Paul Grant, the longtime Marquette painter, is of course, the big attraction. His patrons have been asking him for years to put together a book of his paintings and now he, with my help, has done it.
The book, in a sense, is a love letter to the UP. Paul’s paintings are reflections of the scenery, the structures, the animals, and the people of the UP. I provide the text, explaining how the paintings came to be and why we think they are significant in understanding the Upper Peninsula.
For about seven months, nearly every Sunday, Paul and I got together at the Northland Pub at the Landmark to discuss his paintings. He told me how he came up with them and what he thought about them while I acted as journalist asking the questions. I scribbled my notes down at the bar (sometimes over a beer, sometimes a Coke, sometimes coffee) and immediately afterwards went home to transcribe them.
Paul and I had a disagreement or two over the course of putting the book together, but nothing serious, and we remain very good friends. And both of us feel very good about the end product.
A few other people who’ve seen the book have told us they think it’s stunning.
It’s a “coffee-table” art book, large, glossy, and beautiful. A perfect keepsake of the UP, a source of pride, we hope, for people who live here, and a classy souvenir for those who visit here.
A big thanks to Globe Printing, especially Stacey Willey, who has guided us through this process and helped the book reach its full potential. Globe is a genuine treasure in Ishpeming. It’s nice knowing you don’t need a big city-big bucks outfit to do a first class job.
If you can make it to the Landmark on Sunday, we’d love to see you. You’ll also be able to buy the book through this website in the next week.
