Big Car

Amy Kligman and Ish Muhammad In Conversation
2022-08-17 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Indiana/Indianapolis) | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Learn more about two of the artists selecting this year’s Power Plant Grant recipients!
Amy Kligman has been the Executive Artistic Director at Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City, MO since 2015. Kligman’s career and experience as an exhibiting artist and grassroots curator/arts administrator spans 20 years of studio & exhibition work, independent curating and organizing, and artist-run projects. In 2011 Kligman was one of a team of 5 artist-curators who established Plug Projects, an artist-run project space in Kansas City’s West Bottoms that hosted a robust & nationally recognized calendar of exhibitions and artist-centered programming.

Ish Muhammad is a self-taught artist residing in Northwest Indiana. Muhammad’s work, post-graffiti abstract expressionism, is exhibited in galleries, museums, and site-specific installations nationally. He is a founding member of Crazy Indiana Style Artists (CISA). CISA is recognized as Indiana’s first Latino Art Collective.

Dear Black Girl with Tamara Winfrey Harris
2022-08-20 15:00 - 17:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
A public reading and discussion around the book “Dear Black Girl: Letters from Your Sisters About Stepping Into Your Power.”

Tamara Winfrey-Harris is a writer who specializes in the ever-evolving space where current events, politics and pop culture intersect with race and gender. She says, “I want to tell the stories of Black women and girls, and deliver the truth to all those folks who got us twisted—tangled up in racist and sexist lies. I want my writing to advocate for my sisters. We are better than alright. We are amazing.”
Tamara is the author of two books: The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America (Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2015) and Dear Black Girl: Letters From Your Sisters On Stepping Into Your Power (Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2021). The award-winning Sisters, now in its second edition, has been optioned by Wise Entertainment and Gabrielle Union’s production company I’ll Have Another to be turned into a dramedy for television.
Tamara’s work has been published in media outlets, including including The New York Times, The Atlantic, Cosmopolitan, New York Magazine and The Los Angeles Times. And her essays appear in The Lemonade Reader: Beyonce, Black Feminism and Spirituality (Routledge, 2019); The Burden: African Americans and the Enduring Impact of Slavery (Wayne State University Press, 2018); Black in the Middle: An Anthology of the Black Midwest (Black Belt Publishing, 2020); and other books.
Tamara is co-founder of Centering Sisters, LLC, an organization that unapologetically addresses the needs and issues of Black women and girls; and the Black Women’s Writing Society, a monthly virtual space for Black femme creatives. She is also a certified yoga teacher who focuses her work on the healing and well-bring of her sisters.
Tamara is a native of Gary, IN, and a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority, Inc. She graduated with a BA degree from the Greenlee School of Journalism at Iowa State University.

Made possible by Mr. and Mrs. Craig E Von Deylen and Laurel S Judkins with additional support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Super Sunday Showdown
2022-09-25 12:00 - 18:30 | Listen Hear, 2620 Shelby St, , Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Live Music, THE Torta Food Truck, drinks, yard sale and the Colts Game —outside and inside of Listen Hear.
Organized by Clint Breeze and other Artist Public Life Residency artists, the event is free but donations are recommended, 100% will go to pay the musicians.
Wampus Milk Daddies, 12:10-12:45
Wampus Milk Daddies is a fusion band that covers a wide array of styles ranging from prog rock, jazz fusion, hip hop to funk. The group has been featured on WFYI radio and has been a staple in the local Indianapolis music scene for several years. Drums- Elijah Pollard Guitar- Owen Welch Bass- Ryan Johnson Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Flute and Vocals- Tony Echarry Trumpet- Ethan Hodes
Breezfunk, 1-1:45
Norrie The Goat, 2-2:30
“I consider myself to be an artist rather than a rapper because of what I bring to the table. I produce and engineer my own sound and I created my own sound from scratch. I started making beats, rapping, engineering, mixing and mastering my own music in 2014.”
Tubbles with Special Guest, 2:45-3:15
StarChaser, 3:30-4:15
A little more progressive, a little more modern and a whole lot louder—that’s Kara Tucker’s approach to StarChaser, a band born out of her previous music group Elliot Bigger in pursuit of creative freedom and a brand-new sound. Tucker, who has been playing music around Indy since 2006, serves as the group’s guitarist and vocalist. Backed by her husband Nick Teedo on the bass and Dorian Phelps’ killer drum skills, she’s writing songs for the band’s debut record, which will blend together progressive metal, rock and pop.
Bashiri & The Lady, 4:30-5:15
Acknowledging that each of us has a priceless gift that we must harness and share with the world, Bashiri Asad has come to define his sound as “IndySoul.”He laughs. He cries. He loves. He dreams. Just like you, everyday. He feels deeply, and turns his feelings into music. Soul music. Music that says exactly how you feel, everyday. Bashiri Asad is the “Everyday Soul Singer,” and he will remind you that feeling what you feel, in your soul, is just fine.
IndySoul is his passion, and he exudes this with every song!
DJ Littletown, 5:15-6:15
Jessica DJ Little Town is a selector and master of mixing music! Indianapolis born with dual citizenship belonging to Brazil, Little Town began collecting vinyl records at the age of 12 with great influence from her older sister who worked at a record store. From there, she learned to mix on vinyl and gradually entered the MP3 mixing world. Her first major performances include; CultureShock Festival 2015, Chreece Festival 2016, Bloco do Rodrigo S Block Party 2017, Body Mechanics (Residency) at the Root Cellar 2017, Soul’d Out All Vinyl Dance Party (Residency) at Square Cat Vinyl, and Low Pone Queer Dance Party (Residency).
What’s APLR?
The Artist and Public Life Residency (APLR) — consists of arts-based community leaders who team up with neighbors (and others across the city) to strengthen our block, the southside, and the broader community through arts-based approaches.
APLR artists are creatives, makers, teachers, designers, and more. Fields include — and are not limited to — architecture, culinary art, curation, visual art, public art, furniture, fashion, craft, design, film and video, creative writing and journalism, performing arts, music, theater, placemaking, socially engaged art, etc.

Docey Lewis-Living Threads
2022-11-04 18:00 - 2022-12-11 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Docey Lewis’s Living Threads takes the viewer on a journey of contradiction. Our technologically enhanced culture facilitates our ability to see and create both real and virtual connection while relentlessly making us more aware of the threats humanity faces. Seeking balance, we alternatively seesaw between retreating to our cocoons and interconnecting.

