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Her parents, Sara and Fred Frostic, did not agree. “Experts” saw a limited life for her, in both length and quality. Shortly thereafter, she became lame, her mouth drooped, her hands were stiff, and she spoke with a slight slur. At eight months of age, she was sickened by a fever of unknown origins, later thought to be polio. She was born Sara Gwendolen Frostic in Sandusky, Michigan, on April 26, 1906, but was always known as Gwen. Despite the odds, she became a very successful artist, writer, nature lover, and entrepreneur. Gwen Frostic was a physically disabled artist and businesswoman. The building continues to be used as the place of production and sales for Ms. It housed her business, Presscraft Papers, including the printing press operation and retail store, as well as her personal office and residence. #The print shop bay village professionalFrostic’s professional and personal life. The multi-functional building contained all aspects of Ms. Frostic acquired and preserved additional adjacent property. Like the building itself, the site grew incrementally from an initial forty acres to over two hundred acres of fields and wetlands, as Ms. As of 2020, the structure stands at twenty-one thousand square feet. #The print shop bay village seriesThe original structure, approximately nine thousand square feet in size, grew incrementally over fifteen years in a series of additions. Frostic developed walking trails around the property and pond, and along the trails were “sketching places,” small screened-in “huts” where she could sketch without being bitten by insects. The mail room lunchroom was elevated and had a protruding screened-in porch with floor to ceiling windows, for the employees to enjoy the view as well. The building was sited adjacent to the pond, and laid out so her lower-level office and upper level residence overlooked it with floor to ceiling windows. Rather, the form, materials, and arrangement of spaces are a reflection of the natural world. The building reacts to the environment and eschews the dictum of form following function. The building is not imposed upon the environment but is in harmony with it. The building reflects the art she created while living there with nature the books she wrote, illustrated, and printed based on her love of Michigan’s natural environment her unique store which hosted millions of visitors and earned millions of dollars the printing operation over which she had total control and her actions to conserve and promote Michigan’s natural environment. #The print shop bay village windowsIt is of wood frame construction and utilitarian concrete block, with large expanses of windows for natural light and to view the bucolic landscape around the building. It was constructed, in part, utilizing natural materials from the site with long, low-pitched roofs to blend into the natural environment. The building is wedged into the hillside and adjacent to a pond. Frostic’s love of the nature environment. The building was designed by Gwen Frostic and her contractor, starting in 1964, in an organic style that served as an expression of Ms. Frostic affectionately referred to her property as “The Frog Pond.” The Gwen Frostic Studio consists of her printing operation, the store for her merchandise, as well as her personal residence and office. It consists of mostly undeveloped wetlands and fields. It is in a rural area, approximately two miles west of the village of Benzonia, Michigan (population around five hundred), and about a half mile south of the winding Betsie River. The Gwen Frostic Studio is located on a ten-acre site at 5140 River Road in Benzonia Township. Gwen then used Heidleberg letter presses to bring her images alive on stationery, and, as an entrepeneur, created a thriving print shop in the process. Carefully carving the designs of nature into linoleum blocks. Michigan born, Sara Gwendolyn Frostic (1906-2001), was one of America’s foremost nature inspired artists. ![]()
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