News
Jewelry and Metals alumni works featured in the 2018 West Michigan Area Show
May 30, 2018
Jewelry and Metals alumni Jen Surine (BFA, Jewelry & Metalsmithing, 2008) and Tabatha Gulino (GVSU, BA, Health Communications and Studio Art Minor, 2017) are among the artists featured in the 2018 West Michigan Area Show.
Surine's piece Orb Ring received the Kirk Newman Art School Metals and Jewelry Department award. Visit Surine's Facebook page for other samples of her work.
Gulino's three brooches are part of a series titled The People's Choice. For this series, Gulino asked her friends for one to three-word phrases, and then sketched based on their input. You can see more of Gulino's work at her online store.
The exhibition will be on display at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts until September 2. The public is invited to vote for their favorite work during the exhibition, with a final voting date of August 9. The Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo's People's Choice Award ($500) will be announced Tuesday, August 14, 2018 at noon, during the KIA's weekly ARTBreak.
Since the 1960s, the annual West Michigan Area Show has showcased exceptional work in all media, with entries from a 14-county region. Each year, an experienced juror chooses the artists from more than 500 submitted entries, ranging from paintings, prints, and photos to mosaics, ceramics, jewelry, sculpture and mixed-media works.
This year's juror was Chicago-based photographer Dawoud Bey. Bey is a Yale graduate and was recently named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow and awarded a "genius" grant. Mr. Bey chose 100 works of sculpture, painting, photography, ceramics, glass, prints, mixed media, and fiber. The exhibition was organized by Karla J. Niehus, Interim Curator of Exhibitions.