Joe McCauley Gallery presents 'Within Reach'

An exhibition on display at Heartland Community College looks to provide accessibility to visual art for viewers of all ages. 

The Joe McCauley Gallery at Heartland presents the collection Within Reach from May 23 to August 12, 2022. 

Within Reach is designed to show that nearly any material can be used for art and creativity and how communicating through art as creators and audience both can benefit one’s life. 

The timing of the exhibit coincides with the Heartland Community College youth programming schedule. Joe McCauley Gallery curator Shahrbanoo Hamzeh says that because of that timing she had K-12 students in mind when developing the exhibit’s theme. Some artists with work in the exhibit will be teaching Kids@Heartland youth classes this summer. 

“Galleries sometimes feel fancy or out of reach to people, but the truth is, being an audience for visual art is mostly free and within easy reach,” said Hamzeh. “I thought to focus on art as a skill for a better life rather than as a professional vocation. Artists were invited based on their special way of handling materials or how art was formative in their lives.”

 At the exhibition, the audience sees a variety of materials used and handled in very different ways. Physicality, materiality, layering, mark-making, and tactility are characteristics of the works displayed in the show. 

Artists whose work is featured in the exhibit include: Jennifer Bethmann, Jessica Bingham, P. Kay Bowen, Peytin Fitzgerald, Erin Furimsky, Su Ge, Shahrad Hamzeh, Jaci Music, Melissa Oresky, and Barbie Perry. 

The exhibit is free and open to the public on weekdays during regular Gallery hours. There will also be a reception at Joe McCauley Gallery on June 15 from 4:00-6:00 p.m. 

About the Joe McCauley Gallery 

Exhibits, events, and parking at Heartland’s Joe McCauley Gallery are free. The Gallery is in room 2507 of the Instructional Commons Building (ICB) on Heartland's Normal campus, 1500 W. Raab Road. 

• View the campus map at https://www.heartland.edu/documents/about/hccCampusMap.pdf

 Hours are Monday-Thursday from 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. (on days the College is open). Appointments for groups can also be made upon request.

For more information about this exhibit, visit https://www.heartland.edu/artGallery or contact Gallery Coordinator, Shahrbanoo Hamzeh at Shahrbanoo.Hamzeh@heartland.edu.