Among the many threats we face is species loss. The exhibit highlights several extinct or threatened species in Posey County. The pre-human ecosystem in our area was abundantly populated and in natural balance. After man settled along the Wabash and elsewhere, this utopian equilibrium eroded to the point of dystopia. The world now faces environmental, social and economic catastrophe, while our perverted material culture still spreads an unrealistic ethos of fossil fuel powered unlimited growth, fast fashion, junk food and surveillance capitalism.

The materials used in creating artworks for Living Threads have as much meaning as the pieces themselves. “I have been entangled for many years in the cultures, natural materials and co-creations of faraway communities who have had to pivot from utilitarian and ritual use of their materials and techniques to making salable products for a global market,’ says Lewis. “Along the way, a large body of samples and materials have piled up in my studio. During the pandemic, I began to untangle the accumulation and recycle it into artwork. Many hands have touched the raw materials, and I celebrate the living farmers and artisans whose participation has made this work possible. Connections with communities and all living things are represented in this collaborative body of work.”

About Docey Lewis
Lewis had her first solo exhibition in the late 1960s—not in a gallery or museum, but in a library 30 miles south of San Francisco. She showed a selection of hand woven, abstract textiles she had made on a hand-built loom. The show sold out.

Yet, rather than pursuing an art practice, Lewis made a series of unexpected choices that led her on a serpentine, half-century journey around the globe. While mastering the innumerable methods humans have concocted to make textiles, and empowering hundreds of other women artisans in the weaving workshops she set up in the Philippines, Nepal, Morocco, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, Lewis dined with royalty, collaborated with legends, and built an entrepreneurial empire.

Now in her 70s, Lewis has returned to the art studio—not in San Francisco, New York, or one of the other exotic locales she has variously called home. Instead, she now works in a modest, light-filled studio above a locally celebrated wine bar and coffee shop, in a historic building in New Harmony, Indiana. Amid wafts of fresh soups and sounds of evening cheer, Lewis tries to make peace with her past, weaving intricate, layered abstractions that literally pull at the threads of her personal history.

Among the many ironies of Lewis’s story is that her ancestors, namely Robert Owen, embarked on a mission to establish a Utopia in New Harmony—based on the moral principles of education and total equality. This concept of fostering the best qualities of humanity has been passed down from generation to generation ever since and is embedded in Lewis’s life. With her exhibition, Living Threads, Lewis is drawing our attention to the natural world, our relationship to the environment as caretakers and our ability to alter it.

Open through December 11, this exhibit is part of our Social Alchemy project. With this multifaceted, multiyear project, Indianapolis-based arts organization Big Car Collaborative — with our partners, the University of Southern Indiana, Indiana State Museum, Historic New Harmony, the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art and others –– have created a series of radio shows, exhibits, and conversations exploring, learning, and sharing how utopia has informed places and pursuits over time.

Social Alchemy explores historical and contemporary examples of utopian experiments, fictional utopias and dystopias, and social and cooperative-living design projects (linking back to our affordable artist housing program on our block in Indianapolis). Through a variety of public programs — made possible with support from Indiana Humanities and Efroymson Family Fund — it offers a deeper understanding of the relationship between the built environment and social good.

Image:Warbler Quilt
The Bombyx mori cocoons used to make each of shibori dyed rectangles are cultivated in the Highlands of Madagascar and delivered to the SEPALIM workshop(a non-governmental organization focused on conservation-based livelihood development.) in Maroantsetra, twice a year. Before making the long trip by boat and motorcycle to deliver giant sacks of cocoons, farmers slice open each cocoon and use the dried caterpillar as feed for their chickens. Nothing goes to waste. Each cocoon is trimmed, ironed flat and sewn one by one to create a textile.

JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES
2023-01-02 19:00 - 22:30, 2023-01-03 19:00 - 22:30 | Kan-Kan Cinema, 1258 Windsor St., Indianapolis, IN, 46201, United States
Recently declared the new greatest film of all time, Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is a singular work in film history.
The film meticulously details, with a sense of impending doom, the daily routine of a middle-aged widow, whose chores include making the beds, cooking dinner for her son, and turning the occasional trick.
In its enormous spareness, Akerman’s film seems simple, but it encompasses an entire world. Whether seen as an exacting character study or as one of cinema’s most hypnotic and complete depictions of space and time, Jeanne Dielman is an astonishing, compelling movie experiment, one that has been analyzed and argued over for decades.
Cast: Delphine Seyrig, Jan Decorte, Henri Storck
Director: Chantal Akerman
Writer: Chantal Akerman
Length: 202 minutes
Not Rated
(1975)

About Akerman
Chantal Akerman was born in 1950 in Brussels, and died in Paris in 2015. Akerman was a pioneer in feminist and experimental filmmaking. Born to Holocaust survivors from Poland, the generational trauma of this experience was a continuing theme in her work and in recent decades she explored her own Jewish identity. She made over 40 films during her life time, and is considerd to be one of the most important European directors of her generation.
Recent solo exhibitions have been shown at EyefilmMusem, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2020); MOCA, Toronto, Canada (2019); Oi Futuro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2018), a retrospective at La Cinemateque Francaise, Paris, France (2018); Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2015); The Kitchen, New York (2013); Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium (2013); Museum for Contemporary Art Antwerp, Belgium (2012); a film retrospective at the Vienna Film Festival, Austria (2011); the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri (2009); List Visual Arts Center, M.I.T. Cambridge, Massachusetts (2008); Camden Arts Centre, London, England (2008); Tel Aviv Musem of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel (2006); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2004); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (1995).

