boilermaker for 30 years, so we got a chance to play with iron, and I liked the welding,” Godfrey said.

Three striking figures of his on display at the gallery are humanoid statues, made primarily of welded-together metal pieces like antique saw blades and brake parts, but accentuated with things like antlers and glass.

For these statues, somewhat inspired by cave paintings he saw in New Mexico, and also the pieces that draw from Native American arts — baskets made of birch, dance staffs capped with eagle claws and mounted together to represent each of his grandchildren — Godfrey said he accumulated the parts for a while, and would work on multiple things at a time, rather than pumping a piece out from start to finish all at once.

“It takes a while to gather up everything,” Godfrey said. “But then the Muses came visiting, and we started putting them together. A little here, a little there.”

Larkin’s work on display at Imagination to Manifestation can be broken into two categories. There are the pieces designed with shredded cans that she found, and there are three-dimensional wall-hangings that are reliefs covered with layers of flattened bottle caps.

In her artist statement, Larkin compared her use of the found metal to fiber arts: “Through exploring the malleability and weaveable qualities of certain found objects, like aluminum cans and bottle caps, I’ve been inspired to ‘clothe’ my works in ways that ideally provoke expressions of mystery, contemplation and delight,” she wrote.

Inside large wooden frames are the reliefs Larkin considers “portraits” of animals she sees in her yard — pair of whitetail bucks, an egret with a fish. Their forms have been cut out of discarded wood — in the case of the deer, it was tabletops from a restaurant — and cloaked in bottle caps brushed free of paint, so the metal glistens. They’re accentuated with copper “stars” made of bicycle box staples.

Other art by the pair of artists include a piece called “Tormented” by Godfrey, which portrays the struggles and resilience of Vietnam veterans, a pair of wings by Larkin whose shimmering “feathers” are made of sliced aluminum cans, and more.

Godfrey resides in Gladstone; Larkin in Marquette.

“To me, it’s a show about metal art, and the two seem to be pretty good together visually and contrast-wise, and something totally different for people from Manistique to see,” said Fieber.

After the current exhibition concludes later this month, the next display at Lake Effect in September will feature wood block prints and ceramics.

R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press
Two visitors to the exhibition of recycled art currently on display at Lake Effect Community Arts in Manistique analyze “Sky Watcher,” a sculpture by Gladstone artist Larry Godfrey.