Area residents have limited time to see the aviation paintings of Rick Herter at the Dowagiac Area History Museum.

“If Only I Could Fly: An Aviation Artist Comes Home,” a collaboration with the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival and with the support of Lyons Industries, will be on display through June 25.

Rick Herter grew up in the Sister Lakes area of Dowagiac and has become one of the nation’s premier aviation artists. Works for this exhibit arrived from local collections and from the Pentagon and the United States Air Force collection.

Herter participates in the Air Force Art Program, which enables him to fly in the crafts over the scenes he will depict. Two of his most well-known paintings show the first fighter planes responding to the Twin Towers and Pentagon on 9/11.

Rick Herter is also known for the mural he painted at the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo. The mural provides a backdrop to the many exhibits at the museum and is recognized as the largest indoor mural in the world.

Admission to the Dowagiac Area History Museum is free. The museum is located at the corner of Division and West Railroad Streets. For more information, call the Dowagiac Area History Museum at (269) 783-2560 or visit www.dowagiacmuseum.info.