Les, Fran, Craig and Nadine Blacklock

Lifelong Minnesotans, their 'Our Minnesota' calendars, photo series and books are elegant state promotion as well as superb art. Les photographed and filmed all the still famous 'Land of Sky Blue Waters' images for Hamms Beer. Both Les and Nadine died in the last several years. Craig remarried Honey Anderson Blacklock, also a writer, and with Fran still involved at 85, still photographing Minnesota's natural beauty, and still developing the Blacklock Nature Sanctuary near their homes east of Moose Lake. The Sanctuary is supported largely by foundations and encourages creative people in all the arts with fellowships at the Sanctuary house in the forest and stipends for their one-week to month-long residencies.
~John Kalbrener, Minneapolis, MN