Em Elise, Jane Sun Kim, Simon Plemon: delicate(s)
2023-01-06 18:00 - 2023-02-20 18:00 | Listen Hear, 2620 Shelby St, , Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
delicate(s), is a collaborative multimedia installation assembled by Em Elise, Jane Sun Kim and Simon Plemon. The installation is a hypnotic visual foraging into the emotional nature of memory and the physical residue it leaves on, in, and around the body.
Spiritually fused by a collective longing for depth in a time of social media’s staged memory and the dissociative “new normal” induced by a global pandemic, delicate(s) investigates, commemorates, and liberates the artists’ hauntings beyond a two dimensional plane.
Featuring suspended sculpture, fabric prints, hand-drawn charcoal wall illustrations, projected video, enveloping soundscapes, and personal relics, delicate(s) summons the senses and elicits reflection in its viewers.
How do we integrate our memories into the minutia of our daily lives? How do they shape the way we move, react? Do they control our perception of reality, our identities?
Artist bios:
Em Elise
Whether it be through image making, prose, video, ritual, embroidery, movement, sculpture, auditory experience, or often a combination of media, Elise consistently gravitates towards immersive creative outlets to go inwards, seek purpose, process trauma, and embrace a sense of divine interconnectedness. Fueled by spiritual encounters and soul feelings, Elise approaches artmaking as alchemical therapy: an embalming of oneself, transmutation of pain, and reclamation of the holistic body. From using instant film to immortalize fleeting moments of intimacy to divulging ancestral and gender-based wounds through found footage and video collage, Elise creates to empower vulnerability, amplify marginalized narratives, cultivate collective healing, and provide an anchor for those that feel lost as and out of place in this world as she often does. Elise is native to and currently based out of Indianapolis, Indiana but frequently practices in Copenhagen, Denmark.
connect: @sin__atras
Jane Sun Kim
Kim contemplates the tangled relationship between nostalgia and identity under the
weight of the sentimental, often burdensome past. Her work is an incantation of lost moments, intimate secrets, fading youth, an ever persistent recollection of the past clouding her psyche.
Through expired film displayed on translucent banners, suspended sculptures using synthetic hair from her father’s beauty shop, and imagery of passed friends on wavering sheer silk, she weaves together her understanding of self. Kim draws influences from her experience as a child from a Korean American immigrant family, film of her family’s unspoken past, and her struggle with repetitive thought patterns from obsessive compulsive disorder. Kim was born in Augsburg, Germany and raised in Seoul, South Korea and predominantly Indianapolis, Indiana and is a part of Big Car Collaborative’s Artist and Public Life Residency.
connect: @vulturesonly
Simon Plemon
Plemon’s artwork explores personal mythology and macabre identity through a
fantastical lens. Through the use of video, textile work, and experimental image making Plemon crafts a hauntingly liminal universe. Much of Simon’s work is an atmospheric blend of documentation and experience. Motifs of feminine handicraft, biblical imagery, and physical morbidity of the body regularly appear in Plemon’s work. When not creating physical pieces, Simon can be found curating local dance events or tattooing.
connect: @clownartist
Made possible by the Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Betsy Stirratt: Unearthing
2023-01-06 18:00 - 2023-03-19 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
In Unearthing, Stirratt explores how natural and cultural objects are presented in collections and museum settings, and how we preserve, classify, and display them.
From Stirratt: “I have visited many natural history, herbaria and medical museums in Europe and the US with the aim of understanding their objectives, collecting impulses, and labelling practices. With similar intent, I visited several regional historical sites and collections, including the Workingmen’s Institute in New Harmony, the Indiana University Paleontology Collection, and Angel Mounds. The resulting photographs and objects demonstrate the sometimes underestimated importance of local and regional history within the broader museum sphere.
The items within a museum or private collection are accumulated with a view to imposing order, classifying nature, preserving memory, or in some instances to signaling status. Items may be preserved for their cultural and historical importance, or for their aesthetic qualities. For some, collecting serves as a means of accumulating knowledge, or as inspiration for their imagination and memories. For me, it’s the embedded history of objects and places, and how history and folklore can inform our relationship with the world.
More specifically, I’m interested in the idea of both documenting collected items and using this documenting collected items and using the documentation process to create new artifacts: a coupling of curation and creation, as it were. Influenced by my many years as a gallery director and curator, I think about the way that art and objects are selected and placed in juxtaposition with each other and how they are subsequently perceived by viewers. It is important to acknowledge that the viewer’s experience is changed by the inclusion or exclusion of objects and the information that accompanies them.
The videos in the exhibit were made using three artists books that contain words and pictures about collections I have visited: specifically botany, anatomy and zoological collections. Each of the videos features the turning pages of the books in the Collected Series, interspersed with video and audio clips that I gathered from museum visits, educational films and from life.
Additionally, alongside the pieces inspired by museum collections and artifacts in this installation, I am including materials I have collected (e.g., a 19th c. herbarium, Victorian bird taxidermy, amateur butterfly collections) relating to my interest in history, natural history and the ways objects are preserved and presented within a curated setting. These items were gathered because almost all were created by an amateur who had some specific interest in the subject that he/she was preserving.
Collections and museums inform us about the world we live in, record the past and provide material memory across generations. Unearthing is an attempt to impose order on an unordered world, drawing upon hazy memory, inexact connections, and interpreted histories. The process of unearthing objects, both physically and metaphorically, can broaden our experience of the world, stimulating imagination and wonder about what we have around us.”
About the artist
Betsy Stirratt’s creative practice focuses on themes about nature, collections and the environment. She is the Founding Director of the Grunwald Gallery of Art at Indiana University Bloomington where she has curated exhibitions and published catalogs since 1987. Exhibiting her own work widely since 1983, solo exhibitions include La Maladie at The Mütter Museum in Philadelphia and the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago and Veiled Taxonomies at the Center for Book Arts in New York. Her work has been included in group exhibits at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Indianapolis Museum of Art, and White Columns and Art in General in New York among others. She is the recipient of a Visual Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
VISIT US
Wednesday -Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Tube is also open until 10 p.m. each First Friday.
Closed Holidays
Made possible by The Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis and the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation.

Words & Music: Maurice Broaddus
2023-01-14 17:00 - 18:00 | 99.1 WQRT, United States
Join Oreo Jones as he interviews Indianapolis-based Maurice Broaddus –a writer, community organizer and teacher. His work has appeared in magazines like Lightspeed Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Asimov’s, Magazine of F&SF, and Uncanny Magazine, with some of his stories having been collected in The Voices of Martyrs.

Broaddus’s books include the urban fantasy trilogy, The Knights of Breton Court, the steampunk works, Buffalo Soldier and Pimp My Airship, and the middle grade detective novels, The Usual Suspects and Unfadeable. His project, Sorcerers, is being adapted as a television show for AMC. As an editor, he’s worked on Dark Faith, Fireside Magazine, and Apex Magazine.

Words & Music is made possible by a grant from Indiana Humanities . And is a project of Big Car Collaborative , the nonprofit behind WQRT.
Learn more at MauriceBroaddus.com.
Words & Music is made possible by a grant from Indiana Humanities . And is a project of Big Car Collaborative , the nonprofit behind WQRT.

