A variety of art, from elaborate painted landscapes to quaint figurines of polymer clay line the walls of Gallery 49 in Reading, Michigan.
One thing unifies all of the pieces: each of their creators lives within 30 miles of the gallery.
Gallery 49, which opened in 2009, is just one of the projects that ArtWorks, the Art Council of Hillsdale County, has set into motion in the last nine years.
“It’s taken a variety of forms depending on what opportunities present themselves,” said Don Heckenlively, current president of ArtWorks.
Established in the late ’90s, Associate Professor of Art Anthony Frudakis intended to open a community art studio. Although this goal was never accomplished, in 2006 he handed the organization over to a new board who revived it with the broader mission of fostering the arts in Hillsdale County in whatever ways it could find. The organization still retained its non-profit status.
In addition to the gallery, ArtWorks leads several other projects and events, such as the Lost Nations Photo Club, a music scholarship competition for Hillsdale county youth, and an annual summer string festival.
These various outlets provide a vital sense of community to Hillsdale County’s artists. Linda Shiffler, an artist at Gallery 49 whose talents include pottery, watercolor painting, and papermaking, said that the co-operative nature of the Gallery (whose artists each rent a space and pay a very low commission on sales) is a huge inspiration for their art.
“We just sort of feed off of each other,” Shiffler said. “We get our inspiration from each other as well as encouragement.”
The Gallery selects interested artists through a jury process, and is open to art and artists of all varieties. Their newest member, a photographer, is a junior in high school.
“The art really is totally transcendent. You share your art and you accept people for what they do on whatever level it might be,” Shiffler said.
Heckenlively, who has lived in Hillsdale since 1972 and taught biology at the college for over three decades, said that ArtWorks includes a mix of “town and gown,” that is, people from local communities and the college.
He believes that this intersection is valuable, as the town and the college have much to offer each other.
“It’s possible to get very involved in what’s going on on campus and forget it’s located in a town,” he said.
Although modern technology allows access to all the greatest masterpieces in the world, Frudakis suggests that there is a particular significance to the art that is made in an individual’s community.
“People can look at these paintings and photographs and enjoy the beauty that might be captured in a local landscape, scenes from the fair, local wildlife,” Frudakis said, “Through the artist’s eyes, you’re looking at these things that you might have been looking at for decades and seeing them suddenly differently. You may recognize a person in a portrait painting. Or you may say, oh, I recognize that place! So we draw a closer connection with the work of art through our shared experience with that place or with that person.”
Looking toward the future, ArtWorks plans to continue seizing opportunities. One thing he would like to see is (similar to Frudakis’ original vision) a cultural center within the city of Hillsdale itself, where art of all kinds can find a home.
He also hopes more college students getting involved with ArtWorks, whether in such venues as the photo club or the Gallery, or as observers.
Heckenlively believes that art is “a part of being civilized.” Communities rely on art for their strength, beauty, and shared experience. It is this presence and community that ArtWorks seeks to foster in Hillsdale County.
