MARQUETTE — Lauren Hovland will be the featured artist in the Gallery, Marquette’s Sarosik Memorial Gallery in May. Lauren is an Escanaba-based freelance artist. Originally from Minnesota, Lauren moved to Muscat, Oman with her family when she was 8. Inspired by the people and culture there, she learned how to do henna and those designs can be found in a lot of her work. She mainly focuses on portraits but branches to other subjects periodically usually combining portrait work with nature or celestial images. Lauren works in a variety of mediums but mainly focuses on painting and digital art.

This exhibit will be open May 1-June 1. The Sarosik Gallery is located within The Gallery, in Marquette. Open 7 days a week, from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., 130 W. Washington St., Marquette. There will be a reception and Pop Up for Lauren’s exhibit during Artwalk on Saturday, May 24.

Judy Sarosik a beloved teacher, artist, and gallery member passed in November 2022. She wished to donate funds from the sale of some of her work to The Gallery/Mqt Artist Collective. Through conversations with her, her husband Roy, and gallery artists, it was decided to create a special “Judy Fund” to help support the gallery, build a rotation gallery and to possibly offer a support scholarship to artists.

The Sarosik Rotation Gallery was designed by gallery manager Joy Bender Hadley and built by Mike Potts and Tamarack Custom Builders with over 1/2 the cost donated In-Kind. The first rotating exhibit was offered in the spring 2024.

The Gallery, Mqt has a full and exciting 2025 calendar for the monthly rotations in their “Judy Sarosik Gallery. These exhibits change every 4 to 6 weeks and offers all mediums of work from artists throughout the Upper Peninsula, as well as various themed invitational exhibits. Plus The Gallery, Mqt offers various artist market pop ups, art demonstrations and in the main gallery, they feature work from 18 regional artists.

For work sold during a Sarosik Rotation, there is 30% commission. Any funds made during these shows goes mainly back into the “Judy Sarosik” Scholarship and Gallery Fund.