Art exhibit at CHHS examines patterns in American life

Ellen Nelson is a painter from Kalamazoo, a University of Michigan graduate, and a founding member of the new artists' collective at Kalamazoo’s Park Trades Center. Her paintings, which take a sociological view of American culture, are currently on display in the second floor art gallery at the College of Health and Human Services. Paintings in this exhibit cover three themes:

• The Sum of One’s Parts
  Symbols are a powerful and pervasive part of life. They help us shape our own identities or can become a comfortable place to hide from the world around us. They mean different things to different people, so much that one begins to wonder if symbols mean anything at all.
• Bridging the Distance
  We are more likely to kick off our shoes and throw them in a heap than we are to consider what they are made of, who made them, or how vital they really are. Do we look at other things in the same way? When thrown into piles and put on display, the humans, animals, plants, insects, and objects of this world start to look pretty similar.
• For Display Only
  These paintings explore the idea of commodity, and what it is like to live in a nation where everything comes at a price.

The exhibit will remain on display in the second floor art gallery of the College of Health and Human Services through Dec. 22. Because of the size of the artwork, two pieces are also on display in the main hallway on the first floor. The exhibit is open during normal building hours - Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

An artist reception will take place from 4 to 6 p.m., Monday, Nov. 16. This is an opportunity to view the artwork and meet the artist. Light refreshments will be served. The event, and parking in lot 104, are free to the public.

For more information, contact Gay Walker by email or at (269) 387- 3839.