Bicentennial: Regionally Related Works from the Permanent Collection

January 1, 2025 - July 13, 2025

Weil Gallery

Bicentennial is an exhibition celebrating the vibrant artistic voices of our region. This curated collection features works by local artists alongside pieces that reflect our community's cultural, historical, and natural essence. From evocative landscapes to thought-provoking contemporary creations, the exhibit showcases the talent and diversity that make our region unique.

Join us in exploring the intersection of place, identity, and artistic expression, as we honor the creativity rooted in our local soil and the stories that resonate far beyond.

February 8, 2025 - May 11, 2025

Shook Gallery

After Corinne McAuley had worked in the high-tech industry for many years she started looking for a calming, creative outlet. She tried many different mediums but found nothing that stuck until a visit to a bead shop with a friend one day. She had never seen such a diverse selection of shapes, sizes, and colors of beads. From there she learned how to work with beads in her unique way. Her creations include masks, intricate tactile works that reflect nature, as well as figures, and even abstract shapes and designs. McAuley continually looks for new and interesting ways to use this medium and express herself with beads. “I feel that I have not touched the surface of possibilities...”

May 3, 2025 - September 14, 2025

McDonald Gallery

“For nearly a decade, I’ve used the boat as a metaphor - navigating turbulent times and moving toward an unknown future. Hope, to me, is not passive but an act of resistance. These works reflect shifting emotional states: from calm perseverance to near panic. Confluence symbolizes unity and optimism, while Spiraling speaks to disorientation and despair. Together, they chart a journey through struggle, resilience, and the enduring possibility of hope.”

May 3, 2025 - September 14, 2025

East Gallery

“Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt: "a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure."

In 1777, the color, Scheel’s Green, was discovered, and later in 1814, the much improved Paris Green was developed. Both pigments were created by chemists and produced a remarkable shade of emerald green by combining chemicals that produced arsenic poison. This vibrant green was extremely popular among the privileged because it symbolized royalty and wealth. Despite the deadly drawbacks, fashions, wallpaper, soaps, paints, and toys were produced in abundance. Factory workers who produced these commodities, as well as consumers, suffered severe side effects, including death. By the end of the 19th century, the deadly greens were replaced with less toxic pigments and dyes.

The art quilts produced for “A Drop of Emerald Poison” will have just a touch of today’s safe emerald green as a reminder of the tragic history of the color green.

This exhibit is a collaboration between 3 regional groups of SAQA - Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.