Art Exhibition and Talk at Bay College Featuring Artist Mary Sundstrom

News

A piece from the exhibition “Small Sketches: A Midwestern Woman” by Mary Sundstrom titled Smile! You’ll Look Better. Now on display in The Hartwig Gallery at Bay College.

Bay College announces the exhibition, Small Sketches: A Midwestern Woman, found object sculptures by Mary Sundstrom in The Hartwig Gallery.  Her work will be on view from October – December, 2022.  Please join us for her Artist Talk and Reception at 2pm ET on Tuesday, December 6, 2022 in The Hartwig Gallery.

“The work is disturbing, humorous, visceral, and beautiful” says Kristine Granger, Art Faculty and Fine Arts Coordinator for Bay College.

The Hartwig Gallery is located in the Catherine Bonifas - Building 200. The artist talk is free and all are invited to attend. For questions, contact events_FROM_BAY_COLLEGE or 906-217-4040.

Biography

Mary Sundstrom is a visual artist with a BFA from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point.  She has also participated in graduate studies at Western Michigan University and Grand Valley University.  Sundstrom never stopped educating herself and in turn has taught art classes to others in the public schools and regional art centers before exclusively focusing on her artwork where she managed her own arts studio with exhibits around the Midwest.  Her full-time job is curating exhibitions for the Holland Area Arts Council.  Sundstrom’s experience includes magazine illustration, art exhibition, and public art project management.

Artist Statement:

I like to see age and wear reflected on an object and the remnants of human use.  I enjoy holding an object in my hands, examining it to consider how I can give it a new purpose.  I especially like it when the thing can be used as a tool to communicate something new.

The objects I use to make my small sculptural sketches have been found in thrift stores or I have had them for many years.  These objects may sit around “curing”, waiting to be transformed.  Sometimes though, I'll find something that feels fresh and full of potential and work on an idea immediately.  This is my creative starting point. 

Most of the things I collect are personal with elements of handicraft by myself or someone else or relating to craft such as pins and sewing tools.  Some pieces reflect a different era, an era that I lived through as a kid, woman, wife, and mother while other pieces speak of current events.

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The Art and Design program at Bay College is designed to provide students with a strong general education background as well as concentration in art and design. This program is designed for students who wish to transfer to a four-year college or university. Students should work closely with an academic advisor to select courses needed for their intended major at the four-year institution they plan to attend. The school, through the Besse Gallery and Hartwig Gallery, also provides students with exposure to exhibitions, visiting artists, and artist talk’s exemplifying the cultural breadth of the visual arts from national, regional and local sources, including the College's permanent art collection. Studios include professional facilities and equipment in Ceramics, Photography, Digital Cinema, Graphic Arts, Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Performance and Installation.