Lake Michigan: At the Edge
Lake Michigan: At the Edge is an edition of fine art photography from artist Lincoln Schatz spanning more than five years in order to create a portrait of place. It is a study over time of the relationship between one of the largest bodies of freshwater in the world, the park systems, the city of Chicago and the residents that live alongside the lake. The interrelationships between these subjects found in this edition inform how we see and understand this remarkable natural landscape that adjoins one of America’s largest cities.
Summer is a special time of year on Lake Michigan and in this edition by Lincoln Schatz the season is explored in depth and detail. The days stretch in summertime, and the slowly fading light at dawn and dusk produces atmospheric conditions perfect for a photographer. The landscapes seen in, Lake Michigan: At the Edge, are filled with a lushness that is uniquely summer in character. Color overwhelms the senses, creating rich undulating patterns in sky and water and give these landscape photographs a beguiling subtlety.
In Lake Michigan: At the Edge, days of perfect blue sky and water, those types of days that often come to mind first when picturing summer on the lake are juxtaposed with photographs of dramatic storms that also appear each summer. The arrival of these storms quickly turn the lake’s water black and tumultuous while clouds tumble in the sky overhead.
“I am always amazed at how the arrival of storms to Lake Michigan changes this landscape. This summer has seen tornadoes and severe storms tear across the midwest. Uprooting land and life. When storms threaten the lake while I am working, I am careful to always remain respectful of the power this massive body of water possesses.”
Lincoln Schatz
Storms and the often startling blue skies that follow aren’t the only things to arrive at the lake along with summer. Now is when the residents of Chicago come to the lakefront to spend long days at the water’s edge. Joining them are visitors from across the United States and beyond. The Chicago Park District estimates that every weekend in the summer one hundred thousand people visit the lakefront per day. These visitors access the parks, fields, paths and beaches that dot the public spaces that fill the entire eastern edge of the city, taking advantage of the summer weather and the ability to be in nature while often in full view of the city.
The Chicago park system creates oasis’ from the heat and humidity that are hallmarks of summer in midwestern America. These parks additionally act as an antidote to the compression of life that often happens in urban spaces like Chicago. It is possible here in this landscape to be surrounded by skyscrapers, concrete and immovable man-made materials only to walk a short distance and emerge from an underpass and arrive at the lake. Here at the lakes edge there is an abrupt openness to the vista, the view expanding outward from the congested city it abuts, the water spreading for as far as you can see.
While the shoreline and the parks can feel natural at places along the lakefront, none of the landscape documented in this edition is accidental. Everything seen has been created over time through human intervention. Shaping and reshaping the contours of the lake as time passes. Many of these interventions, especially in recent years, are attempts to keep this large body of water from the city. In many places along the shore, first temporary and now seemingly permanent walls of bagged sand attempt to slow the erosion and displacement of the shoreline as the lake changes form. In, Lake Michigan: At the Edge, this dynamic tension between human and nature is front and center, studying how the city and its citizens respond to the impact of climate change.
“I come to the lake to photograph this landscape throughout the year. I have grown accustomed to the ebb and flow of visitors that coincide with the changing of the seasons. Now, in the midst of summer, the lakefront is alive with people from dawn until dusk. Even with the increase in visitors the lake remains wild and untamed. There is always a place somewhere along the lakefront where you can go to be alone with the water.”
Lincoln Schatz
The hard edges of lake walls create serrated slashes through photographs found in the Lake Michigan: At the Edge edition, emphasizing the contrast in materials required in order to contain Lake Michigan. Steel, concrete and earth are all brought together in an attempt to keep this powerful body of water at bay. The lake and these materials sit in stark contrast to one another.
Schatz began coming to the lake in 2015, spending a month photographing Lake Michigan from the same place each day. He had first been drawn to the lake driven by an interest in working with an active landscape that would evolve over time. No two days are the same on Lake Michigan and each day spent with the lake reveals something new to Schatz.
“I return to the lake because it continues to give me something that I cannot find anywhere else. This is a landscape of a grand scale, specifically of this place and in contrast to the city that sits beside it. There is an openness, a generosity to Lake Michigan that provides me with this opportunity to create a portrait of a landscape over time.”
Lincoln Schatz
The photographs in this edition feature a wide range of subject that enables this collection to inform and enrich our relationship to the lake more deeply. As summer stretches on into August, days at the lake become more important than ever. While it may be hard to imagine in those final hot days of the season soon enough fall will arrive to the lake. Bringing an end to another summer. Lake Michigan: At the Edge, captures the season, allowing viewers a way to experience summer on Lake Michigan regardless of time of year.
For more information on Lake Michigan: At the Edge, including edition number, size, framing and pricing can be found here. If interested in learning more about this edition please do not hesitate to get in touch via email, studio@lincolnschatz.com.
