Our exhibit is open to the public during open business hours, but you can also make our exhibit a date or a place to meet a friend and sign up for a reception time here.
Heroes and Mentors
We’re all looking for someone to help us and inspire us and someone to believe in these times. 2020 has been a very turbulent year for everyone and all of us look for leaders and mentors that appear to be
doing better than us or have advice to give.
This show is about all the Heroes and Mentors that have been or continue to be a beacon of life and hope for you. These people are the human form of our goals and aspirations made flesh. Maybe it’s a spiritual figure like Mother Teresa, or political like Abraham Lincoln, or a circumstantial overcomer like Helen Keller. Sports heroes and mentors have been an inspiration dating as far back as Spartacus and the gladiatorial games. These heroes and mentors certainly don’t have to be well known. Fathers,
mothers, friends, teachers and local community friends and leaders are most certainly heroes and mentors. Finally, we can also be inspired by the figures in fiction. How many people have been inspired by Wonder Woman or Thor or Yoda or Duncan Idaho. There are endless arenas to pull from. This show’s purpose is to give hope for a new year and remind us of how many amazing people are in our lives helping us and guiding us through both good and bad.
Words in Action!
Change does not start until our words become action. This show is about humans’ continual desire to push for the betterment of our living condition whether it is the environment we inhabit, the social interactions we experience, social barriers to the pursuit of happiness or any other tangible or intangible resources we need to survive and evolve.
2020 has been a year of global putting words put in action. Even in a year where the risk to stand near others is a deadly risk, we have decided to stand together and demand change. We have decided having
our words come into action was worth it.
Humankind has braved these conditions to stand up for the change they believe in throughout our history. This is the beginning of 2021 and we celebrate those who came before us with Present’s Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black history month. We continue their fight. The gallery has heard it’s art community and the overwhelming request for a show that focused on society’s unrest and it right to take action for change.
How do we express this in art? To give examples, Picasso’s Guernica, Carollee Schneemann’s Interior Scroll, Diego Rivera’s murals of workers rights or even whole movements such as the Dada art movement using found objects to infuriate people they felt caused World War I. You can use
symbolism, or realism, share beautiful pictures of places, people, plants and animals that are facing extinction, genocide, oppression or climate change. Share images of protests around the world. Symbols of solidarity such as the clinched fist of the resist movement, the peace symbol, and so many
more that are out there.
What changes do you want to see?
Current Featured Artists:
Aziza Abbasi & Suzanne Frederick:
Introducing Aziza Abbasi
Self portrait Oil Painting
Aziza Abbasi was born and raised in Pakistan and has been a creative since childhood. She moved to the United States in the year 2000 and attended Kendall College of Art and Design, earning her degree in illustration. People and children are her main source of inspiration. Children and their innocence, energy and purity give her joy and instills in her hope in life. This is reflected in her work. Her mediums are oils and watercolor and she is drawn to cityscapes and street scenes as well as portraits and still life.
Aziza and her family reside in Spring Lake, Michigan. She has competed in local and regional competitions, winning many Honorable Mentions. She has been jury selected in the Michigan Regional Exhibition for three consecutive years and took Second Place in Artwalk 2017. She is a member of Lakeshore Visual Arts Collective and Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, Illinois.
Aziza’s Artist Statement:
My name is Aziza Abbasi. I am an illustrator, and have earned by BFA degree from Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I am passionate about painting people and places. I work in oils, acrylics, watercolor and digital media. Because I was born, raised and spent most of my life outside the United States, people find my work unusual. I describe my work as “Loud and Clear” and it’s because I use bright and warm colors in my paintings. I love life and people, so I try to enhance my feel for the surroundings and my love for the humanity in brightness and warmth of my color palette. A sense of movement can often be found in my work. That is because I believe in an active and busy life. Children have always been an important part of my life as I worked with them in Montessori Schools for a long time. They fascinate me in every way! They taught me more than any school could! They are inspiration for my work and my philosophy of life…. Which is move, walk, run and fly. LOVE LIFE and ENJOY LIFE
Introducing Suzanne Frederick
Suzanne is a pastel artist who makes her home in Muskegon, Michigan with her husband David and newly adopted shelter dog “Milo”. Suzanne creates hand drawn pastel portraits of animals capturing their spirit and personality. The paintings are so lifelike they almost seem they could speak.
Love of animals started in early childhood reading every book about animals, especially horses and dogs. Growing up Suzanne was surrounded by the family pets, which helped her develop her insights to their personalities and emotions. Once out of school she was free to pursue her passion of riding.
That started a lifelong career in training and teaching dressage at her farm for over 30 years.
Her first memories of art was coloring books, paint-by-number paintings and drawing pictures of horses. But it wasn’t until she was in her fifties that she able to pursue her love of art. Taking an art class at the local community college, started her on a path that led to becoming a professional artist.
Suzanne’s work is noted for it’s realism, attention to detail and emotional impact. Although she characterizes herself as an equine or pet artist, she also enjoys painting wildlife. She finds herself working exclusively in pastels, which the rich pigments and softness bring out the subjects texture of soft fur and the stunning detail in the eyes, capturing their spirit.
Her artist goal is to capture the equine, canine, pet or wildlife animals image with vivid emotion and expressiveness. In her wildlife paintings she wants to bring to life the personalities of the animals so that the rest of us can learn to appreciate them. Her love of animals is very evident in each piece she creates.
Suzanne Frederick – Artist Statement
“Animals are the bridge between us and beauty of all that is natural. They show us whats missing in our lives, and how to love ourselves more completely and unconditionally. They connect us back to who we are, and to the purpose of why we’re here.” – Trisha McCagh
I have always had a deep love of animals, and feel a strong empathy with them. Having grown up with animals around me and making my career working with horses, gave me an insight to their personalities and spirit. After painting all manner of subjects, turning to our faithful companions, farm animals and wildlife was a natural choice.
I work extensively in pastels, which give both a softness and an intensity of color that give my subjects texture of soft fur and bring out an animals spirit through their eyes.
Happiness is working at my easel creating stunning realistic paintings, surrounded by my dogs.
Awards:
2020 – Marushka Award, Gallery Uptown, Grand Haven, MI
2019 – Honorable Mention, Lakeland Artist Fall Show, Grand Haven, MI
Honorable Mention, Gallery Uptown, Grand Haven, MI
2018 – 2nd place, Lakeland Artist Fall Show, Grand Haven, MI
2017 – Best in Show, Gallery Uptown, Grand Haven, MI
2nd place, White lake Arts Center, Whitehall, MI
1st place, Holland Friends of Art, Holland, MI
2016 – The Great Lakes Dental Award, Gallery Uptown, Grand Haven, MI
2015 – Merit Award, Great Lakes Pastel Society Member Show
Check out what is coming up next…
- 2021 Artist Show Schedule
- Meet Our Artists
- Receptions
- Calendar
