North Manitou Island
— an island the mainland forgets by evening.
Not only on a wall.
North Manitou Island, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
“A wilderness island in Lake Michigan, roughly fifteen thousand acres of second-growth hardwood, ghost orchard, and dune. The ferry from Leland runs in summer; once it leaves, there is no store, no spigot, no light. Backpackers carry water in and out. The deer outnumber the people most weekends and the wind in the maples does most of the talking.
The place, in three passes.
North Manitou Island lies in Lake Michigan about 12 miles offshore from the Leelanau Peninsula, the larger of the two Manitou Islands within Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It covers roughly 15,000 acres, almost all of it designated federal wilderness since 1984. The island is reached by Manitou Island Transit ferry from Leland in summer. There is no potable water, no developed campground, and no overnight lodging on the island; backcountry permits are required for camping. The historic Cottage Row settlement on the west side dates to the late 1800s.
Once the day ferry leaves, the island holds a particular kind of quiet — twelve miles of open water between you and the nearest mainland light. White-tailed deer are the dominant large mammal; an unsupported population introduced in the 1920s grew so large it reshaped the forest understory before the National Park Service began actively managing it. There are no bears, no wolves, no resident predators of consequence. Loon calls cross the interior ponds at dusk. The shoreline gravel and the wind in the hardwoods are usually the loudest sound.
Manitou Island Transit out of Leland runs scheduled summer service from roughly mid-May through early October, with the schedule built around day-trippers and backpackers. The crossing takes about 90 minutes one way. Camping requires a backcountry permit from the National Park Service and a designated site; campfires are not allowed anywhere on the island. Visitors must pack out all trash and treat all water taken from the island's interior lakes or from Lake Michigan itself. There are no maintained trails in the wilderness portions, only old roads and traces.
