Corrina Ulrich

Corrina grew up in Leelanau County and returned after studying illustration at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids. She’s a lifelong artist with an enthusiasm for tactile craft and experimentation. She primarily works in collage and assemblage, but dabbles regularly in drawing, printmaking, textiles, and photography. A deep love of place is a central driving force and constant inspiration.

She’s fascinated by the small moments of light, color, texture, and line that inspire a desire to hold, touch, be enveloped by, or even eat what’s being seen. She believes mystery is at the core of great art and she strives to invoke that mystery in her own work. Outside of making, art Corrina enjoys spending time with loved ones, putzing around in the woods, swimming, cooking, sewing, and listening to British comedy podcasts.

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How long have you lived in the Traverse City region? What brought you here? What keeps you here?

My family moved up here when I was five. It was a holiday destination for my extended family for years before we moved here. I left for periods in my twenties but always intended to end up here. This is where my friends and family are but it's also a landscape I love deeply. I'm a water person and Lake Michigan is the body of water to which all others are unfairly compared.

How does your art practice connect you to the community or vice versa?

A couple things I've been involved in recently that have brought me a lot of joy are Wheat Paste Wednesdays at The Alluvion and the Repair Cafes Green Door Folk School has been hosting at the Traverse Area District Library. Both have allowed me to share some odd skills I've picked up in my constant exploration of mediums and connect with other people who are excited about them. I'm really grateful to live in a community that makes these sorts of things happen.

What is an underappreciated aspect of our region?

The off-seasons. Maybe an unexpected thing to say based on my artwork here but I love the grey months and the snow as much as I love a hot sunny beach day. There's a beauty in those seasons that too often goes unnoticed.

Tell us about your process for one of these works.

I started by collecting images, textures, and colors from thrift store books that called to me. With this series I drew a lot from animal encyclopedias from the 70s and 80s. I also produced a ton of abstract watercolors within a certain pallette. With my watercolors I like to do bleeds and use a technique called decalcomania where you press two sheets of paper together while they're still wet. I'm always trying to let the watercolor do its own thing. Then I sort and play with these piles of materials until I see which bits want to be together. This was all done while listening to a lot of vaporwave to enhance the mood.

Do you have any local art crushes?

Amanda Acker. She's so skilled at capturing the feeling of those little moments that make you pause in appreciation of the way things happen to be. I feel very at home in her paintings.