'Sophisticated' artists from 24 nearby counties
Quirks of art, such as a small child's scribble on his dad's large ceramic vase, enrich the 153 pieces that fill the 43rd Elkhart Regional Juried Show at Elkhart's Midwest Museum of American Art.
“Autumn Downhill,” by Bryan Graham of South Bend, won best sculpture for a colorful, abstract jumble of wooden creatures and characters on some sort of four-wheeled glass.
But equally, the large exhibit, which fills two floors, also gives you interludes of lush landscapes, locomotives, cute birds and popular haunts like Granger resident Larry Johnson's acrylic painting of The Chief Ice Cream.
On now until December 19, the exhibition covers a range of artworks and media. A total of 197 artists had submitted 341 works – with no specific theme in mind – from a 20-county area in Indiana around Elkhart, plus four Michigan counties just across the border. Two jurors, artists Laura Conners of Crawfordsville, Ind., and Thomas Roese of Cleveland, whittled it all down to 153 works by 115 artists.
Award winners raised a total of about $27,000, which museum Director/Curator Brian Byrn says is about on par for this annual competition and makes it the largest art show with prize money in Indiana. Each year, the fair gives a platform to a wide range of “very refined” artists from “our backyard”, says Byrn.
A series of artist talks will be held at the museum from 12:15pm to 1:00pm every Thursday (except Thanksgiving) from October 21st to December 16th.
For the curation, Byrn took the potpourri of art and grouped the pieces somewhat thematically in each room. They are not labeled as such, but, in his own thinking, he calls the first corner “the cage” for bird artwork. You then wander 'into the area' with images of railway and industry. Then comes 'shards and foliage' for abstract and tree art and 'ageing, equality and street sounds'. But, of course, there are a lot of pieces that don't fit the theme — they just look good in those spots. Upstairs, Byrn grouped together pieces that smell of summer and fall, as well as another room full of textures, comparisons and contrasts.
The overall best of show award went to a large acrylic and ink abstract piece, “Flower Line,” by Mary Burke of Berrien Springs. In written comments, the judges describe: “Bold flowing shapes that dance on a light colored surface. The artist delights us with thoughtful layers of space that create both depth and perspective.”
Seven acts won best of show awards for their media, along with six judges' merit awards.
Cynthia Cooper of Middlebury's elegant, aptly named “Four Turtles” ceramic pot and cover won one of four other merit awards given in memory of certain people (in this case, William and Jeanne Batten).
Byrne says the exhibit represents the racial and ethnic diversity of the artists.
Mary Amador of Goshen, who grew up in a family of immigrant farmers, often depicts the faith and life of immigrants. She often uses her children as models, as seen in her mixed media piece, “It's Cold in the Shadows,” which shows a white-haired young man wearing an elaborate red-and-white necklace and a black backdrop scattered with pale roses and Mexico's much-loved creature: butterflies .
Some artists have more than one piece in the exhibition. Emese Rivera of South Bend has painted two portraits of strong Latin American women in warm colors, beautiful ethnic clothing and curvy patterns.
Self-taught sculptor Steve Lerma of Elkhart created a metal sculpture of a bird skeleton, wings up, claws around a black human skull, which Byrn says is an homage to the Latin American holiday of the Day of the Dead . , right after Halloween, which honors the spirits of those who have died.
There are also two Nigerian artists, both from Goshen: painter Nalia Suleiman and sculptor Sunday Mahaja.
Some artists added their own quirky twists.
LaPorte's Marcia Sindone, who Byrn says has written about aliens and ghosts, lends her wacky skills to “Gotta Love Me Too.” This curious shadow box includes cut-outs of black-and-white photographs of women from the suffrage era, along with a woman cleaning stairs, whose head is severed and held by a man sitting on top of her. Sidone stamped “#METOO” over an old “VOTES FOR WOMEN” sign and female voters standing next to her.
Todd Hoover, a retired art teacher from South Bend's Riley High School, also uses a collection of vintage black-and-white portrait photographs, each framed in the piece titled “Lost Generation's Ditties,” but covers each face with a three-dimensional mask. he has made himself.
Justin Rothshank of Goshen, who helped start the annual Michiana Pottery Toursculpted a tall earthenware vase and purposely let 5-year-old Bryn carve marks on the sides.
“It has a great sense of innocence and pattern,” says Byrn. “Children are not afraid of art.”
A few pieces may give you peace, such as the paintings of sandhill cranes, a great blue heron, “Trees at Twilight” and the large, leafy green oil painting of the South Bend City Cemetery by David Allen.
Julie Neises of Mishawaka used bronze to make a collection of small, endangered turtles, “Solomon's Run.”
Next to them, Granger's Pat Pritchard used colored pencils to depict a curly-haired diver among fish and coral in a swirling drop, a finely detailed work that allows the artist to ask in her title: “Magnificent Oceans, Can We Shall I save them?'
At the exhibition
• What: “43rd Elkhart Juried Regional”
• Where: Midwest Museum of American Art, 429 S. Main St., Elkhart
• When: until December 19
• Hours: 10 am. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
• COVID Protocol: Masks are required for the unvaccinated and recommended for the vaccinated.
• Cost: $10-$6
• For more information: Call 574-293-6660 or visit midwestmuseum.org.
Speeches at noon
Artists in the exhibit will give talks from 12:15pm to 1:00pm every Thursday (except Thanksgiving) from October 21st to December 16th. He is Kandy Grady of Dowagiac on October 21st. Steve Blackburn of Mishawaka, Oct. 28; Tom Zuber of Goshen, Nov. 4; Mark Shubert of Osceola, Nov. 11; Mahaja of Goshen Sunday, November 18. Susan Henshaw of Union Pier, Dec. 2; Bryan Graham of South Bend, Dec. 9; and Mary Burke of Berrien Springs, Dec. 16.
