Big Car

Nasreen Khan: Cic·a·trix
2023-06-02 08:00 - 2023-07-23 15:00 (America/Indiana/Indianapolis) | 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.

African Dance with Uzuri
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!

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

NIGHTJAR, a poetry series with open mic
2023-11-15 19:00 - 21:00 | IN
Write a poem based on the prompt below and arrive early to sign up for our open mic!
NIGHTJAR creates an inclusive space for all by bringing together spoken-word performers and page-based poets writing in narrative, lyric, and experimental forms. Every third Wednesday, C.S. Carrier and Michelle Niemann host a reading and invite audience members to share their own poetic responses.
November’s featured poet is Katy Didden.
Didden’s most recent book, Ore Choir: The Lava on Iceland, is a collaboration with illustrator Kevin Tsing and was published by Tupelo Press in 2022. Her first book, The Glacier’s Wake (2013), won the Lena-Miles Wever Todd Prize from Pleiades Press. She is an associate professor of English at Ball State University.
NIGHTJAR open mic guidelines:
317 words is the maximum length for open mic contributions. Creative takes on the prompt are fine, but this must be new writing in response to the prompt!
Prompt for open mic:
Write from the point of view of a seemingly inanimate or non-sentient object, as Katy Didden does in her book, Ore Choir. This can take the form of an interview: ask an object or natural feature a question. For example, you could pick up a fallen leaf or a stone and ask it, “What color is the sky?” or “Where will I find home?” or “How would you define love?” or “What will end war?”

Artist Talk with Giselle Trujillio featuring artists from Indy Latina Artists
2024-03-17 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join Giselle Trujillo at the Tube Factory artspace for an artist talk about her latest art installation Hogar Dulce Hogar. In this event Giselle will talk about her start in her arts career, the materials used in her arts practice and the importance of the collaborative process to create her work. In this event members of the Indy Latina Artists will join Giselle Trujillo in a small panel conversation about the experience of being members of a latina women’s group and working to elevate and support each other.
Hogar Dulce Hogar (Home Sweet Home) is an immersive experience that transports visitors to a timeless realm and invites them to engage with the artwork and touch, feel, and even dance with the pieces. Trujillo’ screen paintings contemplate making a home where you are — without losing the richness of your background. The house symbolize the beauty of diverse experiences and merge to form a tapestry of identity. This echoes the importance of preserving cultural roots while embracing new surroundings. Trujillo also offers subtle commentary on emigration and the essence of “home.”
A notable facet of this installation is Trujillo’s inclusion of works by other members of the Indy Latina Artists group. They include: Mayra Espino, Ana Escalante, Vanessa Monfreda, Mary Mindiola, Rosa Maria Díes, Frances Ruiz, and Nettie Viera. Their pieces further enrich the overarching narrative and cultural tapestry woven by Trujillo’s vision.

