Around the Bend!

The third regional exhibit at the Cass County Regional Gallery is history now, and we believe that it was the best one yet. We're so happy for all the artists who participated, those who won awards, and--we are happy to see several of these artists with work on display at the opening reception this past Friday at "Around the Bend", at the South Bend Museum of Art!

To mark the South Bend Museum of Art's 75th anniversary, they invited Michiana artists of all experience levels to participate in the event they have titled "Around the Bend". Several of the artists at the Regional Gallery successfully entered this exhibition, among 220 chosen. Who knew there are so many truly wonderful artists right here in Southwest Michigan/Northwest Indiana? Scroll past this poster below to see some of Cass Area Artists' work which made it into the Museum, and also some others that caught the eye of your faithful scribe...

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Cass Area Artist Kim Sawyer, "Triune Tides", acrylic collage

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Cass Area Artist William Becker, "Hinges", raku ceramic

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Cass Area Artist Alli Farkas, "Sky Pads 27", oil on canvas

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Cass Area Artist Paige Linback, "The Guardian",
acrylic, origami paper, metal leaf on wood board.

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Paige also won first place in the Cass County Regional Gallery's People's Choice awards for a companion piece, "Shiro", also done in acrylic, origami paper and metal leaf.

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Janice Purnell, "Cultural Legacy", oil on canvas. Janice showed this intriguing narrative piece in the Regional Gallery third exhibit.

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Vasilisa Kiselivich, "Stand With Ukraine Chicago", photo collage. Vasilisa was an exhibitor in our Regional Gallery's inaugural exhibit in 2020.

Kei J Constantinov, "Goblin Market" (tryptich), oil on canvas.

This is one of your scribe's faves, it tells a cool story illustrated with amazing detail and composition. I tried to walk its length as slowly as possible so you have time to read the text (not that I was totally successful, but hey, it's replayable!)

Anastassia Cassady, "Maine Coon in Gold", oil and gold leaf on canvas.

Your scribe, being a cat lover, fell for this one big time. It's a great modern take on Gustav Klimt's style. And the cat's tail is the icing on the cake. This is a large painting, my guess is 5' x 5', and it was wa-a-a-y up high near the ceiling of the gallery. So, the lighting isn't as even as it could be, and trying to photograph something ten feet above me and fix the resulting distortion was somewhat of a project. I hope you can appreciate all the exquisite detail in this one!

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And here's a list of other artists in Around the Bend who were also in one or another of Cass Area Artists-sponsored shows in the past---hopefully we didn't miss anyone while constructing this list. We're just very pleased that Michiana artists are getting more and more publicity and attention for their work!

Jean Carter
Ruth Andrews
Mike Slaski
Sharron Ott
Robert R Williams
Angela Rice
Phil Gleissner
Barb Freel
Adriana K. Maxwell
Princess McIllwain