The Tusen Takk Foundation and the Dennos Museum are pleased to present A Separate Shining, an exhibition of selected works from the Tusen Takk Foundation’s collection representing ten artists who have participated in its artist-in-residence program to date. Taking its title from the poem “Joy” by Hilda Conkling, the exhibition surveys the artists’ exploration of the intangible–the unseen qualities of joy, beauty, and hope. 

Nestled in the forested dunes of Lake Michigan on the Leelanau peninsula, the Tusen Takk residence and studios were conceived by Geoffrey and Thomas Peckham, and designed by world-renowned architect Peter Bohlin. At Tusen Takk, both the natural and man-made landscape are sources of inspiration for the artists who come to use its studios to bring into existence what they once only imagined.

In her poem, Conkling likens joy to “a separate shining,” a thing not seeable but nevertheless felt. Working across a variety of disciplines from photogravure to painting, to sculpture and music composition, the artists in this exhibition provide us with glimpses of joy and, in doing so, remind us that light overcomes darkness.

Featuring artists: Martin Brief, Cathy Cone, Juan Giraldo, Joseph Labate & Laura LaFave, Shruthi Rajasekar, Debra Salopek, Alyssa Smith, Vaune Trachtman, and Dale Trumbore.

Joy is not a thing you can see.
It is what you feel when you watch waves breaking,
Or when you peer through a net of woven violet stems
In Spring grass.
It is not sunlight, not moonlight,
But a separate shining.
Joy lives behind people's eyes.