2020 West Michigan Area Show

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.

O’Brien will visit Kalamazoo to present an ARTbreak talk on April 7.