Gwen Frostic Studio
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Gwen Frostic Prints (Gwen Frostic Studio)
1960s. 5140 River Rd., 2 miles west of Benzonia
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(Photograph by Kathryn Bishop Eckert) -
(Photograph by Kathryn Bishop Eckert)
Gwen Frostic (1906–2001), a noted Michigan naturalist and printmaker, carved her rambling cavelike fieldstone and cedar studio and shop into a hill on 285 acres on the Betsie River, molded it around a duck pond, and let the natural flora and fauna take over. From the inside, the building affords views of the surrounding wetlands. Doorways open onto decks that reach out with even closer views of nature. Poured-concrete floors that withstand the great weight of the Frostic printing presses also hold impressions of the leaves, deer tracks, and other natural objects the nature artist loved to draw. In the studio Gwen Frostic Prints operates presses and prints Frostic's sketches of trees, flowers, weeds, birds, frogs, and the like carved into wood blocks on stationery, greeting cards, calendars, and books. The building houses her studio, printing plant, nature library, mail-order operation, and shop. After it closed in 2009, the shop that preserves the legacy of Frostic reopened under the auspices of Kim and Greg Forshee.
Writing Credits
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Data
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Location: Frankfort, MichiganRegional Overviews:Types:Styles:no metadata available
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Citation
Kathryn Bishop Eckert, "Gwen Frostic Prints (Gwen Frostic Studio)", [Frankfort, Michigan], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MI-01-BZ1.
Print Source
Buildings of Michigan, Kathryn Bishop Eckert. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012, 439-439.
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