DOWAGIAC — For Shannon Eakins and Marc Dombrosky, both faculty members in the art department at Southwestern Michigan College, it is unusual for them to show their art together.

Wednesday, SMC faculty, students and members of the public gathered in the art gallery located in the Dale A. Lyons Building on SMC’s Dowagiac campus for a reception introducing Eakins and Dombrosky’s exhibit of works, which will be on display until Nov. 26.

The artists shared their newest project, “Loose Ends,” which explores trajectories and radical departures. They also answered questions about the processes behind their respective pieces.

Eakins received a master of fine arts degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a bachelor’s degree in sculpture from Ohio State University. Her husband, Dombrosky, introduced her to the crowd as an artist who for years, worked across mediums with glass, sculpture, installation pieces and in performance work.

“The thing to remember about me is that I worship no material,” Eakins said. “Whatever it is I’m trying to do is the material I choose.”

In the back gallery stood Eakins’s piece, called “It’s F.I.N.E,” composed of paracord macramé, levels, lighting, an industrial fan, a fog machine and hardware. Eakins called the materials she used “found things.”

“This kind of comes from a really challenging personal time of my life,” she said. “I wasn’t quite sure how to make things come together.”

Everything in the piece is powered by power bars that are centrally located. The parts can be taken apart and then put back together. The piece is also a spectacle, Eakins said.

“I lived three years in Las Vegas. That’s kind of where I really found my voice as being this kind of obnoxious artist that fills a gallery with smoke and light,” she said. “It’s really difficult to show your work next to mine, which is why only Marc would probably ever agree.”

All the electronic components in the piece were bought and then Eakins sculpted with macramé, a time-consuming process, Eakins said. The added labor is necessary for Eakins’s process and how she connects with her audience. The ability for her piece to be reassembled into something new felt important to Eakins.

The same knotting process could be seen around the room.

On one side of the front gallery, a friendship bracelet exchange program invited guests to the gallery to create a friendship bracelet and exchange theirs for one from the gallery’s inventory. The program provided a collaborative experience for students and other attendees.

Dombrosky was introduced by Eakins as the chair of visual and performing arts at SMC and programmer of the art gallery.

“I think the thing that I learned when I approach a Marc Dombrosky piece is to just shut up about it and just let it visually take me,” Eakins said.

Eakins looks at her husband’s art without looking for a profound one meaning. Instead, she looks at the objects in his art, which have some kind of historical or deeper meaning attached to them and lets them speak to her.

Dombrosky’s first piece he discussed used glass stringers and dried sassafras leaves, collected from his own yard. Another piece was the inspiration for the friendship bracelet exchange program.

In the back gallery, Dombrosky had a piece installed of bone china teacups, which his grandmother had collected. They were the only thing Dombrosky was given from his father after his grandmother died. The teacups were covered by a plastic sheet with hand felt eyes placed on top. Eakins taught Dombrosky how to make the eyeballs and friendship bracelets.  Next to Dombrosky’s teacup piece, sat a lone teacup with a piece of green chewing gum stuck on the side. The lone teacup is the only one that broke during a voyage from Florida to Michigan. Plus, Dombroksy said he has been chewing lots of gum lately.

Lastly, the couple shared the thought processes behind their pieces, with Eakins using “F.I.N.E” as an example to her students to keep trying and keep moving.

“Even when everything’s crumbling around you, you just have to show up and keep going and keep trying.” Eakins said. “I wanted that to kind of be a callout to people.”