“My aim is to bring you the wind in the trees or the very first violet of spring, a bit of serenity that exists in the world. I hope after reading or hearing the news at the end of the day you may feel that loveliness is still of this world. Man, must live with nature and cannot separate himself from it … He is an integral part of the whole.” – Gwen Frostic
Gwen Frostic was one of America’s foremost nature-inspired artists and a successful entrepreneur who lived a simple life in Benzie County.
Her life’s work lives on and embodies the spirit of The Artist’s Way – a book dedicated to tapping into your creativity and living an inspired life.
Last December, while we were taking a drive to see holiday lights, we stopped by the studio of Gwen Frostic for the first time.
We had driven past the sprawling, nature-inspired building off River Road in Benzie County countless times. Finally, we turned in to see what was inside and pick up a uniquely northern Michigan Christmas gift.
We bought a 2024 extra-large calendar, which are often collected for the prints. I bought a gift set with a small calendar and a set of note cards because I believe in the genuine gesture of sending a card in the mail. It’s a lost art – sending a handwritten card or Thank You note – and one we could all use to get back to.
Beyond that, I was touched by Frostic’s story. I knew her name, but I didn’t realize she was such a pioneering businesswoman in northern Michigan. Frostic moved to the area in the 1950s and became a renowned nature artist and millionaire, despite being told she may never walk, talk or write after being stricken with polio.
Creative energy is infinite
I have dedicated my 2024 blogs to my artist dates and what I have learned doing them. In 2025, my goal is to shift gears to my health journey the last few years. Frostic’s story seems like a fitting ending that captures the essence of The Artist’s Way.
Author Julia Cameron outlines 10 Basic Principles in The Artist’s Way book:
- Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy: pure creative energy.
- There is an underlying, in-dwelling creative force infusing all of life–including ourselves.
- When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the creator’s creativity within us and our lives.
- We are, ourselves, creations. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves.
- Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.
- The refusal to be creative is self-will and is counter to our true nature.
- When we open ourselves to exploring our creativity, we open ourselves to God: good orderly direction.
- As we open our creative channel to the creator, many gentle though powerful changes are to be expected.
- It is safe to open ourselves up to greater and greater creativity.
- Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity.
When an interviewer asked Frostic “What is creativity? And what is the source for your own creativity?” She responded:
“It’s part of you. It begins with knowledge. You will never get an idea about something you know nothing about. I don’t care how long you look at the beautiful woods or anything else. Ideas only come from knowledge.”
Gwen Frostic’s legacy lives on
Gwen Frostic Prints is situated between the small towns of Benzonia and Frankfort in Benzie County, the smallest county in Michigan. Frostic’s studio still showcases the vintage Heidelberg presses and honors nature with waterfalls, driftwood décor, and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the woods.
A lifelong Michigan residents, Frostic was born in Sandusky on April 26, 1906, and died a day shy of her 95th birthday in 2001. Frostic is known for her naturalist, Linocut block print artwork, created using original Heidelberg Platten presses.
In 2021, twenty years after her death, her rustic home and studio made it on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s worth a visit just to look around and see the inner workings of her print shop and source of creative inspiration.
Nature’s friend
A Google search doesn’t turn up a lot on Frostic’s life story. It seems she lived a fairly private life. I learned the most from her Wikipedia page and the About page on her website. Author Sheryl James wrote a biography about her, The Life and Wisdom of Gwen Frostic. Lindsey McDivitt captured her story in a children’s book, Nature’s Friend: The Gwen Frostic Story.
Frostic’s story is one of resilience, determination, and grit. Born Sara Gwendolyn Frostic (1906-2001), she became a wildly successful artist, author, environmentalist, entrepreneur, and Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame inductee. She never married or had children, and long before her death, she even wrote her own epitaph:
“Here lies one doubly blessed.
She was happy and she knew it.”
Frostic’s childhood illness caused a lifelong disability. Despite physical difficulties including a limp and weak hands, she didn’t let that deter her from achieving her goals. Frostic took an early interest in art and her parents encouraged it. During high school, in the early 1920s, she completed several courses in mechanical drawing and used a band saw to create posters for her school.
Artist ahead of her time
Frostic studied art education at Eastern Michigan University and art at Western Michigan University, where she carved her first linoleum block artwork. But she left before completing her degree against her parents’ wishes.