Rachel Leah Cohn: Mem
2024-04-05 - 2024-06-24 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
To walk through the installation, Mem, is to enter a myth. A kaleidoscope of the divine feminine, there are fountains of light centering the space on the painting of Miriam– one of the seven major prophetesses of Israel. Miriam carried a rock from which flowed an abundant amount of water during the 40 years Jewish people searched for a place to live in the desert. Access to this water made survival of her people possible. Smaller paintings surround her, as well as ritual objects such as papercuts and amulets.The title of Cohn’s show, Mem, is a Hebrew letter that has multiple significant meanings in the work. “I recently took a class about the complexity, flexibility, and magic within a single Hebrew letter. When searching for a title, this one letter encapsulates many ideas I have considered while working in the studio. The shape can be seen as a wave and stands for the word for water, mayim,’ and Miriam and mikveh, a ritual bath used for transformation,” Cohn said. “Mem is related to feminine energy, motherhood, and the womb, symbolizing protection, safety, and giving to others.
“The letter also represents the number 40, a mystical number that speaks to the cyclic nature of time, moving from the past to the future. It is the time necessary for something to ripen and come to fruition, which I relate to both the creative process and this moment for all of us, which felt like an unmoored time of wandering and isolation, but also rebuilding. For me, it is an optimistic title, a link between the world we see and the hidden alternatives. It is a hope for connection and transformation for the world, seen through the lens of my experiences and the character of Miriam.
”The exhibit is also a reflection of these experiences living life and traveling around the world to practice art as someone with Jewish heritage. Cohn has led an extraordinary life as an artist: traveling, teaching, living and learning in places like Qatar, Denmark, China, and others.“The show is really about me thinking through my cultural heritage and my connection to Judaism, which is something that has always been a part of my life, but I think has been increasingly for-fronted by myself, but also by others particularly while living in Qatar, and some of the experiences that I had there that are both positive and negative,” said Cohn, now based in Indianapolis. “It felt impossible for me to talk about my own culture with my students. Even though expressing my heritage wasn’t always something that was super important to me, I think the experience of working with them on representing their culture — and feeling like I needed to hide my own — made me think more about the valuing of sharing my experiences more directly.”
Cohn utilizes several different 2-D and 3-D artforms to create the exhibit, although her background is originally in painting. The forms include — but are not limited to — sculpture, painting and light manipulation. These artforms express a myriad of connecting themes and ideas within the exhibition.“I have been researching the traditional craft of papercutting and am pulling out the shapes and symbols that I’m interested in and then converting them into these laser-cut objects that I’m painting on top of,” said Cohn, who also works as the Foundations Coordinator and an Assistant Professor in Ball State University’s School of Art. “And then that’s within the idea of a fountain — which is ultimately the form of this project — that has to do with Miriam from the Torah and the well, bringing water out of the desert to survive.
”The water of this fountain is external, but also internal. Cohn enjoys finding ways to use the materials she has at-hand to make works of art, channeling inner resilience from her ancestors. And, sometimes being resourceful means finding new peers to collaborate with, wherever she is. Some of her notable works include Hot Pot Sauna Cart (2016) which was made for the Bi-City Biennale for Urbanism and Architecture in Shenzhen, China; Lantern (Abu Nakhla Mirage) (2017), made in the desert in Qatar as an experimentation with light and location; and The Thunder, Perfect Mind (2021), an exploration of light and themes in Judaism. Cohn said although she has an eclectic-to-the-eye portfolio, all of her works have connections to her upcoming exhibit.
“I think my practice — and adapting to what is there — has been a theme of my life,” Cohn said. “When I look at my work over time, I’m finding different ways to talk about the same things.”Tube Factory artspace Chief Curator Shauta Marsh met Cohn when she was a juror at Ball State in 2019. Marsh had traveled to Qatar with Tube Factory’s Mari Evans exhibit. And Cohn and Marsh talked about the otherness they’d each experienced in both the Middle East and the Midwest.“I don’t have a strong sense of identity. So often I work with artists who do,” says Marsh. “Their work processes and relates stories tied to identity that are in jeopardy of being lost. My style as a curator is not an expert but an explorer. The exhibits at Tube Factory are an exploration with both the artist and the audience. I asked Cohn to use her work to explore her identity.”
As a multi-racial curator, Marsh’s practice has centered around identity and exploration of the meaning of culture. And Cohn’s exhibition continues this path.“After thousands of years — humans are still so threatened by each other’s appearance, by what each other speaks and believes,” says Marsh. “But we know that people are more open to art than each other. My hope is that people will see the work and the story of it — and hopefully we can all work on feeling less othered, less fearful of each other.”
About the artist:
Rachel’s work is concerned with themes of communication, mythology and rituals. Projects often attempt to give a physical form to something that is ephemeral, through painting, sculpture and installation. Recently, she lived in the desert where she was building lamps simulating mirages as an analog for memory and loss. Lately her research has been focused on Jewish mysticism and protective magic. Rachel exhibits her work nationally and internationally, including ACRE Gallery (Chicago, IL), Satellite Art Fair (Miami, FL), Terrain Biennial (Springfield, IL), Massey University (New Zealand), Qatar Museums (Qatar), the Istanbul Design Biennial (Türkiye) and Aterlierhaus Salzamt (Austria). She has attended many artist residency programs, including Vermont Studio Center (VT), Signal Culture (NY), Otis College of Art and Design (CA) and the Fire Station (Qatar). She holds a BFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design, an MFA in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University and is currently Foundations Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Art for the School of Art at Ball State University in Muncie, IN.

Curator- Shauta Marsh
This exhibition is made possible thanks to the support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Ball State University’s Aspire Program, Efroymson Family Fund, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Arts Council of Indianapolis and City of Indianapolis, and the Indiana Arts Commission.
About Tube Factory: Tube Factory is a 12,000 square foot museum space curated based upon the themes of community, place, memory and mythology. They commission local, regional, national and international contemporary visual and musical artists, borrow artifact-based exhibits and create community-sourced exhibits. A previously vacant former manufacturing building, it is now a thoughtfully renovated home base for non-profit art organization Big Car Collaborative’s work as well as partnership-based community meetings and cultural events.
For more about Cohn: Check out her website at rachelleahcohn.com and on Instagram @rachelleahc

NIGHTJAR: Samantha Fain
2024-05-15 18:00 - 21:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Doors at 6 pm, reading at 7 pm
Samantha (Sam) Fain is a Best-of-the-Net and Pushcart-nominated poet from Indiana. Her debut full-length collection, Are You There, releases April 25, 2024 with Bad Betty Press. She co-edited Kiss Your Darlings: A Taylor Swift Anthology with Olney Magazine in 2022. Sam’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Indianapolis Review, A Flame Called Indiana: An Anthology of Contemporary Hoosier Writing, SWWIM, Peach Mag, 8 Poems, and Non.Plus Lit. Sam loves her family and friends, bad jokes, pop culture, the em dash, and vinyl records, deeply and in no particular order.
Open mic prompt: Write a poem inspired by your favorite song, celebrity, internet meme, or tweet. (317 words max!)
Creative takes on the prompt are fine, but challenge yourself to write something new in response to the prompt!
NIGHTJAR creates an inclusive space for all by bringing together spoken-word performers and page-based poets writing in narrative, lyric, and experimental forms. Every third Wednesday, C.S. Carrier and Michelle Niemann host a reading and invite audience members to share their own poetic responses.
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Community Sound lab 1: Listening and Recording
2024-05-18 09:00 - 12:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Sound artists Rob Funkhouser and Landon Caldwell will start with a basic overview of intentional listening and field recording, and then lead participants on a sound walk through Garfield Park where everyone will get a chance to record sounds that they find to be interesting. For the second half of the workshop, there will be an opportunity for hands-on play with a modular synthesizer, as well as lessons on how to handle files, and prepare them to be used in your own personal projects.

