ART SHOW
Our walls change every six weeks bringing vibrant art to our community.
Shoshana Church
Opening Reception November 1st from noon to 2pm
October 28, 2025 - December 24, 2025
Hidden Messages
This is Shoshana’s first public show. The Branch has been displaying local artwork for 27 years and proudly given many an artist their first show. The tradition continues with Shoshana.
I didn’t begin painting until my 60s. What started as curiosity (and following artist tutorials on YouTube) quickly became a calling — a new language for faith, healing, and self-discovery. After enrolling in the Milan Art Mastery Program, I learned to let go of perfection and paint from the heart, allowing each piece to unfold in its own way.
In Hidden Messages, I explore the unseen layers of paint that hold scripture, prayers, and quiet reminders of grace. My process moves between abstraction and realism, a reflection of how beauty often emerges
from chaos.
Though my journey as an artist began later in life, I’ve found my truest voice here —one that speaks through color, texture, and hidden words, whispering of peace, faith, and the steady presence of God beneath it all.
Eyde Arndell
August 27, 2025 - October 26, 2025
Water and Light
Art Reception
Sunday, September 14, 2025 1-3pm
Eyde Arndell was born and raised in the Midwest where she remained until her thirties. That’s when she decided to leave home for San Diego’s wide open spaces and some big city excitement. An intense connection to the natural beauty of California is where her artistic journey began. The ocean in particular still resonates deep in her bones. Much of her work focuses on waves sparkling in the western sun. However, after several years the city grind had lost its charm. Eyde chose Carbondale, Illinois as her new adventure where she now paints in her home studio - bringing her love of the sun and sea with her and discovering newfound inspiration in the forests, fields and the warmth of new friends.
Arndell’s oil paintings are completed in a rich and expressive style drawing from the emotional depths she discovered in Van Gogh and Edvard Munch works. She strives to capture the essence of the sun during the precious and fleeting golden hour. Arndell’s paintings of water, movement and light reflect the rhythms of nature.
Eyde is an emerging professional artist with a recent solo show at The Corridor Gallery in Carbondale IL, pieces in multiple group shows at Artspace 304 where “Twilight” received an honorable mention in the Nature Juried Exhibition. In 2024 the Dee and Sue Boswell Gallery invited her to exhibit several pieces as part of a group show in Kaskaskia, IL. “The Boat” was a top 100 finalist in the 2022 Artavita International Competition and “Nocturne” won the popular vote placing her in the finals at San Diego's Art Around Adams 2017/ 2018 competition.
Thomas Shaner
July 13, 2025 - August 31, 2025
The Cat's Mew
Thomas Shaner is a watercolor artist from Cape Girardeau, MO. He received his BFA in painting from Southeast Missouri State University in 2003. His first painting of a pet was his mother’s friend’s dog named Zeus. Thomas loves animals and decided to make
his affinity for watercolor into a business.
Thomas is neurodivergent and has autism. Despite this, he has earned a college degree and lives independently in his own apartment. He hopes that his art will not only
give joy to pet lovers, but will bring awareness about autism and acceptance to people everywhere. This is Thomas’s second show
at the Branch.
Suzanne Asaturian
April 30, 2025 - June 30, 2025
The Way I See It
Branch Cafe & Market provides such a fun atmosphere and wall space to display my exhibit “The Way I See It”. Each image has a special lesson and bucket list observation of nature allowing me to share with you my mind’s eye. I hope you “See beyond Looking” as you peruse this exhibit.
I feel blessed to live in such a diverse habitat for amazing flora and fauna. Details, emotion, and beauty of the spectacular as well as the ordinary are found every minute of the day through the lens. From the moment I wake up thinking about the migratory birds outside on our pond to what time will the moon set and the Milky Way appear in the darkest night sky, photography consumes my entire day. The most recent bucket list experience came on May 10, 2024, when the Northern Lights were shining bright right here in the Shawnee National Forest. Tiny spiders weave their webs separating white light into a beautiful rainbow that captivates my eyes to really see beyond looking.
As a retired science teacher of 35 years, my passion for understanding the natural world is magnified through my lens. Capturing a bee buzzing around on a flower with a macro lens or capturing a Sandhill Crane colt looking at me upside down brought closer with a zoom lens, ignites joy for the extra time I’m able to spend outside gaining deeper scientific insight.
Photography has always been a passion of mine, but with more time to really “see” nature, my vision as well as creative expression has grown exponentially. Every opportunity big and small captures my attention to detail and further research from morning to night. Thank you so much for allowing me to share my love of the beauty of the great and small.
