What started out as a hobby for Dr. Gary Hauck, has become a fun way to raise money for Montcalm Community College students, where he spent 15 years teaching. 

“I feel so blessed to still be a part of the MCC family and Montcalm community and am happy to make whatever contribution I can in return for all that I have been given and experienced here,” he said. 

A collection of Hauck’s artwork will be on display and sold through the silent auction at the 37th Heritage Festival, Aug. 1-3, at Montcalm Heritage Village on MCC’s Sidney campus. 

Hauck started painting after he retired from MCC in 2018. He had served as dean of arts and sciences since 2008 and taught as an adjunct instructor for five years after he retired. He still teaches noncredit community education courses at the college. 

“Even though I taught art appreciation and art history as part of the humanities curriculum over the years, I never tried to paint except for a noon-time workshop under adjunct art instructor Debbie Bell, which I thoroughly enjoyed,” he said. 

His son, Andrew, encouraged him to start painting and bought him a set of acrylics and canvases. Hauck said he had a blast. 

“Painting soon became a fun hobby,” he said. “I painted landscapes and dabbled with doing historic landmarks that I had visited, using the grid method.” 

After sharing some of his pieces on social media, Lisa Lund, executive director of the MCC Foundation, suggested he paint the Heritage Village buildings to raise funds for student scholarships. 

“It was a delight to do,” Hauck said. “While I tried to paint each building as they look today, I tried to imagine the original setting and context back in the day. I also tried to vary the seasons of the year, and times of the day so they didn’t all have the same feel.” 

He created 20 paintings in all, 10 are 8 x10 in size and 10 are 16x20. All the funds raised through the sale of the paintings will go to fund student scholarships at MCC. 

“While I enjoyed serving as dean and directing MCC’s cultural events for those 10 years, my greatest pleasure was in the classroom, teaching humanities, religion, geography, local history, communications and art appreciation,” he said. “I absolutely loved interacting with my students and was so appreciative of the scholarship assistance that so many of them had received, making their education with us possible. When Lisa mentioned this as an objective of the fundraiser, I couldn’t have been more excited.” 

After starting at MCC, Hauck became part of the Heritage Village Committee and served as a docent for 10 years. He has a history of helping in the village. He was asked to write a book about it for its 25th anniversary in 2011. He taught the course “Local History and Heritage” and also participated in reenactments and presentations over the years. 

Since he started painting, he has created around 75 pieces. He has even had three art shows in Greenville, Grand Rapids and Holland. 

“It’s been fun to be a part of the art community in both Montcalm County where I have served, and Kent County where I live,” Hauck said. 

He will be showcasing an entry in Grand Rapids’ ArtPrize for the second year in a row, with a large, five-canvas photo collage of “Dance Around the World,” featuring colorful images of public dancing in five different countries that he witnessed personally. 

“Art is important to me, in any of its forms or media,” he said. 

Hauck has no idea what to expect from the silent auction but hopes to raise at least between $750 and $1,000 for the 20 pieces. 

Media inquiries, please contact:

Shelly Springborn
Director of Communications and Public Relations
shellys@montcalm.edu
989-560-0833