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Senior PGA Community Showcase Ready to Make You a Kite-Boarding Pro

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If you play your cards right this weekend at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, you may very well convince your family and friends that you were soaring on a kite board atop the surf of Lake Michigan just off the coast behind the signature Hole #7 at Harbor Shores. Just between you and me, all you’ll need to do is pay a visit to the Community Showcase just inside the front gates of the Championship Village.

Chicago Artist Nate Baranowski is currently creating a 3-D painting on a large canvas that extends up the wall and across the floor which will eventually become a photo op at the Championship at Harbor Shores. Baranowski, who is a professional artist in both chalk and paint has created 3-D chalk works at St. Joseph Today’s Chalk the Block Festival in downtown St. Joe over the past several years and plans to return again this summer.

He says when his nearly photographic artwork is complete, visitors to the Championship can “step right into the art and make it look like they are kite-boarding Lake Michigan, soaring through the air.” Baranowski is just one of several artists who are performing live in the Community Showcase put together by the Southwestern Michigan Tourist Council, St. Joseph Today, the Cornerstone Chamber of Commerce, the Makers Trail and others to show visitors the amazing array of things to see and do in Michigan’s Great Southwest either while their here for the golf championship or upon return visits to explore the region.

The kite-boarding mural is what Baranowski terms, “A 3-D anamorphic illusion, so that it looks like you are actually in the work of art.” Last year at Chalk the Block he created a mountain-climbing cliff scene where when you turned sideways to pose, it looked like you were scaling a mountain-top.

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When the kite-boarding scene is complete, there will be a point of reference on the floor of the Community Showcase marking where the photographer should stand, and if taken from that exact angle, it will put you right into the scene in a three-dimensional way.

Baranowski says he works in both chalk and paint, depending on the venue and whether the piece is inside or outside. The 3-D effect works both with chalk or paint. Nate says he will finish the painting by tomorrow night, Thursday, May 24th so that starting Friday morning visitors will be able to step into the frame and start posing for friends.

Baranowski does both street painting and murals with paint and chalk for a living and has made a nice career of it. You can see more of his talents online by clicking the link below which also has his contact info in case you ever want or need a similar creation for your business, family, or special occasion. Here’s the link:

http://NateBaranowski.com

Baranowski is not the only artist being showcased this week during the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Local artist Eric Bradford is another and he calls his inclusion into the event the result of “a perfect storm.” As creator of the now famous “Bull Mural” back in 1997 at the North Shore Inn, Bradford recently got the call to touch that one up in the major remodeling job at North Shore and also his newest piece depicting the historic 100-foot putt by Harbor Shores Developer and Hall of Fame Golfer Jack Nicklaus also a part of the newly renovated North Shore Inn decor.

Bradford has a print of that mural on display at the Community Showcase and admits it has been getting a lot of attention down near the 14th Tee at Harbor Shores where folks are stopping in for a burger and a beer while following their favorite Champions Tour golf pros. He is also selling limited edition prints of that mural.

For his performance art at the Showcase, however, Bradford is reaching back to his heritage as a 1996 graduate of Benton Harbor High School. Saying, “Go Tigers,” he adds, “I thought it would be fitting if I did a painting of the Michigan Boys Basketball Championship Team of 2018 — the Benton Harbor Tigers.” He calls it “representing a little Tiger Pride at the Senior PGA Championship.” He will be working on a 30-by-40 foot canvas to create a collage of the starters and a key sub in the painting which will also include Coach Sterling, cheering them on. Bradford says, “It’s going to be a cool, colorful collage and my plan is to donate it to Benton Harbor High School when it’s completed by the end of the school year.”

Bradford will give a demonstration at the Showcase, of how to create a larger version of a small photograph using a grid system much as he did for the 2010 Champions for Change Nicklaus putt scene. He will fill the painting in as he goes along and show the process to visitors. He says it won’t be done by the time that a new Champ is crowned on Sunday, but hopes to have it ready by the end of the school year so it can hang on the walls of the high school and commemorate the championship victory this past winter.

Bradford calls it, “A great weekend to experience the arts of our region, including artists from the Box Factor who will also be on hand showcasing a lot of artistic talent from the local community.” He adds, “Every two years this event helps raise the ceiling for talent in the community and the growth has been great.”

To help defuse the pressure of painting in front of a live audience, Bradford says he has invited a local dance studio entrepreneur who does a lot of work with the youth of Benton Harbor through the Citadel in the Arts District to do kids’ face painting nearby. He says, “It’s been pretty cool to jump into the PGA game in my own way.” We wish him great success along with all of the artists on display at the Community Showcase this week.

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