Meet the 2017 Judges
Zeeland Artists Collective
Michele Gort is the 2017 Art In Bloom Tulip Time Poster winner.
Michele is a graduate from Kendall College of Art and Design with a bachelor of fine arts degree. Michele has sold many collections of paintings to health care facilities and corporations. They include Winning At Home, Holland Hospital, Mercy Hospital and Metro Hospital, Pine Rest and Zeeland Urgent care building. She also sells to private collectors. She has her work on display in many local galleries, Frames Unlimited, GR. Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Ohio and Lake Effect, Holland, MI and Zeeland Working Gallery.
Christine Towner is an abstract expressionist who has been using the ancient medium of encaustic wax for over 14 years. She studied at Kendall and Hope and has recently received the honor of having a permanent encaustic monotype in the Encaustic Art Institute in Santa Fe, NM. She has had work shown in Chicago, Santa Fe, California, Arizona and 12 different cities in MI. She has been in ArtPrize for seven years.
Cindy M. Bender is primarily a representational watercolor artist. Her paintings have been in many juried shows and galleries across Michigan. Cindy has been in the Top 20 for Tulip Time 5 times. Her work can currently be seen in the Zeeland Artists Working Gallery, Studio 2 in Montague, and the Red Chair Gallery at her Zeeland studio.
Judi Kruis creates with several mediums, focusing on oils and weaving for the Zeeland Artists working gallery. She has been involved in ArtPrize, Celebration of the Arts, helping with youth arts and arts in worship. Judi enjoys working on collaborative projects and spent several years sharing creative and business mentoring with artisans in Haiti and creating murals in both Haiti and Guatemala.