We like to think of the Arts Council of White Lake-Nuveen Center as a small but mighty organization. Located in Whitehall- a 'small' rural town in West Michigan – our nearly 40-year old arts nonprofit has been hosting exhibits of all kinds for many years. Thanks to three years of financial support from Eastbrook Homes our Guest Exhibits have gotten more ambitious. We have been able to showcase diverse creative talent from across the State and Midwest region and in our next exhibit we will be going global!
The ACWL-Nuveen is ecstatic to announce the September 13, 2024, opening of Wish You Were Here: Urban Sketchers Global Exhibition, featuring original postcard-size drawings from Urban Sketchers around the world. If you're not familiar, Urban Sketchers is an inclusive, "global community of sketchers dedicated to the practice of on-location drawing." With chapters in over 70 countries and 450 cities, the reach of Urban Sketchers is huge. Luckily, Montague resident, ACWL-Nuveen Artist Member and Instructor Mary Jo Ernst is a North American Regional Team Leader and Membership Committee member for the global Urban Sketchers organization. With MJ’s connections, we were able to invite USk artists from around the world to ship their original sketches to be displayed in our gallery located in downtown Whitehall, Michigan!
Shankar Lathe - Farah Irani, India Rue Fortune, Montreal - John Grace, Canada My Son - Sohyun-Lee, Korea
The exhibit opens to the public on Friday, September 13 with an opening reception to be held on Saturday, September 14 from 1:00 - 3:00pm. Members of Urban Sketchers West Michigan will give a brief presentation about urban sketching at 1:30pm. The majority of the postcards will be for sale for $30, with proceeds going to the artists and a small percentage going to ACWL-Nuveen and the Urban Sketcher Global organization. Artwork can be purchased at any point during the exhibition - but the cards won't be available for pick-up until after the show closes on November 2, 2024.
To celebrate and educate our community about urban sketching the ACWL-Nuveen is hosting various classes and events in conjunction with the exhibition. To register for any of the following events, please visit https://www.artswhitelake.org/exhibitevents
Simple Sketching with Lines, Swooshes, and Dabs with Ann Rusky - USk West Michigan admin - on Saturday, September 21 from 1:00 - 4:00pm
Sketching Postcards with MJ Ernst on Wednesday, October 23 from 6:00 - 8:00pm
FREE Artist Demo with Brian Wright - USk Chicago admin - on Saturday, October 26 from 11:00am - 12:00pm
FREE Sketch Walk with MJ Ernst on Saturday, October 26 from 1:00 - 4:00pm