Artful Mittens on Display

The windows of the South Haven Center for the Arts are full of mittens! Art mittens that is—to help warm the soul during what has turned into a cold, yet beautiful Michigan winter season.

Keeping busy and warm in her studio in South Haven, member artist Joan Bonnette was inspired to create several sets of art mittens, which evolved into the idea of hanging the mittens in the windows of the art center for the enjoyment of the community, and to inspire creativity within the community.

Anyone can make a set of mittens (or just one if you like) to take part in the fun. Mittens made from all kinds of materials made their debut on February 1, and the art center invites and encourages the community to create their own unique pair to be part of the display. Mitten-makers can use any materials they like—scraps from magazines or cloth, markers, colored pencils, crayons, paints, pastels, colored paper—anything at hand. (We do ask that mitten-makers avoid glitter.) Three dimensional mittens are also encouraged. Please sign your mittens and make sure they’re easy to hang.

It’s easy to get your mittens to the art center. Mitten-makers can drop their creations at Crescent Moon, 317 Broadway, during open hours: Monday 11–5, Thursday 11–8, Friday and Saturday 11–6, Sunday 12–5, or slide them through the mail slot next door at Rock 'n' Road Cycle, 315 Broadway. Please sign your mittens and put them in an envelope or Ziploc bag marked for the South Haven Center for the Arts, and don’t forget to sign them. You can also mail your mittens to the art center at 600 Phoenix St., South Haven, MI 49090, or email info@southhavenarts.org to make arrangements to drop your mittens at the art center.

With the help of local artists, the South Haven Youth Development Corporation, the court of Little Miss & Mr. Blueberry, St. Basil Catholic School, and the community at large, this will be the art center’s third window display project. The first display featured Ojo de Dios (gods-eyes) to honor Mexican art and culture during the 2020 Frida Kahlo summer celebration, followed by a rotating window display featuring objects Frida may have chosen to decorate her Mexico City home. And YDC and other community partners helped create the 2020 holiday art display.

Please contact the art center at info@southhavenarts.org with questions, and visit southhavenarts.org, Facebook, and Twitter for information and to see more art mittens. The art center would love to see your designs and make them part of the display for all to enjoy.

The Winter Mitten Project is funded by a Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs (MCACA) operational support grant, and sponsored by the Paul Hix Office of Edward Jones.

The Art of Mittens

Look to the second floor windows of the art center and you will see mittens in the form of mushrooms, monsters, dinosaurs, robots, roses, tic-tac-toe and turtles, cats and dogs, yin and yang, sun and waves, chocolate chip cookies, the Mitten State, and yes, even Bernie Sanders.

With the help of students from St. Basil, St. Paul, and South Haven schools, the court of Little Miss & Mr. Blueberry, the South Haven Youth Development Corporation, and the community at large, art mittens of all shapes and sizes fill the windows with color to chase away gray winter skies.

There was an overwhelming response to the project and the art center received hundreds of mittens, solo and in pairs. Mitten artists used materials from crayons, markers, paper and paints, to foam, felt, fabric, yarn, ribbon, photographs, cotton balls, buttons, and book covers to create their unique art mittens..

The art center extends thanks to Joan Bonnette for her plethora of mittens, Doni Smith for her Love Books and Michigan Map mittens, Kristin Shultz for her Sun and Waves mittens, Ann Habicht for her Zentangle mittens, Cecilia Wondergem for her Snowflake mittens, Jen Sistrunk for her Bernie Sanders mittens, art teacher Tanya Ebert for facilitating many, many mittens, and to ALL who participated in this fun project. We hope that everyone who walks by enjoys the creativity that adorns the windows of our lovely building.

Mittens, mittens, mittens!

The Little Miss & Mr. Blueberry Court took time out of their busy schedule to make art mittens and stopped by in their blueberry masks to drop off their creations for display at the art center.

Staying busy and warm in her South Haven studio, member artist Joan Bonnette was inspired to create several pairs of art mittens, which evolved into the idea of hanging the mittens in the windows of the art center for the enjoyment of the community, and to inspire creativity on cold days. Joan has organized similar projects in the past for the art center and other organizations, including a butterfly display, and the Pisces Spiral, which consisted of more than 400 art fish that were exhibited at the art center in 2018.

Many thanks for Joan for her sharing her creativity and ideas to help make this winter fun!

The Art Mitten project is funded by the Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs.

Mittens, Mittens, Mittens!

The South Haven Center for the Arts invites you to help us with our winter mitten project and is excited to share your artwork with the community!

Choose any medium for your mittens, and we ask that the mittens be easy to hang for display in our windows.

We will begin hanging the display during the first week of February, so please do your best to deliver your mittens by February 2, 2021.

There are several options for you to deliver your mittens to the art center:

• Drop your mittens at Crescent Moon, 317 Broadway, during open hours: Monday 11–5, Thursday 11–8, Friday and Saturday 11–6, Sunday 12–5

• Drop your mittens anytime into the mail slot at Rock 'n' Road Cycle, 315 Broadway

• Mail your mittens to the art center at 600 Phoenix St., South Haven, MI 49090

• Contact us at info@southhavenarts.org if you have any questions or need to coordinate another drop off
  

If you choose to drop your mittens at Rock 'n' Road or Crescent Moon, please put them into an envelope or Ziploc bag and mark them for the South Haven Center for the Arts. We look forward to seeing your artwork!

From left: Sun and Wave Mittens by Kristin Schultz; A Plethora of Mittens by Joan Bonnette; Zentangle Mitten by Ann Habicht

Thanks to Kristin, Joan, and Ann for their contributions to this winter art project!