The auction will be held from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the Great Lakes Great Responsibility Facebook page.

“All the artwork was inspired by the Great Lakes, and what better way to highlight the lakes and their beauty?” asked Meag Schwartz, founder of Great Lakes Great Responsibility.

The auction will help raise funds to keep the Great Lakes clean.

“Each piece varies in color, texture, light and medium but all point back to the freshwater that sustains us,” Schwartz said in a press release.

Here is piece of jewelry by Gitchigami Treasures, also up for auction.

Funds raised will be used to start a mini-grant program to clean up larger Great Lakes dumpsites that might require extra disposal costs.

“This is to establish the base funding to get that mini-grant program started,” Schwartz explained.

Funding will also be used to sustain the #GreatLakes1Million Challenge, an effort to remove one million pieces of litter from the Great Lakes Basin.

As of Wednesday, 58,874 pieces of trash had been picked up, going toward the one million goal, Schwartz said.

“We are incredibly grateful for each artist that has donated their time, talent and work to this effort,” Schwartz said.

“We did a call for artists back in April,” she said. “It may become an annual event because we had so much interest from artists.”

She said it’s mutually beneficial because it gives the artists a platform to display and highlight their work, while raising money to help keep the Great Lakes free of debris.

The artists include:

¯ Adele Webster, a contemporary painter out of Kingston, Ontario;

¯ Barefoot on Erie beach glass jewelry from the shores of Lake Erie;

¯ Barry Acheson Photography, a landscape photographer based in Elgin County, Ontario;

¯ Bettina Madini, a contemporary European artist living and working in Wisconsin’s Great Lakes area;

¯ Cardtography, by Cameron Seabourne, a London, Ontario-based creator focusing on the lakes, rivers and islands of Ontario and beyond;

¯ Dawn Kehr, a Bay City painter;

¯ Gitchigami Treasures, jewelry made from Great Lakes agates found by Jesse Ayers and made his partner Brianna;

¯ Helen Hierta Ceramics, a sculptor located on the shore of Lake Huron in Greenbush Township;

¯ John Soss of Chicago, who finds both manmade and natural items on Great Lakes beaches, lays them out and photographs them;

¯ Karole Marois, a Canadian figurative painter living on the shore of Lake Ontario in Prince Edward County;

¯ Kimberly Bauer Studio, a printmaker/painter based in Altoona,Wisconsin, working in watercolor monotypes and white line woodcuts;

¯ Mackenzie Page Photography, a photography and textile artist living in Traverse City;

¯ Michael Courier, a performing arts and event photographer in Chicago who has refocused his business around environmental art and advocacy, especially the Great Lakes;

¯ Rose Garden Studio, by Rose Bisanz, a ceramic artist based out of the Ossineke area;

¯ Smiling Moon, handmade resin and memorial jewelry by Emily Agosta, out of Kemptville, Ontario;

¯ Sweet Fern Co., handmade polymer clay jewelry by Haley Jo of Traverse City;

¯ Walda Juhl, a Michigan artist who enjoys painting en plein air (outdoors).

To view the art and artist profiles, visit https://www.greatlakeslove.org/greatlakesart. Visit the Facebook page on Thursday to bid in the auction.

Schwartz added that she did a birthday fundraiser in May, which raised $5,000 for Great Lakes Great Responsibility.

“I was just blown away,” she said.

Reach Lifestyles Editor Darby Hinkley at 989-358-5691 or dhinkley@thealpenanews.com.

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