Mvhayv Radio Marathon
2023-01-28 12:00 - 20:00 | 99.1 WQRT, United States
Mvhayv Radio is a language and cultural preservation project by multi-disciplinary artist, Elisa Harkins (Cherokee/Muscogee) based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
All day we will air episodes 1-10 to celebrate kicking off a new season starting Feb 4 with episode 11.
Episode 1 – Can you dance to this?
Episode 2 – Songs to find your radical lover to
Episode 3 – TikTok
Episode 4 – All Indigenous
Episode 5 – Africa
Episode 6 – Muscogee (Creek) & Seminole Hymns
Episode 7 – All Indigenous spoken word, noise, and moccasin gaze.
Episode 8 – Music to bake cookies to.
Episode 9 – All Indigenous poems and music.
Episode 10 – All Indigenous poems and music.
Harkins work is concerned with translation, language preservation, and Indigenous musicology. Harkins uses the Cherokee and Mvskoke languages, electronic music, sculpture, and the body as her tools. Harkins received a BA from Columbia College, Chicago and an MFA from CALARTS. She has since continued her education at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She has exhibited her work at Crystal Bridges, documenta 14, The Hammer Museum, The Heard Museum, and Vancouver Art Gallery. She created an online Indigenous concert series called 6 Moons, and published a CD of Creek/Seminole Hymns. She will open an exhibit at Tube Factory artspace July 5-October 19, 2024.
She is also part of Radio III / ᎦᏬᏂᏍᎩ a performance group that features music and choreography by Harkins. With support from PICA and Western Front, songs from the performance have been collected into a limited edition double-LP which can be found on Harkins’ Bandcamp. Harkins resides on the Muscogee (Creek) Reservation and is an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
This program is made possible by National Endowment for the Arts and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Nathaniel Russell: HERE IT IS IT ALWAYS IS
2023-02-03 18:00 - 2023-03-19 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
For “HERE IT IS IT ALWAYS IS,” Russell shares new paintings, objects, and situations made improvisationally with recycled, found and reused materials. A visual artist, illustrator, and musician based in Indianapolis who has shown his work around the world, Russell utilized the Efroymson Gallery at Tube Factory during the month of January to build his work for this exhibition. With “HERE IT IS IT ALWAYS IS,” Russell continues to explore themes of hope, anxiety, compassion and our place in an ever-expanding universe.

Nathaniel Russell was born and raised in Indiana. After college, he spent several years in the San Francisco Bay Area making posters, record covers, and woodcuts. His work can be seen around the world in traditional galleries and informal spaces. Russell has also created many book and album cover designs, illustrations for the New York Times, and a viral series of fake flier projects.

Two of Russell’s murals are found on Big Car’s campus — You are Here on the Listen Hear building and Totally Pencil on Tube Factory. Russell also previously made colorful, oversized plywood cutouts for Big Car’s parking lot garden at Service Center outside of Lafayette Square Mall and shared a solo show, Thing, at Big Car Gallery in its early days in Fountain Square.

Opening receptions: Feb 3 & Mar 3, 6-10 pm in our Jeremy D. Efroymson Gallery.

VISIT US
Wednesday -Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Tube is also open until 10 p.m. each First Friday.
Closed Holidays

Made possible by the Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis and The Efroymson Family Fund.

African Dance with Uzuri
2023-02-08 19:30 - 21:00, 2023-06-07 19:30 - 21:00, 2023-06-14 19:30 - 21:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join Uzuri Asad, artist in Big Car’s Public Life Residency, for a dose of culture, self-care, and community as we explore rhythms from West Africa and other parts of the Diaspora. Give your body and soul a moment to reflect and progress all at once, meet Asad on the floor!

First Friday Night Market
2023-03-03 18:00 - 22:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join us again for this upcoming First Friday for a wonderful evening in Garfield Park. We are celebrating local artists, musicians, food trucks and vendors by featuring them in our night market.
Come check out our creative endeavors here around Cruft Street, where you will have the opportunity to purchase local goods from amazing artists and food vendors here at the Tube.
During the winter months, the Night Market is held inside Tube Factory artspace. In the fall, spring, and summer months, vending is located outside.
If you are a local artist or maker, please contact email hidden; JavaScript is required for more information.

Jason Gray: Cthutopia
2023-04-07 18:00 - 2023-05-21 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
“I remember sitting in church one Sunday near Easter, trying to pay attention to the sermon but failing. I was six or seven, maybe. My mind wandered as I looked around the sanctuary. I started to think about these two hallways that led away from the main room. The one to the right was familiar to me; the choir room was down there and I found myself there often, waiting for my grandparents to hang up their robes after service. The hallway to the left was a mystery. I had never been down it, nor seen many people go in or come out. This particular Sunday I started to imagine what was down there. I pictured the hall itself to be similar to the other side, with white walls and a white door. Opening this white door would lead you somewhere else, though. It led to a cave of sorts, with gray stone walls and a dusty floor: Jesus’ tomb. Jesus was in there too, frozen in carbonite like Han Solo.

As we get older, there seems to be less time for our imaginations to wander. We get bogged down with responsibilities and thoughts about what we need to do next. Our sense of wonder diminishes as we learn more about the world; we know the chances of discovering monsters or hidden worlds are slim. A lucky few get to live in their imagination, like writers and filmmakers, but most of us are stuck, grounded by real life.

The philosopher Michael Foucault used the term “heterotopia” to describe places that deviated from the normal world. A greek word meaning “other place”, a heterotopia is neither a utopia nor a dystopia, but something in between, a parallel world that is contrary to expected society and that can, at times, be disturbing. Foucault cited examples such as prisons, hospitals, and religious sanctuaries, where one is expected to perform certain rituals to enter. These spaces are an accepted part of society, places we deem necessary in order to exclude those that can disrupt our attempt at a utopia. What if there were places hidden from us that go beyond societal expectations and exist outside of our rules of physics and nature as we understand it?

In this body of work, I am exploring the dream that there are still places and things we have not discovered, things we may not even comprehend. Inside of familiar volumes such as instrument cases and terrariums, I am creating spaces that give a glimpse of some other world, somewhere weird and wrong. This is Cthutopia.”

About the artist
Jason Gray is a furniture maker residing in Indianapolis. Wood is the medium most often used, but he also dabbles in slip cast ceramics and looks for inspiration in found objects. He earned a BFA at Herron School of Art and an MFA at The University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Gray is the Lead Builder at Big Car Collaborative. He is the designer behind campus projects such as The Chicken Chapel of Love, The Chicken Palace, and Wandering Grove.

This exhibit is made possible by The Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis and Allen Whitehill Clowes Foundation.

