The Market East district in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. Courtesy Indy Chamber.
The Midwest region of the country is an area vibrant with arts and culture, with a huge blend of galleries, museums and arts venues for collectors to explore. From metropolitan cities like Chicago and Detroit, to the small towns—the 12 states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin each have something unique to offer.
The picturesque area of Door County, Wisconsin, is a hot spot for both the artist and the art connoisseur, providing plentiful opportunities especially for landscape and plein air painters, as well as events and exhibitions. The region has 19 art communities that continuously draw artists, dealers and collectors. Hosted by the Peninsula School of Art every year is the Door County Plein Air Festival, which features 35 nationally renowned artists hailing from across the United States during a weeklong outdoor painting event, followed by a two-week exhibition. The 2021 event is set for July 25 to 31, with the show on view until August 14.
You certainly can’t talk about the Midwest without mentioning the great city of Chicago. A major regional art hub, the city is home to Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, the Richard H. Driehaus Museum and many more. The WNDR Museum is an immersive and interactive art experience that currently has on display more than 20 new touchless installations, including an Infinity Mirror Room by esteemed Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. This year, the anticipated fair Intersect Chicago (formerly SOFA Chicago) returns November 4 to 7. The Other Art Fair Chicago is expected to be held this year as well, with dates still to be determined, while EXPO Chicago is set to return April 7 to 10, 2022.
In Michigan, collectors also will find a range of institutions offering art, such as the University of Michigan Museum of Art in beautiful Ann Arbor, the Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, as well as the Detroit Artists Market. Located in the city’s Midtown neighborhood, the Detroit Artists Market is a culturally dynamic area holding contemporary art exhibitions throughout the year. Also found in the Great Lakes State is RJD Gallery in Romeo, showcasing artists from around the world working in narrative realism, photorealistic portraits, surrealism and figurative art.
The Midwest region is also home to such artists as landscape painter Debra Joy Groesser in Ralston, Nebraska, and Rosa Chavez, who paints joyful marina scenes in her studio in Mishawaka, Indiana.
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Rosa Chavez
(209) 509-9589
ms.ruiz@emeraldartgallery.com
www.chavezartwork.com
www.emeraldartgallery.com
Like most contemporary artists, Rosa Chavez is inspired by multiple art styles and movements. Looking through her portfolios, collectors will find that she is influenced by a mixture of abstraction, minimalism and figurative painting styles. These sorts of influences allow her to create the unique energy found in her work, from peaceful yet joyful marinas where boats are docked, to her energetic regattas that exude the intensity of the race being portrayed by the long strokes of paint. 
Rosa Chavez, Regatta Annapolis, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30 x 1½"
Rosa Chavez, Russell Carroll Bell Harbor, WA, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 60 x 1½"
She uses color, texture and basic shapes throughout her work to create the energy one feels while sailing out in the open water. Her color palette is mostly composed of blue hues, complemented by primary colors usually found on racing or docked boats. She uses these bright primary colors as a way to bring some joy to a canvas filled with blue hues, something that is commonly experienced while you’re out sailing in a large lake or ocean—where the water mass and the sky seem to be endless. The most complicated pieces are her Urban Marinas, which her husband and artist Leon F. Ruiz, helps her paint. His education and experience as an architect in Mexico City have allowed the couple to paint as a team in depicting famous urban marinas like Chicago, Milwaukee, Seattle, Boston and New York, to name a few. 
Rosa Chavez, The Adventure Awaits, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 60 x 1½"
Upcoming shows for Chavez include Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show from June 5 to 6, Lakeshore Art Festival 2021 from June 26 to 27, Art at the Glen running July 31 to August 1 and Evanston Art & Big Fork Festival from August 13 to 15, among others.