Wanting to earn her own living, Frostic set up a metals studio in her parents’ basement and started a business, Metalcraft. This led to a commission to make two copper vases for the wife of Henry Ford, Clara Bryant Ford.
In 1929, Frostic worked as a summer camp counselor at Osoha of the Dunes, in Frankfort, Michigan, which launched her connection to the region.
During World War II, as supplies of metal dried up, Frostic experimented with printmaking, using the Linocut technique of carving linoleum blocks. Frostic also worked full time, six days a week, as a tool and die draftsperson in the Willow Run bomber plant of Ford Motor Company. She designed the tools needed in the shop and helped to troubleshoot and fix the machines.
Frostic moves to the woods
Post World War II, Frostic started Presscraft Papers, her own production printing company in Wyandotte. She turned her linoleum block carvings into stationery goods and prints through the use of Heidelberg printing presses.
In the early 1950s, she opened up a summer shop selling her prints, books, and other items in Frankfort. With the success of her downtown store, she moved there permanently to operate her business year-round. In 1960, she bought 40 acres and established her home and her shop further inland. At that time, it was basically forest, initially accessed only by dirt road.
“The townspeople wondered at the logic of moving a perfectly good, thriving business out of downtown Frankfort with its summer tourist crowds.”
As a single woman in her 50s, Frostic took a big risk when she moved to the woods of northern Michigan. Her property, which she affectionally called “The Frog Pond,” consists of mostly undeveloped wetlands and fields. With parcels bordering the Betsie River, it was perfect for Frostic, as she wanted to observe, study, and sketch her native woods and wildlife.
Home in harmony with nature
Frostic oversaw the design and construction of her home and studio, which was built as an organic structure using natural materials from the site. The building, which grew to 21,000 square feet, is wedged into the hillside and adjacent to a pond. During construction, they found a spring and incorporated it in the design.
Other features include long, low-pitched roofs to blend into the natural environment, large stone boulders, a natural spring and waterfall, and an area with a green sod roof. On April 26, 1964, her new residence, printing operation, and gift store opened for business where it continues to operate today.
“Farmers brought her rocks which they had removed from their fields; she instructed the workers to pile them naturally, so they looked comfortable, like they just landed there.”
Frostic developed walking trails around the property and pond, which she eventually opened to visitors to explore. Along the trails were “sketching places,” small screened-in “huts” where she could sketch without being bitten by insects. You can read more about the history on this National Park Service page.
Millionaire in the midst
As they say, “If you build it, they will come.” Frostic incrementally grew her property into a 285-acre wildlife sanctuary. She also grew her business and her net worth during a time when few women were celebrated for this. The Detroit Free Press reported that she had 34 employees working in her printing business in 1985.
Still, Frostic pressed on as a working artist, carefully carving the designs of nature into linoleum blocks. She then used Heidelberg letter presses to bring her images alive on stationery and cards. Throughout her career, Frostic wrote and illustrated 22 books. She carved more than 2,200 blocks. And her print shop expanded to 18 Heidelberg presses, according to the NPS report.
Her style of simple lines, delicate colors, and nature scenes endures decades later. She continued to produce new work well into her nineties, and even after her death, her legacy lives on through cards, calendars, journals, and other products. Read more about the actual process of linoleum block printmaking in this blog, Gwen Frostic: Unconquerable Spirit.
“There are thousands of blocks in the studio: each one individually designed and hand carved by Gwen herself. We are constantly inspired by these amazing works of art and her ability to bring the wilderness of Michigan into our homes and hearts.”
In the early 1960s, Frostic was rumored to be a millionaire from her business. But she lived a simple, modest life and never moved from her Benzonia property. She also surprised many when, upon her death, it became public that she had left $13 million to her alma mater, Western Michigan University.
Read about lessons we can all learn from Gwen Frostic in Part 2: Gwen Frostic’s Legacy: Live Simply, Love Nature & Trust Your Vision.
Gwen Frostic Prints, 5140 River Road, closes Dec. 20 for the season and will reopen around the Memorial Day holiday. You can shop online here. But it’s worth a trip to see her studio and print shop in person.
Marla R. Miller is an award-winning journalist, travel writer, and content marketing writer who lives in West Michigan. Please “like” or follow me on Facebook, X, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Let me help grow your business. Check out my Writing Services or Read My Work.
