DOWAGIAC – An art exhibit on tote bags opened at Southwestern Michigan College. The exhibit, which will run through March 2, will be in the art gallery, located in the Dale A. Lyons Building on the Dowagiac campus. An artist reception will be at 12:30 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 16). The exhibit and reception are open to the public.

Tote bags have become synonymous with urban dwelling; they provide temporary shelter for our books, groceries, and workout clothes. How is this object itself – the tote – potentially being activated as a moveable artwork? How are the bags themselves traveling sculptural pieces that are potentially being reshaped and re-envisioned by the artists designing them, the goods they carry, and the places they go?

This exhibition includes new transportable objects by Cabinet 713, of Seattle, Wash.; Golden Age, of Chicago; Shannon Eakins, of Las Vegas, N.V.; Jackie Baker, of Dowagiac; Kristen T. Ramirez, of Ballard, Wash.; Shybirdy, a farming collective based in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Ruth Marie Tomlinson, of Columbia City, Wash.; and Emily Utermark, of Dowagiac.

Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday or by appointment only. For more information, call (269) 782-1382.

Source:  News release from Southwestern Michigan College