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RJD Gallery
227 N. Main Street, Romeo, MI 48065
(586) 281-3613
art@rjdgallery.com
www.rjdgallery.com
RJD Gallery exhibits international artists with a concentration on narrative realism, photorealistic portraiture, surrealism and figurative art including drawing, painting, mixed media and sculpture. RJD Gallery also represents emerging artists with a wide array of premium artworks offered through the gallery, website and traveling exhibitions. The gallery also offers exclusive works by American masters from its RJD Private Collection, which presents a fresh, contemporary vision of the world.
RJD Gallery, The Garden of Eden, egg oil tempera on canvas, 66 7/8 x 47 1/8", by Tor-Arne Moen.
RJD Gallery, Before My Time, egg oil tempera on canvas, 47 1/8 x 66 7/8", by Tor-Arne Moen.
The gallery welcomes visitors to its new location at 227 North Main Street in Romeo, Michigan, Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The gallery is closed on Sundays and open by appointment on Mondays. Private showings can be scheduled by email.
“Sales through 2021 have been steady and already exceeded those for the same period of 2020, and are accelerating. Our current physical market area, Romeo, Michigan, is a very creative and more rural environment, and is drawing many successful people seeking a more relaxed and attractive lifestyle.” — Richard Demato, principal, RJD Gallery
New artists represented include Ann Tanksley and Emily Copeland. A visual storyteller, Tanksley is a creative genius who renders life’s quiet moments into extraordinary works of art. Her expressionist style and loose brushwork capture incredibly poignant scenes on the canvas and highlight a deep understanding of her subjects that is genuinely felt by the viewer. The saying “everything old is new again” seems to have been tailor-made for the artwork of Copeland. Time-honored and beloved objects from our past are re-created with stunning accuracy and precise details that could only be crafted by one with a love for her objects and her craft. 
Richard Demato, right, with gallery manager Weston Weiss in RJD Gallery's new space in Romeo, Michigan.
Upcoming shows at RJD Gallery include Strike a Pose: Reclining Figures from July 1 to August 9; The Drawing Room: Art Beyond the Brush from August 13 to September 6; BIG ART. small canvas held September 13 to October 11; Women Painting Men - Men Painting Women on view October 15 to November 29; and an Andrea Kowch solo exhibition at the Museum of Art - Deland in January 2022.
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Debra Joy Groesser
Debra Joy Groesser Fine Art
5615 S. 77th Street, Ralston, NE 68127
(402) 592-6552
www.debrajoygroesser.com
www.debrajoygroesserfineart.com
Nebraska artist Debra Joy Groesser has a quote by Andrew Wyeth placed prominently across the wall above her easel in her studio. It reads, “I believe one’s art goes as far and as deep as one’s love goes.” Groesser’s love for oil painting and for her subjects is obvious in her work. “Painting is such a spiritual experience for me. Nothing inspires me more than being out on location, attempting to capture the subtle nuances of color, light and atmosphere that can only be achieved by painting from nature,” she says. Her landscape paintings have garnered national recognition and numerous awards. She also paints portraits and figurative works. 
Debra Joy Groesser, Late Day Reverie, Narada Lake, oil on linen panel, 16 x 20"
In 2018, Groesser opened her own gallery, Debra Joy Groesser Fine Art, in her hometown of Ralston, Nebraska, a suburb of Omaha. Her gallery features her original paintings, her husband Don Groesser’s segmented and turned wood vases and vessels, artful gift items and occasional special invitational exhibitions.
She is CEO/president and Signature member of the American Impressionist Society, Master Signature member of Plein Air Artists Colorado and Signature member of Laguna Plein Air Painters Association and American Plains Artists. In addition to her gallery, Groesser is represented by The Mission Gallery in St. George, Utah; Montgomery-Lee Fine Art in Park City, Utah; Mary Williams Fine Arts in Boulder, Colorado; and SouthWind Art Gallery in Topeka, Kansas. Upcoming exhibitions for the artist include America the Beautiful at Mary Williams Fine Arts, Door County Plein Air Festival in Wisconsin in July, and Paint Grand Traverse in Traverse City, Michigan, in August, among others. —
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