The Shiawassee Arts Center opens its sixth exhibit of 2026 featuring the work of Matt Lewis (Saginaw), Tom Tomasek (Ovid) and Andrea Jeris (Lansing). The exhibit, which runs September 10 through October 31, is sponsored by James Finzel. The public is welcome to attend the ‘Meet the Artist’ reception, Thursday, September 10, 5-7pm.

Tom Tomasek, a pastel artist with focus on landscape, says that his Michigan landscapes have always inspired his paintings. But, while participating in a recent session at the Golden Apple Art Residency in Harrington, Maine, he was moved to paint the coastline of Downeast Maine. Those paintings have been included in this exhibit alongside views of Michigan. He remarks, “As you look at this work, my simple wish is that you will be immersed in a sense of place…..whether it is MI or ME.”

Tomasek’s paintings have been exhibited throughout Michigan and have received awards at the Muskegon Museum of Art, Midland Center for the Arts, Ann Arbor Art Center, Saginaw Art Museum and Shiawassee Arts Center. Three paintings were selected to be shown at the Michigan Governor’s Residence. Work has also been exhibited in Japan as part of an artist exchange with Michigan’s Sister State, Shiga Perfecture. 

He has also conducted workshops in pastel technique at many art centers including the Saginaw Art Museum, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Holland Area Arts Council and in Maine at the Golden Apple Art Residency where he was an Artist in Residence. His published work appears in “Art of the Sleeping Bear Dunes” book and in “Pastel Journal” magazine.

Matt Lewis is primarily a painter. He is a graduate of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and later received his certification and is teaching art in the public schools. As an Award Winning Artist, his work can be found in Numerous Private and Public Collections including, the Henry Ford Hospital, General Motors, Golden Apple Residency and the College for Creative Studies. He has shown all over Michigan and his work can be found in private collections across the U.S. and Internationally.

He writes, “These paintings are deceivingly simple. The paintings reveal themselves, they take time. They require some attention, and essentially meditation, for them to function properly as works of art. They are meant to be transcendent, but not in a lofty spiritual manner. If they are meant to transcend, then what they are transcending is the distraction of our lives. If they do transcend, they bring you to this moment here and now, and distraction falls away. That is their actual purpose, they are memories, they are reflections, they are my entire life – but they were also, at all times, their own present life, and my present life. Now, when viewed, they become the present time again. They are my time and your time. They are dynamic records of time. Present in the past, present in the Present, and Present in the Future. They exist out of time as Time Being.”

Andrea Jeris states, “I paint what I see in front of me – my home, landscapes, and daily surroundings. My paintings are about looking clearly, capturing the truth and quiet that emerges from careful observation.” Having painted in acrylic, oil, watercolor, and ink (on scratch-board), she is now focused on oil paint. 

Jeris was encouraged in art from a very early age and won a national gold medal for watercolor in high school. She began painting in oil at age 16 when her father gave her the supplies from his mail-order home-study art course. She also spent a lot of time in art museums. John Singer Sargent’s work really spoke to her and greatly influenced her work. 

Jeris received BFAs in both Painting and Drawing from Eastern Michigan and an AAS Commercial Art degree from Oakland Community College. She also studied at both the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and the Pacific Art League in Palo Alto, CA. Having worked as a free-lance graphic designer for many years, she now paints full time. Her paintings have won awards in local and regional competitions and her art is in private collections throughout the U.S and in London.

The Shiawassee Arts Center, located at 206 Curwood Castle Drive in Owosso, is open Monday-Friday 10am-5pm and weekends noon-3pm. The Arts Center features the artwork of local and statewide artists in eight galleries including the Frieseke Gallery and a specialty Gift Shop. The public is welcome, there is no admission charge and the facility is handicap accessible. SAC, which is celebrating its 54th anniversary in 2026, is a non-profit organization whose mission is to present quality arts and cultural activities that educate, entertain and enrich the quality of life in mid-Michigan. For more information call the Arts Center at 989.723.8354 or visit shiawasseearts.org.