By DEBRA HAIGHT

Special to Leader Publications

BUCHANAN – This month’s new exhibits at the Buchanan Art Center are all about dreams: honoring the dreams of artists seeking new ways to express themselves and recognizing the dreams of youngsters learning how to deal with family members fighting cancer.

The four new exhibits opened Wednesday and three of the four will be up through Nov. 18. The fourth, featuring clay pieces made by children in the Berrien County Cancer Service’s Art Play Workshops, will be up in the Showcases through Nov. 9.

The center’s regular hours are Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and admission is free.

“Dreaming in Color” is the title of the exhibit in the Roti Roti Gallery featuring the paintings and mixed media creations of Linda Hopkins Laakso. She describes herself as a self-taught artist and is now pursuing art full-time after a career as a paralegal. She considers her talent genetic as her uncle was a well-known wilderness artist in Alaska.

Laasko splits her time each year between Mishawaka and Fennville. She spends the spring, summer and early fall in the Fennville area where she lives in a rustic hunting/fishing cabin. She also managed a gallery and working studio called Mr. Miller’s Art Emporium in Douglas for six years.

Her paintings feature scenes inspired by the southwest Michigan countryside as well as her travels in Europe.

“I’m not sure if I have one particular style. I paint according to my mood,” she said. “I do watercolors, acrylics and mixed media with bead work and vintage jewelry. I also like to incorporate unusual sayings and vintage sheet music.”

Although this is her first solo show, she has had her artwork displayed at the One Trick Pony restaurant during the ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids. As for the title of her show, she said one of her favorite sayings is that dreams are necessary to life.

The Showplace Gallery features the paintings of Marilyn Schoonmaker in an exhibit called “In My View.” Like Laakso, this is her first solo show. While she took art classes in junior high and high school, she didn’t come back to it until after she had careers as a dietitian and teacher.

The Granger resident moved to the area 10 years ago from central New York state and got back into art after taking classes at the South Bend Museum of Art. She now takes classes at the art center as well as the Box Factory in St. Joseph.

She uses both oil and watercolors and her subject matter ranges from nature scenes to portraits of people.

“I love doing scenery but I love painting people as well,” she said. “Many of the nature paintings are of scenes near Elkhart, the St. Joseph River and the Notre Dame campus. I also have a few of my trips to Europe and Hawaii.”

The Hess Library Gallery features the paintings of South Bend resident Rosemary Gregory in an exhibit called “Watercolors by Rose.” Gregory is also a self-taught artist who has loved creating art since she was a child. As is the case with the other two artists, this is her first solo show.

While this exhibit features predominantly her watercolor paintings of flowers and birds, she also paints animals and does fashion illustrations and designs. She first came to the art center in March with the hope of placing a few paintings in the gift shop and was then offered a chance to have an exhibit of her own.

The Art Play exhibit in the showcases will give people a glimpse into the work of the Berrien County Cancer Service in helping children deal with cancer. The center hosts Art Play workshops taught by Cathy Tapia once a month and similar workshops are hosted at the Marie Yeager Cancer Center in St. Joseph each month.

“It’s not a typical support group. We use art to deal with emotions,” nurse Nancy Church said. “When someone has cancer, it affects the whole family. Children may not have a way to express themselves. The program came about when a mother with cancer wanted something to address her children’s emotions.”

Wendy and Richard Chapman’s children attend the workshops and found them helpful in dealing with her cancer fight and their grandfather’s death from cancer.

“Clay class in many ways has allowed my three children to take back their childhood and have control over something that belongs just to them, something that cancer can’t touch,” Wendy Chapman said.

For more information about the art center including exhibits, classes and the gift shop, people can visit the bacnow.org website.