2020 West Michigan Area Show
OPEN NOW!
The work of West Michigan's talented community of visual artists is on display at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts' annual West Michigan Area Show. Since the 1960s, this annual juried exhibition has showcased exceptional work in all media, drawing hundreds of 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. The exhibition is organized by Katherine Ransbottom, Associate Curator.

ABOUT THE JUROR
Chicago-based artist William J. O'Brien works in drawing, painting, sculpture, and ceramics. His idiosyncratic and exuberant forms are born out of an improvised and intuitive studio practice, rich in material experimentation. He is Assistant Professor of Art in the Department of Ceramics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Inspired by Modernism and the history of material usage of Outsider Art, O'Brien's multidisciplinary practice is a search for identity and genuine expression through material and process.
The West Michigan Area Show is sponsored by the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. Additional support provided by David Isaacson in memory of his wife, Helen Sheridan.


2020 WMAS prize winners.
West Michigan Potters Guild Award for Ceramics
Madeline Peterson, 1984, ceramic
Log Cabin Quilters' Art Quilt Award
Elizabeth Brandt, Commingle, hand-stitched fabric
Ninth Wave Studio Award for Ingenuity in Mixed Media or Intermedia
Louise Pappageorge, PENUMBRA, lace, wax, and wire
Eclectic Glass Guild of Southwest Michigan Award for Glass
Judy Hallisy, Reseda, glass
Southwest Michigan Printmakers Excellence in Printmaking Award
Carol Myers, Chorus of Angels, encaustic monotype
Kalamazoo Book Arts Center Award and Pen Dragons Calligraphy Guild Award
Jane Ewing, William Shakespeare's Artist's Book, pen and ink on paper
Kirk Newman Art School Metals and Jewelry Department Award
April Seybold, Exultation, silver
Signature Artists, LLC, Award
Cary Okoro, She Wore Her Tiara to the Fire, pastel and charcoal on paper
Martin Maddox Prize for Imaginative Realism
Tatsuki Hakoyama, Solitary Masquerade, oil on canvas
Portage Community Art Award
Michael Nashef, Come See What I Have, concrete, sterling silver, and gold leaf
Fifth Prize
Ben Whitney, Living Among Us, scrap metal (saw blades, chain, metal chair) and wood
Fourth Prize
David Jones, Summer Flowers No. 1, watercolor
Third Prize
Hannah Apps, Body and Blood, oil on panel
Second Prize
Julia Whitney Brown - Goddess Totem, ceramics
Helen Sheridan Memorial Grand Prize
Michael Pfleghaar, Modern Interior with Rubber Plant, acrylic on canvas
Ward H. and Cora E. Nay Director's Purchase Prize
To Be Announced Soon
Art Council of Great Kalamazoo People's Choice Award
To Be Announced in September
2020 Area Show Winners Gallery
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