Charlotte Hanegmon poses with her hand-painted silk work at the First Friday Art Walk on July 1.

Charlotte Hanegmon poses with her hand-painted silk work at the First Friday Art Walk on July 1.

The July First Friday Art Walk in downtown Grand Rapids was one of the best-attended this year. The artists to participate offered a wide range of work. The following are profiles of a few.

Charlotte Hanegmon is a silk painter, and has painted over 1000 silk pieces. With this unique sort of painting, the paint is very runny on the silk, which has taught Hanegmon to “go with the flow”. She is part of a group called the “Scarf Ladies”, where she has taught almost 400 students in Minnesota and Wisconsin how to paint silk. At the First Friday Art Walk, Hanegmon had featured silk scarves, silk bandannas, and silk shoulder shawls, all hand painted. She also had Ukrainian Flag pins she was selling in support of Ukraine in their war with Russia. Hanegmon also paints using watercolor and acrylic paints, and sells her work MacRostie Art Center and the Iron Range Marketplace.

Samsoche Sampson is a part of his art company called Sampson Bros Arts. At the July First Friday Art Walk, Sampson had featured a variety of digital textiles of Native American prints that he often turns into painting later on. He had also featured Native American instruments, and one was even hand-made. He had also featured a hand-painted skateboard deck that he had painted himself last year. Sampson Bros Arts produces a variety of art, such as what was featured at the Art Walk, but there are also many other things such as music available on their website: SampsonBrosArts.com.

Gordon Coons (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa and Ottawa/Potawatomi from Michigan) is MacRostie Art Center’s artist of the month for the month of July, 2022. For this specific exhibit, called “Fire, Smoke, Art”, Coons created fumage art using cedar smoke, by burning cedar and then transferring the smoke to the paper. He also adds 24-karat gold leaf to his art. Coons draws inspiration for his work from his Anishinaabe heritage. In this specific Art exhibit, Coons says onlookers will find “questions of culture and art, and intricate relationships, multilayered stories, and overlooked histories that constitute the modern world.” Coons exhibits nationally, and his work is collected all across the country.

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