12 Days of Encourage Mint by Jen Sistrunk

The art center is happy to welcome South Haven graphic designer Jennifer Sistrunk to the 2020 Mistletoe Market Virtual Artist & Artisan Gallery.

Jen shares the beauty of South Haven and the local community through her art—she says that it's not just her hobby, but her passion. This passion for the arts took Jen to the Harrington College of Design in Chicago, and then she returned to Michigan to promote all there is to offer in South Haven and surrounding areas through her artwork for travel guides, community guides, magazines, newspapers, websites, billboards, materials for local businesses and non-profits, and many other local print and online publications.

As a special treat this year, Jen has designed a series of postcards called 12 Days of Encourage Mint to inject a little love and fun into what may likely be a very different holiday season. As part of your purchase she will send one postcard to family and friends for twelve consecutive days! The cards are also available as a set.

Send Jen a message from her Facebook page: @JenniferSistrunkDesigns to order your postcards today. You can also contact Jen directly at sistrunk.create@gmail.com.

Jen also designs digital portraits of people and pets. She begins with a concept, then sketches her idea and uploads the image to her computer to continue her creative process. As Jen puts it, "I use my computer as a paintbrush." She will digitally render in her unique way a photo of your choice and your gift will arrive matted and framed.

Join South Haven Center for the Arts' Executive Director Kerry Hagy as she visits with Jen.

Visit Jen at jennifersistrunk.com to purchase her art for someone on your gift list. Order Jen's 12 Days of Encourage Mint postcards today on Jen's Facebook page @JenniferSistrunkDesigns, or contact her directly at sistrunk.create@gmail.com. A little encouragement goes a long way!

Happy shopping and happy holidays!

The South Haven Center for the Arts thanks Carol for her contribution to the 2020 Mistletoe Market Virtual Artist & Artisan Gallery, and for helping the art center continue to further its mission of enriching our community through the arts.

The 2020 Mistletoe Market Artist & Artisan Gallery was made possible by the Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts, and sponsored by South Haven’s Hardt Insurance and the Edward Jones Office of Paul Hix.

Meet Mistletoe Market Artist Alisa Clark

The South Haven Center for the Arts is pleased to have the work of mixed media artist Alisa Clark as part of the 2020 Mistletoe Market Virtual Artist & Artisan Gallery.

Alisa works from her studio in South Lyon, Michigan, in what she calls “liminal space,” the space that forms life’s “in-betweens.” Paints, sand, fabrics, found objects, and other materials shape her art as she “floats in, above, and through” the liminal space and time inside her creative mind, until she surfaces back to reality.

Alisa's ideas and inspiration are borne of memories from her past, and looking toward the future; objects of significance to her that form spiritual connections—a representation of a tortoise, which reminds her of her son, strips of the scientific writings of her father, who made significant contributions to the realm of science during his lifetime. She combines these types of materials with cold wax and jelly plate paper techniques and others, to create textural and intriguing artwork that is meaningful to her, and meant to resonate with others on a universal and spiritual level.

"Sky Full of Angels," "Hello Hope," "Road Home," and a view of Alisa's studio

Visit the market to purchase Alisa's art for someone on your gift list or to enjoy her colorful work in your own home.

With each purchase, you will receive a complementary signed copy of Alisa’s book, Art and Liminal Space: Liminality and Creative Process in Life's Places and Spaces. Visit Alisa’s own virtual gallery to view her work, and to enjoy wonderful writings about her creative process.

Visit Alisa at liminalspaceart.com, mindfulnesspaintings.com, and journeyoncanvas.com, and feel free to contact Alisa directly at alisa@clarkistan.com.

Happy shopping and happy holidays!

Join South Haven Center for the Arts' Executive Director Kerry Hagy as she visits with Mistletoe Market artist Alisa Clark in her studio.

The South Haven Center for the Arts thanks Alisa for her contribution to the 2020 Mistletoe Market Virtual Artist & Artisan Gallery, and for helping the art center continue to further its mission of enriching our community through the arts.

The 2020 Mistletoe Market Artist & Artisan Gallery was made possible by the Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts, and sponsored by South Haven’s Hardt Insurance and the Edward Jones Office of Paul Hix.

Shanna Shearer: Artist Feature

Shanna Shearer Artist, Teacher, Painter, Juror, SHCA Board Member

Artist's Website: shannashearer.com

Instagram: hinterlandfarmkitchen

ARTIST BIO

Shanna Shearer received her BFA from GVSU and is a painter living in Pullman, Michigan. She works in a variety of mediums, including oil, watercolor, pigmented paper pulp, and ink. Shanna has been in a number of exhibitions, including a solo exhibition in 2019 at ARS Gallery. She has been a recurring visiting artist/guest speaker at GVSU, and an exhibition juror, and published in Studio Visit Magazine. Shanna is also a recipient of the Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency Fellowship. Shanna’s first exposure to the South Haven Center for the Arts was attending exhibition openings, and then as a participant in the 2019 juried exhibition, "Innovations in Fiber." Shanna joined the SHCA board in September of 2020.

"9_7", small vignettes series, Shanna Shearer

ARTIST STATEMENT

For a long time my work was a series of ambitious allegories based on my interest in human psychology and human relationships with each other, our environment, and its inhabitants. Stripping away the symbolism and narrative of this earlier work, my painting turned toward the formalities and synchronicity of painting and seeing, to focus on light, shape, color, and brushwork. These small oil paintings and pigmented pulp paintings referenced domestic environments and objects, to create expressive and dramatic vignettes that represented quiet moments of the everyday. My time in the studio with this work was silent and focused, concentrated on finding moments of interest that often borders on abstraction.

This emphasis on engaging with the act of painting in a way that requires focused visual and mental definition paralleled my interest in finding the significance in the visually mundane. This way of painting signified an important shift from seeing a painting as a narrative to seeing it as a spatial and tonal story told by the paint itself. This shift inspired a new series of watercolor paintings whose loose, watery properties lend well to using the medium itself to tell the story instead of relying on narrative.

Left to right: "Boy and Girl" large scale Allegorical Series; "WT_2", "WT_8" watercolors, by Shanna Shearer

FAVORITE ART TOOL

The paintbrush is a tool I cannot live without. Not only is it a physical extension of my limb, it is the only thing that can translate visual and mental information in a way that feels significant for me.

FAVORITE UNUSUAL ART TOOL

I am a pretty traditional painter and use typical painter's tools to work. However, for my last series of watercolor paintings referencing Lake Superior, I used water from the lake to make the paintings. It seemed like the appropriate thing to do . . . make the subject literally a part of the work.

Studio shots, my palette and brushes, my art books/references

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Shanna Shearer is a South Haven Center for the Arts artist member. As a benefit of this membership level, we are proud to be featuring artist members on our blog. If you are an artist member and would like to be featured, email us at info@southhavenarts.org. Interested in becoming an artist member? See more information here: southhavenarts.org/artist-membership.