It’s titled, “Portrait of a Peninsula” and it’ll be unveiled in a few more weeks on Sunday, December 5th.
The book is a collaboration between me and the artist Paul Grant, featuring more than 80 of his paintings over the last 4o years, accompanied by text written by me.
It’s a celebration of Paul’s paintings and of the Upper Peninsula where he’s lived almost continuously since 1970. I, on the other hand, moved here only six years ago but have fallen equally in love with the place.
Christine Pesola, the owner and general manager of the Landmark Inn, first suggested the collaboration more than a year ago. Paul and I, who were acquainted with one another at the time, started meeting weekly at the Northland Pub to talk about his paintings and the U.P. We also took a few driving trips to get to know each other better, and soon I was taking voluminous notes and Paul was busily collecting paintings from patrons who had bought them over the decades so that we could scan them for the book.
We’ve seen an advance copy of “Portrait of a Peninsula” and it’s gorgeous. It’s 11 by 14 inches, hardback with a dust jacket, and with the finest quality paper. We’re excited.
The official unveiling will be Sunday afternoon, December 5th, in the Landmark Inn lobby. Paul will be there, signing the books. We’ll also have food and drink. In other words, a party, and everyone’s invited.
For years, friends and fans of Paul have been suggesting he put out a book like this, and in fact, a couple of decades ago, he and John Voelker had been discussing a similar project, but it never happened. Voelker died shortly afterwards. After that, another project was proposed–one that would honor Voelker through Paul’s paintings—but again, it didn’t happen.
Now it is happening.
We believe the book honors Voelker, Paul’s paintings, and the Upper Peninsula, and we hope you’ll agree.
By the way, after the initial unveiling, “Portrait of a Peninsula” will also be available on this website.