Blue Star Motel
2023.59.17
On paper
WatercolorInk
Sometimes the artist intentionally records history. The Blue Star Motel was constructed about 1936 shortly after the Blue Star Highway was built and designated US 31. About 1998, a new owner's plan to refurbish and reopen the motel was not approved and after the appeal process was exhausted demolition was scheduled. George Brown shouldered his sketchbook and paints and recorded this requiem portrait of the motel, shabby but stalwart, the day before the wreckers came. [text from 13 Moments in Time portfolio] The painting was acquired from the Kit and Art Lane estate. This motel once stood next to Saugatuck Dune Rides and across the highway from the current location of the Blue Star Gym at 6492 Blue Star Highway. The gym reused the motel's star-shaped sign.
Artworks1930+ Tourism, lodging, hotels and B&BsBuildings: Lost
Winthers, Sally
Brown, George Vincent III 1937-2018
2000
including frame
16 in
20 in
AC flat file 3
Art Conservation Room
Blue Star Gym/Blue Star Motel (demolished)
2023 auction description: 2000 Watercolor by G. Brown. Signed. Approx. 16"x20" OA; 11 1/2"x15" SS. Part of a Saugatuck/Douglas Art Collection.
12/21/2023
09/17/2024