DeVos Art Museum celebrates upper Midwest with new show

People in the upper Midwest look at the world a little bit differently from how people in most other regions do, and an art museum is using that difference to drive its latest show.

The DeVos Art Museum at NMU has just opened its North Of The 45th Parallel exhibition. It’s a juried show for artists who live in Michigan, Wisconsin or Minnesota above that line of latitude. The similarities of the region don’t end with harsh weather.

“Things that have to do with nature, but also our interactions with people, so it really varies; it’s runs the whole spectrum of ideas and approaches,” DeVos Art Museum director and curator Melissa Matuscak said.

This is the seventh year for the show, and it’s become a summertime fixture of the DeVos Museum. More and more artists have applied to join North Of The 45th Parallel every year that it’s been held.

“We recently transitioned over to doing everything digitally in an online submission process,” Matuscak said. “We’ve seen our numbers grow even more because it’s become even easier to apply. I think artists have definitely embraced this idea, and they have fun with it.”

The exhibition opened today and it lasts through August 3rd. The DeVos Museum is also hosting a free opening reception for the show tonight from 6 to 8 p.m.