Well, today we're down in Plymouth at the Heartland Arts Center, and it might look a little bit different than what you're used to, but the 38th annual exhibition is here, and this is a wonderful thing that you guys have been doing for many years.

But this year looks a little bit different in a different space here, right?

Yes.

It's our first year in Plymouth's historic firehouse.

We're so excited to be here.

And this is a really great space.

And we're up on the second level right now.

You guys have two levels full of art.

We do.

We've got part of the show is up here and part of the show is downstairs.

I love it.

Now, Maggie, this is your first time doing this, right?

Yes.

This will be my first year chairing the show.

To this.

No, I've been working with heartland for a couple of years, and I'm an artist myself.

But this is my first time chairing the show.

And it's been it's been great.

It's been really fun meeting new artists, meeting people who've done this show for 38 years.

Meeting people who have done the show for the first time ever.

It's been really incredible.

We have a lot of talent in the region now.

How many artists submitted artwork this time?

So we had 62 artists submit over 100 pieces of art.

Oh, wow.

And does everybody get in or how does that process work?

So we will put out a call.

Towards the end of the summer.

Okay.

For the show, usually it's on our website, it's on Facebook, stuff like that.

And artists will submit their work either online or they'll take it here to the center.

And then we have a jury that looks over all of the work and decides, you know, who's who's in and who will need to reapply next year.

Okay.

And then we've got a couple of judges who judge the work.

I love that.

Now have you judged before?

I have not judge.

Okay.

So that's enough for you.

I am Switzerland, I love all the work.

It's not up to me.

Yeah, I'm just here to facilitate.

Okay, but you're an artist yourself too.

I am, yeah, I primarily do performance, but I was drawn to heartland because of the, the amazing artist community that we have here.

Okay, so now there's a lot of art in different forms here, right?

So many.

We've got sculptures, we've got paintings, we've got all kinds.

Here is our best in show, actually.

Oh, well, I can see why.

Yes.

And this is a multimedia piece.

This is Mary Amador.

What they take, what I carry.

She's an artist out of Goshen.

It's just like.

Yes, I don't want I can't, I know, but, like, it looks like texture.

Absolutely gorgeous.

Yeah.

You can see it.

You can feel it.

Yes.

It's got paint.

It's got.

You'll look there's a lot of, there's some like fabric elements to it, some of its reflective, some of its beaded, some of its rhinestone.

But you know, her, her, her prowess as a painter is, is also extremely striking in this piece.

It's just I could look at it for hours.

And she's been in the show before.

She has.

She actually also has another really incredible piece downstairs as well.

Yeah, well, mixed media is always something that's really interesting to me because it's almost, you know, finding something off of wherever.

Yes.

And in finding a new purpose for it.

Yes.

Yeah.

That's what I kind of love about this piece.

And I, I have so many questions because it feels like.

Did you repurpose.

Yeah.

Did you?

Yes.

It's just so many incredible elements to this piece.

I, I, I'm excited to see her at the closing reception because I would definitely love to chat with her.

Now what did you guys open this exhibition and when does it like how long can people see it?

So we opened on September 29th okay.

And it will go through October 30th.

The public is welcome to join us at our closing reception on October 30th.

Yeah, it's from 6 to 8 with awards at seven.

So our closing receptions are always so fun.

We've got snacks, music, obviously art, and it's a great time to meet the artists, which I love.

Yeah.

And chat with them about, you know, their work, their process, all that kind of fun stuff.

Let's go check out some more work.

Maybe downstairs.

Yeah, let's do it.

And no, we can't take the fire.

Pull down.

Yeah.

Sadly, yeah.

But this is another one of Mary's pieces here, which is very interesting and very eye catching.

And I always love whenever I come to a different art exhibition, you know, just walking into this space and seeing what catches your eye first, because it's different to every person.

And interpretation is very different as well.

Yeah, yeah.

And I think the show has a lot of it's going to it's going to appeal to people to many different tastes, many different tastes.

Yeah.

I love a lot of the pieces have so much texture.