Jeremy Efroymson Gallery
Opening events April 7, 6-10pm & May 5, 6-10pm

Women's Assembly for Production & Sound
2023-05-12 19:00 - 22:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
The event will begin with a Q&A panel moderated by DJ Space Bunz. Our panelists include, Lex the curator of No Rap on Sunday, DJ Gabby Luv, DJ Jess Little Town, DJ Annie D, and DJ Non-Compliant. All of these women are leaders in the local music scene in Indianapolis and seasoned in their craft. Following the Q&A, each panelist will break off into their own station and participants will be able to visit each station and get their hands on gear! The idea is to lower the barrier of entry for DJing and allow participants to experience all different types of DJing gear including CDJ’s, Turtables, Controllers, and production software. Participants will have an opportunity to learn from our panelists and network. Following the break out, there will be a quick Back-To-Back DJing session from our panel of DJ’s and guests will be encouraged to dance!
The event will be broadcast on Listen Hear Radio WQRT 99.1 and is in collaboration with Tube Factory Art Space, Red Bull, Deckademics, Girls Rock Indianapolis and Indy.fm.
The event is 18+ and beverages will be available for purchase for the 21+ crowd.
We are excited for you to join us!
Below you will find more information about our moderator and each of our panelists!
DJ Space Bunz @brianachele: DJ Space Bunz is 5 years in the craft. She currently spins an open music format at various clubs and events in the city & is a part of a local DJ collective, Club Plex. She believes that music has the power & potential to transform the energetic field of any environment.
DJ Little Town @djlittletown: Indianapolis born with dual citizenship belonging to Brazil, Little Town is an eclectic music selector that has been DJing for nearly a decade around the world. She is highly adaptive to her audience; playing multi-genre dance parties, Top-40 venues across the city, underground techno clubs, all vinyl DJ nights, and private events.
DJ Annie D @anniedulhanty: A true open format DJ, Annie D has cultivated a brand based on her love for all music genres, her western and edgy style, and her motivation and passion to maintain the party at any venue. Her ability to weave through and touch all genres of music during her party driven sets has molded her club/event driven career. DJ Annie D has residencies at Metro Nite Club and Tini on Mass Ave, Burn by Rocky Patel, and Union 50 to name a few – and has played events including Bi/Pan Pride and Chicken and Beer Fest.
DJ Gabby Love @djgabbylove: DJ Gabby Love is Indianapolis-based & has become one of the most sought after DJs for Clubs and Events in the city. She has played club gigs & festivals in NYC, London (UK), Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Louisville, Denver. She has DJ’d prestigious events for clients such as Gatorade, Sak’s 5th Ave., Heineken, Red Bull, and the Indiana Pacers. Her passion & knowledge of the craft can be heard & felt in her sets, filled with seamless blends & creative lyric/sample associations that get the party going!
Lex @ibetuwanta_lexus: As a girl growing up, I would sing in church & a part of choirs. Singing never was my true passion, although I loved music, bringing ppl together has always been my strongest gift so that’s why I started No Rap On Sunday! In the beginning it was just a hashtag I used on Twitter! Every Sunday I would do the hashtag & ask ppl what they were listening to! That started in 2015 & I slowly turned it into an event that I host on the last Sunday of the month during the summer! It was organic & something that I dreamt about constantly, so to see it come into fruition is a blessing.
DJ Non-Compliant @_noncompliant_: Raised in small town Indiana on a musical diet of 80s synth pop and punk rock, Noncompliant soon found barnyard raves and warehouse techno parties and (as DJ Shiva) quickly became a fixture of the fabled 90s Midwest USA rave scene.
Two decades and a name change later, she is at the top of her techno game. Mixmag named her one of 2017’s Top 20 Breakthrough DJs. She owned a packed and sweaty Boiler Room during Movement Detroit, turned in mindblowing mixes for Slam Radio, Discwoman, and Resident Advisor, and quaked some of the world’s most respected dance floors like Smartbar Chicago, Amsterdam’s DeSchool, Concrete in Paris, and Berlin’s legendary Berghain. Her festival appearances include Unsound, Red Bull Music Festival Paris, Movement Detroit, and Whole United Queer Festival.
As a producer, her releases and remixes on labels like Valence, Argot, Flash, and Dark Entries have pounded sound systems worldwide, with her tune “Women’s Work” landing on Fiedel’s official Berghain 08 mix and on his label Fiedeltwo.

African Dance with Uzuri
2023-05-17 19:30 - 21:00, 2023-05-31 19:00 - 21:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join Uzuri Asad, artist in Big Car’s Public Life Residency, for a dose of culture, self-care, and community as we explore rhythms from West Africa and other parts of the Diaspora. Give your body and soul a moment to reflect and progress all at once, meet Asad on the floor!
$10

Super Sunday Showdown 2.0
2023-05-21 14:00 - 20:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Super Sunday Showdown Returns!!
Join us for this music, food and fun event organized by Clint Breeze and hosted by Tenna.

Food Trucks: That Vegan Joint and Weiner Dreams

Set times:
2:30-3:00 – Emma Hall
3:15-3:45 – Breeze Funk and Joel
4-4:30 – Gritty and Craftsman
4:45- 5:30 – Joshua Powell
5:45 – 6:15 – Mandog DJ Set
6:30-7:00 – KIDDO
7:15-8 – Drayco

Nasreen Khan: Cic·a·trix
2023-06-02 08:00 - 2023-07-23 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
The narrative of femininity is pain.
Cicatrix: the scar of a healed wound. In botany, cicatrix refers to the keloid mark left on a tree after a piece of it has been removed. In this body of work, I am exploring the personal maternal scar of being taken away from the only real parental figure I had until that point in life, the complex scars of colonialism and immigration, and the physical scars of my own body.

I spent the first part of my life in Senegal, West Africa. I was raised by my nanny, a Senegalese woman named Saly. In Senegal there is a practice called diamou, or gum tattooing and burning. A hot needle is repeatedly poked into a woman’s gums. Then a mixture of burnt oil and shea butter is rubbed into the wounds to darken the space around the teeth. This is supposed to make the woman more beautiful, but also to train her to tolerate pain. When I was 9, Sali began tattooing my gums to blacken them. She was never able to finish. I spent the second half of my life in Indonesia. Saly died the year after we left Africa.

The architect and urban planner, Le Corbusier, wrote about humanity as born in a state of insufficiency, therefore needing “auxiliary organs.” For Le Corbusier, our built environments, including building architecture, become prosthetic extensions of our insufficient human bodies. His thoughts form the basis for contemporary prosthetic theory, often cited in the world of AI and tech innovation. For example, a computer mouse pad becomes an extension of our internal understanding of reality, as it is the “limb” we use to create changes in our virtual realities.

