.JPG)
Anne Corlett’s connection to the Saugatuck and Douglas lakeshore runs deep. As a fourth-generation summer resident and third-generation artist, her work is rooted in a lifelong appreciation for the natural beauty, history, and emotion found along West Michigan’s shoreline.
After earning a Bachelor of Science in Fine Art from the University of Wisconsin, Anne continued her artistic education at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Royal Academy of Art in London, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, and Oxbow in Saugatuck. Following years spent raising her family, she returned to her passion full-time, creating and exhibiting artwork from her studio along the Kalamazoo River in Saugatuck.
Art has been part of Anne’s family for generations. Her grandmother, Helen Corlett, painted the lakeshore and surrounding communities beginning in the 1940s, creating a legacy that continues today through Anne’s work.
“I am a 4th generation summer resident (I have lived here year-round since 1988) and a 3rd generation artist. My grandmother, Helen Corlett, painted up and down the lakeshore and communities, starting in the 1940s. I continue her tradition by painting our beloved local landscapes.”
Through her paintings, Anne captures familiar scenes while inviting viewers to see them in new ways.
Anne works across a variety of mediums including oil, watercolor, pastel, and monotype. Rather than limiting herself to a single approach, she embraces each medium as an opportunity to discover something new within a subject.
Moving between materials allows her to explore different textures, emotions, and perspectives, revealing details that may otherwise remain hidden. Whether painting a sweeping shoreline, a dramatic sky, or a quiet natural setting, each medium offers its own unique voice.
For Anne, art is more than representation. It is a language for expressing feelings, memories, and personal experiences.
“My art is about expressing emotions. Every brushstroke or mark is a word, a phrase, a feeling. How they interact tells a story.”
Some of her works are intentionally open to interpretation, encouraging viewers to bring their own experiences to the imagery. Others are more direct, reflecting her personal response to the landscape and natural world around her.
Landscapes remain a central focus of her work, serving as a way to communicate the wonder and awe she feels when experiencing nature.
Many of Anne’s most recognizable subjects stem from childhood memories spent along the shores of Lake Michigan.
“In the summer, when I was young, I put on my bathing suit upon waking and went to the beach after breakfast. My cousins and I looked for lucky stones, played in the waves, dug clay out of the banks and took long walks.”
These early experiences continue to shape her artistic vision today. The beach is more than a landscape, it is a connection to family, memory, and a sense of place that has remained with her throughout her life.
Through her paintings, Anne invites viewers to experience that same connection and appreciation for the shoreline that has inspired generations of her family.
Beyond the beaches and dunes, Anne finds endless inspiration in the ever-changing skies above West Michigan.
“I am completely bowled over by clouds. They sweep across the sky with majesty or menace. They appear as fish scales, cotton batting and mountains.”
To Anne, clouds symbolize both the beauty and power of nature. Their constantly shifting forms inspire reflection on humanity’s place within a larger world and remind us of the wonder that exists in everyday moments.
Today, Anne Corlett continues to create artwork that celebrates the landscapes, waters, skies, and emotions that define the Saugatuck and Douglas area. Through every brushstroke, she shares a personal story while honoring a family tradition that spans generations.
Her work serves as both a tribute to the natural beauty of the lakeshore and an invitation for others to pause, reflect, and discover their own connection to the places they love.
https://annecorlett.net/
