Submitted Art Mack Schroer’s Big Lebowski is a mixed media piece in the “Pop Cars” collection.

Two vibrant, pop culture-infused exhibitions went on display today at a joint show of the Taube Museum of Art and the Northwest Arts Center at Minot State University. A public reception will be held Thursday.

The display includes Mack Schroer’s illustrated “Pop Cars” and “Wild Rides” posters, curated from the private collection of Laurie Geller. On display until June 8, the exhibition is split evenly between the two galleries with a unique view at each location.

“Pop Cars” began in early 2018 as a single doodle of Homer Simpson on a driver’s daily log sheet. With the computer system down at a salt water disposal site, Schroer, an oil field trucker at the time, resorted to using a hand-kept ledger on Keller’s Daily Logs. Scrawled etch-a-sketch lines became a cityscape that soon beckoned a portrait of Homer Simpson.

From that moment, the idea of “Pop Cars” grew. The series features icons from popular culture “who get down behind the wheel,” as Schroer puts it, or “characters who are defined by their vehicle of choice.”

Each “Pop Car” personality is drawn from cult classic movies, cartoons, video games, music or historical figures, such as Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski, Ellen Ripley, Stewie Griffin and Princess Peach. Schroer draws the character studies, plans essential “text bubble” copy and then illustrates each on a Keller’s Daily Log sheet. The stylized figures that overlay the graphed guide of “Off Duty,” “Driving,” and “On Duty” are crafted with numerous media, including graphite, Micron pens, India ink, chalk pastels, colored pencils, watercolors and Prismacolor markers.

Schroer found his calling on a ranch in Berryton, Kansas, through comic books and animation. His love for visual narrative evolved in illustration, 2D animation and graphic design. In 2008, Schroer graduated from Washburn University with a bachelor of fine arts in studio art and digital design. He has earned several awards for his artwork and design, including the 2015 Kansas Advertisement Designer of the Year.

Schroer has successfully run Macklin Art for three years from downtown Williston as an independent artist. His projects include a series of curbside architectural illustrations for Williams County. Macklin Art has produced 2D digital animated commercials for local businesses, including Red Rock Ford, and a series of 30 full-color Marvel Universe X-Men trading cards for Upper Deck Playing Cards. Schroer has traditionally penciled and inked, then digitally colored and lettered, a 96-page graphic novel, “The Sentinels,” for Missouri Ridge school district. He most recently produced a two-minute, 2D animated title sequence for an independent film produced with funding through the North Dakota Council on the Arts.

“Pop Cars” is touring North Dakota through the North Dakota Art Gallery Association.

A selection of transportation-themed, screen-printed gig posters curated from the private collection of Laurie Geller will be displayed alongside “Pop Cars.” A look at travel and the spirit of exploration and adventure, “Wild Rides” highlights the works of Jay Ryan, Justin Santora, Laura Baisden, Delicious Design, Landland, Ryan Duggan, Aesthetic Apparatus, the Ames Bros. and more. The works feature skateboarding animals, road-tripping couples, 18-wheeler sailboats, a VW graveyard, cycling pals and a plethora of other creatively mobile characters.

Geller, vice president of Academic Affairs at Minot State University and co-founder of the MSU NOTSTOCK art festival, first began collecting gig posters in the 1990s as a member of the Pearl Jam fan club. What started as a collection of “cool souvenirs” representing favorite bands and venues became a deeper appreciation for the people who created them and their techniques.

“I fell in love with the art form – the artwork’s content, the artists and their craft,” Geller said.

A public reception and online viewing will be held on Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m., split between the Taube and Northwest Arts Center galleries.

An artist talk and live art-making is planned for both locations, and the exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. The reception can be attended in person or online from the Northwest Arts Center and Taube Museum of Art Facebook pages. Masks and physical distancing are required for in-person attendance.

The Taube is located at 2 N. Main St. Museum and hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by special appointment.

The Northwest Arts Center is located on the lower level of the Gordon B. Olson Library at MSU, with its own entrance on the south side of the library. It is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 1-5 p.m. and by special arrangement.

These programs are funded in part by a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the state Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. “Pop Cars” is made possible by the North Dakota Art Gallery Association.