Immigration is both an amputation and a taking on of prosthesis through cultural assimilation in a new built environment. The relationships we leave behind are an extension of ourselves. Their separation leaves a wound, then a scab, then a callous on which the new ones rest like a prosthetic limb.

I draw on concepts of scarification and prosthesis in this body of work. The collections of dots and lines that form many of the backgrounds are translated from traditional African scarification patterns. I choose to work burning on wood, mirroring the tattoos on my gums. The tree limbs and bark are functionally akin to scarred skin and flesh.

The cultural narrative of femininity I was taught as a child was –to be woman was to endure pain–and to be a good woman, was to endure pain quietly. Once I immigrated to America, the messaging about what it meant to be a woman changed only slightly. I am in pain. The pain I experience is often dismissed, by the immigration and medical systems, by male partners, by respectability culture.These works are manifestations of the silent scaring and re-wounding that many women experience. They challenge and subvert these narratives through their size and emotionality. The use of a once living medium is a metaphor for womanhood and immigration.
Run your fingers on the raised welts in the wood. Touch pain.

About the Artist
Nasreen Khan (she/her) is a writer, visual artist, teacher, and mother. She grew up in West Africa and Indonesia and has recently made a home in Indianapolis. Her teaching and artistic practices, rooted in questions of equity and earth-based spirituality, grapple with questions of belonging; celebrate cultural margins; and confront colonization, racism, and misogyny.
IG: @heyitsnasreen
Website: https://nasreen-khan.com/

June 2-July 23
Jeremy D. Efroymson Gallery
Wednesday -Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Tube is also open until 10 p.m. each First Friday.
Closed Holidays
Made possible by The Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation and more.

Haykidd &Thee Black Card-Hey Black Kidd
2023-06-02 18:00 - 2023-07-23 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
“Hey Black Kidd” is a collaborative body of work created by painter, Haykidd (Greg Rose) and mixed media artist, Thee Black Card (Sarah Jene). The exhibit is a celebration of self, full realization and acknowledgement of who you are, where you are and what you have– from their perspectives.

Pairing Thee Black Card’s rich cultural mixed media work and Haykidd’s imaginative approach to storytelling, these artists tell a story of resilience, joy and virtue in 14 pieces.

The exhibit is inspired by this poem written by Useni Perkins:
“Hey Black Child
Do you know who you are
Who you really are
Do you know you can be
What you want to be
If you try to be
What you can be
Hey black child
Do you know where you are going
Where you’re really going
Do you know you can learn
What you want to learn
What you can learn
Hey Black child
Do you know you are strong
I mean really strong
Do you know you can do
What you want to do
If you try to do
What you can do
Hey Black child
Be what you can do
Learn what you must learn
Do what you can do
And tomorrow your nation
Will be what you want it to be”

This exhibit opens in our Listen Hear Gallery located at 2625 Shelby St.

Boo! A knitting/graffiti project with Mary Jo Bayliss
2023-06-03 13:00 - 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
A free gathering where knitting and graffiti collide! Simultaneously inspired by traditional knitting and graffiti, this ever-evolving piece combines fiber adjacent activities, coloring sheets derived from graffiti and knitting motifs, and opportunities for participants to share their creative path stories.
You are invited to come join the fun, because without YOU, Boo, this project can’t happen.
About the artist
Mary Jo Bayliss specializes in creating environments that help people feel at ease using space, light and color to achieve these goals.

Yeabsera Tabb Gallery Talk
2023-06-17 14:00 - 15:30 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join Yeabsera Tabb as she gives an in-depth tour of her works in her exhibit, “Tezeta.” Tabb is an interdisciplinary visual artist with a focus in printmaking and textiles. Her work explores the intersectionalities and liminal space contained within one’s personal identity.
As an artist, Yeabsera often struggles to reconcile her pain, bewilderment, and anger with societal expectations to create beauty. Acknowledging anger, joy, and resistance, her work exists in a complicated middle ground, invoking the recognition and appreciation of disparate feelings and experiences.
After graduating with degrees in both Design for Social Impact and Fine Arts, Yeabsera held multiple solo and group shows in Indianapolis including a group show at Newfields. Additionally, she was one of 10 Black woman artists named as an Emerging Visionary Artist by Shea Moisture.

Andrea Jandernoa- Power Plant Grant Juror Artist Talk
2023-06-25 13:00 - 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Learn about artist Andrea Jandernoa, a juror for our 2023 Power Plant Grant. Jandernoa is an award-winning artist and educator who specializes in community-based arts programming. She holds an MA in Philosophy and an MFA in Integrative Studio Practice from Herron School of Art & Design. Jandernoa experiments with intentional processes, materials, and forms, in order to discover metaphors that can be applied to social contexts or to challenge inequitable power structures. This results in a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary art practice. Jandernoa also maintains a studio space at the Circle City Industrial Complex where she paints and exhibits oil paintings.

About the The Power Plant Grant
Power Plant Grants support — on an annual basis — visual artists who live, work, or run spaces in Indianapolis with project grants of $10,000. Applications for this round are due by July 10, 2023.

Each year — based on selections by an independent panel — 6 individual artists or teams will receive awards of $10,000.

Eligible applicants are visual and or multidisciplinary artists who create original work in painting, drawing, sculpture, book art, ceramics, fiber, printmaking, digital and media works, film, video, photography, performance art, sound art, social practice and or hybrid or interdisciplinary practice of any or all of the above.

Artists must be over 21 at the time of the application, and may not be full-time students.

Employees or board members (or immediate family members of employees or board members) of Big Car Collaborative are not eligible for this opportunity.
Teams, partnerships, and unincorporated individuals running spaces are eligible. Nonprofit organizations are not.

Eligible projects are ones that can be primarily supported by grant funds. Much larger projects that would require far more funding are not eligible.
Previous Power Plant Grant recipients awarded in the previous year are not eligible to apply for this current round.

