Local artist Robert R. Williams and Michigan City artist Edwin P. Shelton will kick off the 2022 series of gallery exhibits at the Box Factory for the Arts on Friday, January 21 with an opening reception scheduled for 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.

Williams, who has a studio at the Box Factory and teaches portrait classes there, will have an exhibit in the Whitlow Gallery. He said he will have a variety of art that many may not have seen and of course many portrait and figure paintings.

Bob is a self-taught artist; however, he has taken numerous studio art classes and workshops. He has won awards at the Midwest Museum Juried Regional Show in Elkhart, IN and in the Michiana Annual Arts Competition at the Box Factory for the Awards. He has also won awards at the Art Barn in Valparaiso, IN and at the Chesteron Art Center. He had a piece accepted into a national show of the Pastel Society of America.

Shelton, who teaches at Marquette Catholic High School in Michigan City, will exhibit sculptures from discarded objects in the Williams Gallery. In his artist statement, he says, “I work to provoke the blend of joy with mysteries.” The non-representational sculptures range from smaller objects to large assemblages. He was an exchange teacher in Zibo, China, which he says still influences his artwork.

Shelton majored in sculpture and earned his BFA at Virginia Commonwealth University. He achieved his MFA in sculpture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed his final credits at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine. 

The exhibits are free and open to the public through February 27.  The Box Factory’s winter gallery hours are noon to 6 p.m. on Thursdays and noon to 4 p.m. on Fridays-Sundays. For more on this and other Box Factory events visit the website at https://www.boxfactoryforthearts.org or on Facebook at the Box Factory for the Arts.