Southwestern Michigan College’s art gallery at first glance looks like a county fair for “Preserved: The Art of Canning” in collaboration with Michigan State University and home canners through Nov. 5.

For every Mason jar of apricot jam, cherry preserves, blueberry jam, tomatoes or pickled green beans and asparagus art instructor Shannon Eakins submitted, there are such unconventional contents as carrot cake canned by Eileen Toney, development director and executive director of the SMC foundation, and retiring Professor Emeritus Terry Pfliger’s apocryphal fish heads and 19th century eggs.

“With the exception of the reception we do for the student exhibition, this has been our most-visited exhibition we’ve done in the five years I’ve been at this college,” Visual and Performing Arts Chairman Marc Dombrosky said. “There’s been a phenomenal outpouring of support.”

Follow the bouncing Ball jars to the art gallery in room 108 of the Dale A. Lyons Building on the Dowagiac campus because entries continue to mount, with tomato and grape juice, carrots and kidney beans awaiting addition to the shelves.

The art gallery is open Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Welding instructor Michael Chaddock’s sauerkraut is fermenting during the show, which will continue to evolve for upcoming tastings.

His piece is fitted with an airlock, allowing gases to escape, like in winemaking.

“For me, this show is very personal,” Dombrosky said. “It was one of the first shows I pitched when I came here that I wanted to see occur. I’d never been to Michigan before I took the job here. I grew up in the Midwest, but in Ohio.”

Dombrosky, who wears an apron proclaiming “I Can Because I Can,” read Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road.”

“In it, I found the genesis of this show,” he said of the post-apocalyptic 2006 novel that won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

For several months an unnamed father and son wander an ashy landscape devoid of living animals and vegetation, devastated by an unspecified cataclysm that destroyed most of civilization.

“They travel down ‘The Road,’ which I envision as M-51,” Dombrosky said. “They look for water and stop at houses to salvage what they can, like tarps and warm clothes. Canning plays almost a supporting role as a character” when they stumble upon a basement cache of “crate upon crate of canned goods” including peaches, tomatoes, beans, ham, corned beef and hundreds of gallons of uncontaminated water.

“I brought my art appreciation class through here today and they had no idea how canning is done,” said Dombrosky, who sprinkles in some surprises along with conventional canning, such as a tub of Big King sauce bequeathed Dec. 8, 2000, to Dean of Arts and Sciences Dr. Scott Topping by future police officer Dan Stuglik, director of Crystal Springs Camp and Retreat Center, and Washington state glass blower Elias Hansen’s potion beaker swimming with objects significant to him.

Dombrosky is thrilled at the crossover to other parts of campus, such as the School of Business — economics instructor Ron Herr, peaches, pears, apple sauce, plums and tomatoes; and office administration instructor Joanne Strebeck, hot pepper jelly, salsa and pickled peppers.

Besides canned carrot cake, Toney provided green beans, butternut squash soup and rhubarb jam.

Chaddock augments his sauerkraut with pickled hot peppers, wild mushrooms, blackberry jam, blueberry syrup, bread-and-butter pickle slices and salsa verde.

Zena Holderbaum of Edwardsburg brought in salsa, grape jelly, dill pickles and apple butter.

Corn relish came from Sammy Greene, while Judy Mustak, Arts and Sciences administrative assistant, pickled hot peppers.

“Judy’s came with a piece of paper noting (her husband) Nick (coordinator of institutional research) is in charge of growing the plant,” Dombrosky said. “All of the Niles ag students are coming out for a tour (Oct. 19).”

“Jacob Hainer has been instrumental in putting together the flier, the layout for the show and labeling all the jars,” Dombrosky said. “We began with six — two were Morgan’s (Adams, of Dowagiac, pears and apple sauce). This grew organically and changed shape a number of times. The show you’re looking at now will be different with all those jars added to form new relationships. This is my hope for curatorial practice. Reaching out to our community and collaborating with other groups are among the most important things we do.”

Rocklin, a horticulturist and MSU’s coordinator at SMC for the Institute of Agricultural Technology, is represented by rum raspberries.

“I work with MSU and SMC to offer an agriculture program in partnership,” Rocklin said. “Students take SMC classes for English, chemistry and math and MSU classes here in the evening in person or online and end up with credentials from both. They can transfer to MSU for four-year programs.”

November’s exhibit, “Bridging the Arts: An Invitational Exhibition of Works by Regional K-12 Art Instructors” features Dean Hill, Tina Walter, Kim Wood, Sandra Miller, Kristen Maniscalco, Sherry Johnson and Mary Broccolo-Derr and runs through Dec. 10.

The week of Dec. 14 there will be a student and alumni “pop-up shop” offering art for sale for holiday gift-giving.

 

About Southwestern Michigan College

Southwestern Michigan College is a public, residential and commuter, community college, founded in 1964. The college averages in the top 10 percent nationally for student academic success based upon the National Community College Benchmark Project. Southwestern Michigan College strives to be the college of first choice, to provide the programs and services to meet the needs of students, and to serve our community. The college is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the American Association of Community Colleges.