How it works
Apply by July 10, 2023. A panel of four judges, three Indiana-based and one out-of-state, will award six artists, artist teams, or artist-run space project grants of $10,000 — with a total of $60,000 granted in 2023.
Timeline:
Friday, May 5 – Application opens
Monday, June 5, 7-8 pm — Virtual information session.
Monday, June 26, 7-8 pm — Information session (in-person)
Monday, July 10 – Applications close online, at 11.59 PM EST
Friday, August 11 – All applications notified if they will proceed to the final round
Saturday, August 26, 9:30 am — 6pm — Artists’ presentations at Selection Panel meeting in Indianapolis*
Monday, August 28 – Award recipients notified
Monday, September 18 – Public Announcement of 2023-24 Awards

Marianne Glick: What Lies Beneath
2023-07-07 18:00 - 2023-07-21 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
“All the paintings in this exhibit have multiple layers. The initial impression of the painting from a distance will change as you get closer-you will see more depth and dimension -things you maybe didn’t notice at first. I think this is a reflection of life. Often we make judgements based on first impressions, but once we get closer to someone, we realize that there is much more…beneath the surface.”– Marianne Glick

About the artist
Looking for a way to positively approach the winter months after a career in corporate training, Marianne began painting in September of 2005. Her love of gardening inspired many of her early paintings. Most of her recent work is abstract. She often uses more than one medium in her work, combining watercolor, acrylic and some collage to create pieces that reflect her exuberant nature. “I have worked in a variety of media and am now focusing on acrylics. I enjoy the use of rich colors and textures in my work. Exploring the interplay between transparent & opaque, warm & cool, brush work and pouring fascinates me. Most recently, I have been delving deeper by creating multiple layers and sanding back to reveal parts of early layers in the final painting.”

Marianne’s paintings have been accepted in juried competitions sponsored by the Hoosier Salon, California Art Day, Indianapolis Art Center, International Society of Acrylic Painters, International Society of Experimental Artists, Midwest Abstract National Exhibit, Watercolor Society of Indiana, and Women’s’ Works . Marianne likes to donate paintings to benefit some of her favorite non-profit organizations. To date she has donated paintings or profits from paintings to Women’s Fund, Dress for Success, Community Health Network Foundation, Joy’s House, Girls, Inc., Planned Parenthood, Indianapolis Symphony, Indianapolis Library and United Way.
Marianne now serves on the board of directors for the Glick Family Foundation, the Gene Glick Company, the Glick Housing Foundation, ASCEND, Central Indiana Community Foundation, Ivy Tech Community College, RISE Indy, TeenWorks and United Way of Central Indiana.
Her personal mission is to ignite, inspire and direct energy for positive action. Her paintings allow her to colorfully express her mission and hopefully bring joy to those who view them.

Brian DePauli: Not Sorry We're Closed
2023-08-04 18:00 - 2023-09-24 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Not Sorry We’re Closed is an exhibition inspired by and questions American society’s live-to-work mentality, and is comprised primarily of hyper-realistic oil paintings. DePauli’s pieces preserve and draw attention to objects and scenes from the lighter side of daily life: a worn bicycle seat, a chimney on the grill in summer, a homemade skate ramp in a fenced-in backyard, a ballcap lying in the garden proclaiming “RETIRED, No Phone! No Fax! No Stress! No Worries!” The surface meaning of these items and scenes are emphasized as a lifestyle to aspire to rather than objects to contemplate.
“I am concerned with the cultural and environmental effects of America’s obsession with work, as well as the physical and mental health ramifications,” says DePauli. “In 1930, distinguished economist John Maynard Keynes published a short essay, ‘Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren,’ where, among other ideas, he states that ‘by 2030 the standard of living would be dramatically higher; people, liberated from want (and without the desire to consume for the sake of consumption), would work no more than fifteen hours a week, devoting the rest of their time to leisure and culture.’ My work envisions a world where his prediction has come true.”
About the artist
Brian DePauli received his MA in visual art from Fontbonne University. His work has been exhibited widely throughout the St. Louis area at galleries including Fort Gondo, Boots Contemporary Art, and White Flag Projects, as well as nationally at Around the Coyote in Chicago, IL, and The Berkeley Art Center in Berkeley, CA. DePauli’s works have been featured in several publications and platforms, such as New American Paintings and BOOOOOOOM. He has participated in residencies at The Luminary in St. Louis, MO, and Paul Art Space in Florissant, MO. Brian DePauli lives and works in Saint Louis.
This exhibit is made possible by the Indy Arts Council, The City of Indianapolis and Allen Whitehill Clowes Foundation.

Tube Factory artspace
Jeremy D Efroymson Gallery
VISIT US
Wednesday -Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Tube is also open until 10 p.m. each First Friday.
Closed Holidays
Big Car Collaborative brings art to people and people to art, sparking creativity in lives to support communities. As an artist-run nonprofit organization, we utilize tools of culture and creativity to build community and social cohesion — connecting people as a way to boost quality of life. We support our community by supporting artists.
Much of our work happens on a single block where we own or co-own more than 20 properties — including a long-term affordable housing program for artists and Tube Factory — a contemporary art museum with a cafe, studios, and community space. At our campus of adaptive reuse buildings and public greenspace, we host community and cultural programs to promote social connectivity, cooperation, and creativity.
We also facilitate people-focused placemaking and place keeping projects across the city and beyond through Spark. Tune in to our experimental, community-focused radio station, WQRT 99.1 FM — also streaming at wqrt.org.

FreeTown Village: The Rev. Samuel P. Strong
2023-08-17 16:00 - 18:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
In the “Day in the Life of Rev. Samuel P. Strong”, you’ll listen to the moving story of Rev. Strong’s kidnapping into slavery and his daring escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Share his encounters with legendary abolitionist Harriet Tubman.

Freetown Village is a living history museum with the mission to educate the public about African American lives, arts, and culture in Indiana through living history, exhibits, allied programs, and the collection and preservation of artifacts.

Who? SPARK on the Circle is an ongoing partnership between Big Car Collaborative, Downtown Indy, City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development, the Capital Improvement Board, and the Indiana War Memorials Commission.

What? SPARK brings a free, fun, playful, welcoming, and art-filled park to the heart of Indianapolis. Here on Monument Circle, you’ll find comfortable places to sit in the shade, free games to play like ping pong and chess, a cafe serving food and drink, art experiences, and special offerings like live, local music. Big Car Collaborative approaches its aspects of SPARK on the Circle as a site and community specific public art project.

When? Visitors can enjoy SPARK on the Circle from 11 a.m. until dusk each day until November 3.

Where? New for 2023, the SPARK park utilizes the brick streets between the monument and the sidewalk on the southwest quadrant between Market Street on the west side of the monument and South Meridian. The southwest is in front of Emmis and next to South Bend Chocolate Company.

