Art Exhibition: The Path: Rewilding and Resilience
at the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts
Exhibition Dates: July 24 – August 28, 2026
Associated Events
Opening Reception. Friday, July 24
Artist Talk. Sunday, August 9, 2 pm.
EXHIBITION SUMMARY
The Path: Rewilding and Resilience is a two-person show by artists Kerri Mommer and Dawn Diamantopoulos that explores ideas centered on protecting and restoring natural environments – ‘rewilding’ as a return to nature - and personal resilience, highlighting themes that resonate with our collective need for renewal and hope.
Mommer presents a series of modern landscapes and nature paintings inspired by natural areas in Northwest Indiana, including dunes and woodlands. Often, the ecosystems and green spaces are on the verge of disappearing. Many of the works celebrate the beauty of areas that have been preserved or restored (“rewilded”). Diamantopoulos’ mystical, nature-inspired works focus on themes of growth, transformation, and reinvention. These expressive paintings follow her personal rewilding, a return to her own nature and perseverance in overcoming her past.
The exhibit opens July 24 with an opening reception from 6 – 8 pm and an Artist Talk on Sunday, Aug 9, at 2 pm. These events are free and open to the public.
ARTIST BIOS:
Dawn Diamantopoulos attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, where she received a BFA in Fine Arts in 1992, with a major in Fine Arts – Printmaking and a minor in the History of Art. Dawn is a 3-time IAC grantee and has exhibited in the Indiana State Museum, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and the Midwest Museum of American Art. She has shown regionally and in New York, San Diego, and Chicago. She has lived in Northwest Indiana for over twenty years, where she's active as an artist, curator, and arts organizer.
Kerri Mommer creates modern landscapes and contemporary nature paintings with an original style and unique point of view. Her paintings are representational yet stylized and expressionist, with varying degrees of abstraction. She strives to create a visual language based on intriguing shapes and designs she observes in nature.