Like I said, there's a lot of multimedia stuff here, but there's also still a lot of just classic, techniques painting, watercolor, all that kind of stuff.

I saw some photography too.

That was.

Yes.

Pastels.

Yeah.

So it's, it's it's fabulous.

It's definitely got something for everybody.

All right, let's keep walking over here, because I know this is another one that catches your eye.

Yes.

Just a very interesting piece.

Absolutely.

This is, this piece actually won second place.

This is by Heidi Bailey.

She's out of Warsaw.

Okay.

It's called alley.

Alley and free.

I've seen some of her stuff before.

To like she.

Yes, she definitely had.

She had some stuff in our show last year that also won an award.

And it is the more you look at it, the more you see there's crystals, there's beads, there's a skateboard, there's wheels, there's grenades, there's hearts.

Yes, there's a slinky.

Yeah.

The zip ties that look like they've been airbrushed.

It is.

It's it's a really, really, The piece is rich.

You can really look at it and find something new every time.

Yeah.

And I love that some of the artists are going to be here for that reception.

Yeah.

So people can talk to them and kind of get their interpretation of, yeah.

What were you thinking when you created it?

And how did that change?

Because our changes, as you are in the process of creating as well, 100%, and it's great for artists to be at the reception as well, because then they can learn how people are interpreting it.

What they originally wanted to convey may not be at all what what someone might see when they look at it.

So it's it's always good for some great conversation.

So how many pieces do you have altogether?

101.

101 piece.

62 artists.

Yes.

Incredible, incredible.

And talk about how that's grown over the years, because this is the 38th annual for you guys.

Yes, I mean, we I mean, heartland has been around for 40 years.

So this particular show has been in many venues.

And, it's it's just continued to grow from more of a local show to now this year we have artists from Michigan.

We have artists from Illinois, obviously, all over, all over northern Indiana.

Okay.

Yeah.

We regional here we are.

Definitely.

Yeah, we we have a lot of talent in the region and I love it.

I'm gonna head over here because this is some of the other pieces that are catching your eye.

And I know you and I were kind of talking off camera too, but even just the framing of it is part of the art.

Yes, in times of frame is really going to set it off.

I yeah, I am always impressed when people can choose just the perfect frame.

It's not as easy as you think.

We're painting around the edges and never know what to do with the edges.

Yep.

Okay.

What are you doing?

I'll just frame it.

There you go.

And this is a really unique piece too.

Yes.

Another multimedia piece.

This is by Brian Burn out of Elkhart, and this is our third place winner.

Okay.

And this is another where I saw it once and I thought, oh, that's eye catching.

And then the more I look at it, I notice all the details.

I notice where he put the pops of color and texture.

And I love this piece because I feel like it really tells a story.

Okay, can I ask what the story says to you?

Right.

And then we'll have to ask Brian what I mean.

It's the entomologist dream part one and two.

Okay.

And I feel like this is the entomologist because it's a guy.

He's got a bug on him.

Okay.

And then the dream, I, I don't know, there's so many.

There's nuts, there's bolts, there's this beautiful woman, there's bugs.

It's just.

Yeah, yeah.

What's.

There's this.

This looks like a needle to me.

You can spend a lot of time here just looking at all the art, and I encourage you to do so.

When are you guys open for people to stop in so people can come check out the show Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m.

to 6 p.m., or on Saturdays from 10 a.m.

to 3 p.m.

and you guys are in this temporary space right now.

Talk a little bit real quick about what you guys are working on.

We're in this space now because we are currently undergoing a major renovation to our usual home in the Montgomery Ward building.

That's right over on Michigan Street.

We're doing a huge renovation to create all new galleries, all new, event spaces, class spaces, office spaces.

Yeah, we're very excited.

Well, I'm excited for you.

So hopefully we'll see.

We'll be back again next year for that too.

Yeah, absolutely.

Okay.

We'll do that.

All right.

Well thank you so much for sharing about what you guys are doing here.

Hope you guys are able to come down here to Plymouth and check out the heartland Art center and and see what you think of the art.