ORANGE CITY—Orange City Arts has announced the award winners of the 2025 Regional Art Show, a juried exhibition that showcases outstanding works by artists from Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota.
On view through May 3 at Northwestern College’s DeWitt Theatre Arts Center, the show featured more than 30 pieces across a wide range of media — highlighting creativity, storytelling and technical excellence.
This year’s exhibit included an optional theme, “Stewards of Creation,” inviting artists to explore humanity’s relationship with the natural world. From prairie-inspired landscapes to thought-provoking environmental commentary, many artists responded with work that emphasized care, connection and the impact of human action on the environment.
Best in Show (themed) was awarded to Kaarina Van Berkum for her powerful mixed media piece “Choking Chinook II.”
Originally from Lynden, WA, Van Berkum studied ecology and art at Northwestern and now works in soil conservation in Sioux County. Her work is deeply informed by her West Coast upbringing and environmental awareness.
“Collecting shells, poking tide pools and wading in the water are all cornerstones for my understanding of the connection between us and nature,” Van Berkum shared. “My work leans into this connection, exploring the dominating nature of our part in the relationship.”
Her winning piece juxtaposes whimsy and horror in what she calls “a series of cruel ironies”: an organic creature filled with plastic, a composition that is both busy and spacious, and a Frankenstein-like construction that calls viewers to reflect and act.
“I wish for people to find hope in my work as well as a call to action,” she said. “Any individual can shirk responsibility for the state of the environment, but we can’t believe that someone else is going to save it.”
Best in Show (non-themed category) was awarded to Judy Thompson for her watercolor “Quilted Prairie.”
Thompson has lived in rural N’West Iowa for more than 35 years and draws artistic inspiration from the surrounding Siouxland region’s big skies and native grasses.
“I create colorful, textured paintings which explore the historical and contemporary dynamics of the Midwest’s changing landscape,” she said. “The resulting tapestry serves as a metaphor of the complex connections within the ecosystem and the human impact our actions have upon our environment.”
Honorable mentions were awarded to Laura Snyder for her digital photograph “Then Sings My Soul” and Yuliia Popova for “Floral Fantasies,” a vibrant and imaginative piece rich in fine detail and symbolic expression.
Based in Council Bluffs, Snyder is an elementary art educator with 24 years of experience. She teaches more than 650 students each year and holds degrees from Wayne State College in Nebraska and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Since 2012, she has pursued photography with a focus on landscapes and abandoned buildings across the Midwest.
“Capturing dilapidated, crumbling structures helps me process the mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion that comes with teaching in an urban school,” Snyder said. “I find the solitude of cruising gravel roads therapeutic.”
She works with both digital and 35 mm film, often layering the formats in post-production. Her work has been shown in prominent juried exhibitions across the region, including the Sioux City Art Center Biennial and Signs of Rural Life at Blue Cat Gallery.
A native of Ukraine, Popova studied fine and decorative arts in Poltava and has worked as both an art teacher and visual arts methodologist. She has received numerous awards and regularly serves as a juror for youth art competitions.
“Since childhood, I have felt a vocation and love for painting,” Popova said. “Ukraine is a fertile and fruitful land shaped by centuries of change and struggle. I hope for a prosperous future for my homeland.”
The show’s jurors, Amy Williams of Northwestern and Roberta Pottebaum of MOC-Floyd Valley High School in Orange City, selected winners based on artistic excellence, originality, and how effectively the work communicated the artist’s vision — especially in light of the “Stewards of Creation” theme.
“This exhibition reminds us that art can inspire not just appreciation, but action,” said Orange City Arts director Emie Andrulewich, Orange City Arts. “These four artists beautifully express the power of creativity to connect us with the world around us—and with one another.”