Lunch at Lockerbie Marketplace
2023-09-07 11:30 - 13:30 | Needler’s Market, 320 N New Jersey, Indianapolis, IN, 46204, United States
Join us for live music by Wick, comfort dishes by Taste of Manila, and Live music. Games like foosball, ping pong, chess & checkers, and giant Jenga are also available for additional entertainment.
All events are free at 320 N New Jersey Street in the greenspace right off the Cultural Trail.

About Wick
John Wick and Andrew Gustin met at IU Bloomington in 2006 and quickly bonded over similar music tastes. In 2007 they moved to Indianapolis and started an Indie Rock band called The Dwellers. The Dwellers were prolific and inspired by the DIY spirit and self released over 10 albums. In 2013 The Dwellers final album ‘Less is More’ was released by Jon Roger’s local label HIFR.
In 2021 John and Andrew reunited to make an album of songs John wrote in college. They started a new band called Wick and enlisted Dan Johnson to play drums and had John’s siblings Katie Jones and Ian Wick contribute with backing vocals on the album. Angel Baby is the single from the Wick album called “Forest” which will come out later in the year.
The band was joined by former Dwellers bassist Eric Brock to fill out the lineup.
About the project
A free gathering where knitting and graffiti collide! Simultaneously inspired by traditional knitting and graffiti, this ever-evolving piece combines fiber adjacent activities, coloring sheets derived from graffiti and knitting motifs, and opportunities for participants to share their creative path stories.
You are invited to come join the fun, because without YOU, Boo, this project can’t happen. Mary Jo Bayliss specializes in creating environments that help people feel at ease using space, light and color to achieve these goals.

Her Addiction-An Empty Place At The Table: Book reading with Mary Sexon
2023-09-24 14:30 - 16:30 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join us and author Mary Sexson for a reading of her new book of poetry “Her Addiction, An Empty Place at the Table.”

“The book is a collection of poems that came to be written in response to the family problem of addiction. I feel that the poems are a chronicle of the fear, shame, and anger we went through as a family, during the years of our daughter’s active drug use and addiction. I wrote these poems over the course of almost 10 years, as a way to cope with the pain of it, the absolute fear of it, which I processed and filtered through the lenses of these words. My husband and I were also taking care of our daughter’s young son during this time, because she was unable to care for him. I knew we were not alone, that the dark secret of addiction was present within many families. I wanted this book to be some sort of acknowledgement that yes, this happened to us. Maybe it happened to you. So we need to talk about it openly, to tell the truth about it, to let go of the secrets and the shame. Writing these poems helped to free me from those feelings, and ultimately helped to heal me from within. I want people to have a healing process reading these poems, even just to know that they’re not alone. And I want to acknowledge that the incredible road to recovery my daughter has journeyed on is also a part of that healing.”–Mary Sexson

Mary Sexson is author of the award-winning book, 103 in the Light, Selected Poems 1996-2000 (Restoration Press), and co-author of Company of Women, New and Selected Poems (Chatter House Press). Her poetry has appeared in Tipton Poetry Journal, Laureate, Hoosier Lit, Flying Island, New Verse News, Grasslands Review, and Last Stanza Poetry Journal, among others. She has recent work in Reflections on Little Eagle Creek, Anti-Heroin Chic, and Last Stanza Poetry Journal Issue #7. Finishing Line Press will publish her manuscript, Her Addiction, An Empty Place at the Table, in 2023. She has three Pushcart Prize nominations. Sexson’s poetry is part of the INverse Poetry Archives for Hoosier Poets.

“This is a poetry collection that will break your heart, but also make you grateful you read it. Mary Sexson tells the story of her daughter’s addiction(s) honestly, sometimes painfully, with grace and love. The first time I read the powerful and moving manuscript I sensed it could be a challenge for her to find a publisher. As the author of a book of poems about surviving abuse by a priest, however, I also had faith that some wise publisher would admire a poet who confronts difficult topics and stories like the one that Mary Sexson has the courage to tell about herself, her family, and their struggles. Sometimes she is patient, sometimes frustrated, impatient, exhausted, angry, but always she is honest. Remarkably, her love of, and loyalty to, her undependable daughter is everywhere evident.
The most moving part of the story is her and her husband’s having to raise their grandson, a toddler, while his mother, in her thirties, is in and out of treatment, somewhere in an alley looking for a fix, causing a traffic accident, or temporarily back home before relapsing again. Sexson makes it clear that for everyone in the family there is “a heavy toll to pay.” At first, the grandson is unaware of what’s going on, but eventually his grandmother observes him playing “The Dinosaur Game,” with “a family /of triceratops,” then realizes, “I buy him the dinosaurs / he configures / into the family he does not have.” Later the little boy asks his grandmother a series of questions, including: “Why is [my] mommy not here?” On his bedside table, a “Big Ironman” stands, whose job is “to keep him safe / until her return.”
It’s no surprise that the grandparents find it difficult to share this painful story with others, which makes the telling of so much truth in these eloquent poems noteworthy. “The price we all pay / for this level of intimacy is staggering,” Sexson admits. “I ache for monotony…the comfort of it.” In “Map of My Fears,” she says: “Your addiction draws lines / on my face, deep and distinct.” She becomes “tired of writing about [her] in my head.” Finally, the grandparents start to “whisper” the story of their daughter’s addiction, telling others the “facts / bare and ugly as they were.”
In the last poem, “The Words,” Sexson reveals all that she would like to be able to tell her daughter on her 37th birthday. The last message is this: “Tell her / that you learn the truth about love / every time you are with her.” The poet is too wise to tell us, directly, what that truth is – the poems in this outstanding collection deserving of a wide audience have already made us see and feel it. Mary Sexson’s exquisite artistry makes forgetting her family story impossible.”
–Norbert Krapf, Former Indiana Poet Laureate

“I’ve always appreciated the variety Mary Sexson brings to her writing. In the past she’s given us humor, other times practical advice, and often wise words. But more than anything she gives us herself. Mary is never afraid of letting us see the most sensitive moments of her life and now is no exception. She welcomes us into her private world where we can see “The indigo sky, color of my heart / today, blue tattooed across it. In this new book Her Addiction, An Empty Place at the Table, Mary has taken us into the nightmare of her daughter’s drug addiction. With these riveting poems we feel the weaving together of love and pain as she navigates the all too often calamities families suffer as the result of addiction. At the same time we feel her palpable longing for the coming of relentlessly gained joy in her daughter’s recovery.”
–Joyce Brinkman, Indiana Poet Laureate 2002-2008
