NW MI Arts & Culture Network
Art on the TART’s Boardman Serenade
The TART Trails Art on the TART initiative in Traverse City engaged with nationally-renowned, Michigan-based artists Glenn Wolff and Rufus Snoddy to commission a mural that enriches the trail user experience along the Boardman Lake Loop Trail. Wolff and Snoddy collaborated to create and install Boardman Serenade, a large scale mural that illustrates the rich natural setting that is northwest Lower Michigan. This was a FY2022 Minigrant Project.
Planning for the project began in the summer of 2021 with a scope of work and fundraising activity. In August of 2022, Glenn Wolff and Rufus Snoddy, along with two assistants, installed Boardman Serenade on the GT Profile building along the Boardman Lake Loop trail. Boardman Serenade is a 15′ by 30′ mural depicting a common loon, a bird native to Michigan. Glenn and Rufus spent June and July collaborating on a design for the mural. In late July and early August, the artists and their two assistants – art students at Northwest Michigan College – created a cartoon to transpose onto the building. The physical installation of the mural took roughly two and a half weeks. Volunteers were brought in to assist in assembling scaffolding, document the process, and spray the mural sealant and anti-graffiti coating to ensure sustainability of the artwork.
Since the Boardman Lake Trail Loop opened on July 1, 2022, it has become arguably the most popular part of the entire TART Trails network, attracting more than a thousand walkers, runners, cyclists, and other explorers every single day. A formal survey gathering feedback for the project and the Art on the TART program will be issued in winter 2022/23.
See more on the TART website: Rufus Snoddy and Glenn Wolff, Boardman Serenade, 2022