We encourage people to come to either or both of these workshops. All ages and, all skill levels are welcome, this will be a family-friendly activity.

Elisa Harkins: Ekvnv (Land), the Sacred Mother from Which We Came
2024-07-12 18:00 - 2024-10-20 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
With this exhibit, Elisa Harkins looks at land in two different ways: a path toward healing due to the desecration of burial mounds in New Harmony, Indiana and how the Land Back movement addresses climate change. Harkins, a multi-disciplinary artist based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Tube Factory curator Shauta Marsh researched and worked on this exhibit for five years as part of Big Car Collaborative’s decade-long research project, Social Alchemy, that explores utopia and dystopia with an emphasis on the southern Indiana town of New Harmony that was twice the site of utopian experiments.
In the Main Gallery, Harkins draws attention to settler desecration of Indigenous mounds in the unmarked “Harmonist Cemetery” in New Harmony. When the Harmonists purchased the land in the early 1800s, they dug up the Indigenous burial mounds, collecting what they considered interesting items for their Cabinet of Curiosities. They then buried their dead over the native people’s remains. When the Harmonists sold the town to industrialist Robert Owen for his rationalist utopian attempt, the Harmonists took apart their church and used the brick to enclose the mounds with a wall. Today, the burial mounds are not acknowledged on signage for the cemetery.
Harkins brings light to this history and offers healing through the Spirit Houses. These are structures built that provide a protective shelter over the grave of their deceased relative. Harkins could not build them in the “Harmonist Cemetery.” So the photographic wall mural and Spirit Houses in the Main Gallery serve as a temporary monument to the native people buried there.
Through the 24 photographs on the wall surrounding the Spirit Houses,(also known as Grave Houses) Harkins tells the story of the mounds in New Harmony to demonstrate not only settler violence against Indigenous land and bodies but also the presence of multiple tribes at sacred burial sites across time. In examining multiple histories of mounds, Harkins interrogates whether Indigenous lands belong to one people alone, And her investigation prompts viewers to examine their own ties to land through time — in their lost ancestral cultures, as well as in contemporary society.
The Tear Dress on the north wall of the gallery is one Harkins wears in many photos and in her work in the video room. Cherokee women traditionally wore this dress in the Southeast in the early 1800s. Indian Removal began to take place during this time period in Indiana (land of the Indians). This is also around the time Harmonists sought to build a sort of religious utopia in the town they named New Harmony.
In the video room, Harkins shares a piece on the 200-year-old song,“Hesaketv Meset Likes or The One Who Gives us Breath.” Though the singing takes place in the present, Harkins seeks to move the audience through time, preserving culture by bringing this new knowledge of ourselves to the forefront.
Leading by example with her works, Harkins uses her Indigenous body as an extension of Ekvnv, the mother from which she came. This embodies critical reflection on deep human connections to ancestral lands across time and place. Her cultural references to ancient mounds with intersectional tribal histories — as well as contemporary tribally-specific structures such as Spirit Houses — probe the meanings of “Indigenous” identity and question whether individual tribal nations will participate in intersectional freedom for all Indigenous peoples.
In the Jeremy Efroymson Gallery, Elisa Harkins shares images, sound, and sculpture that invoke definitions of tribal sovereignty — centering land and its protection. Amid a contemporary Indigenous landscape in which tribal activities vary between cultural revitalization efforts and extractive practices at times complicit with capitalist structures, Harkins calls for land protection above all. This shows viewers that the return of Indigenous land protection practices, along with language and cultural revitalization, are inevitable outcomes on Turtle Island (some Indigenous American tribes refer to North America as Turtle Island).
Harkins often encounters tornado shelters for sale alongside the roads in Oklahoma. While dangerous tornadoes traditionally occur in the summer months, recent years have seen an alarming rise in winter tornadoes. By using the image of these Tornado Shelters, she aims to raise awareness about the increasing destruction and loss of life caused by climate change. The shelters, placed in the ground or Ekvnv, serve as a metaphor for the Muscogee origin story, symbolizing their emergence from the earth at the beginning of their civilization.
The light sculptures are in English, Cherokee, and Muscogee words:
ᎠᏴᏫᏯ ᎤᏤᎵᎪᎯ ᎦᏓ ᏤᏙᎢ
Este Cate Ekvnv Okharoces
You Are on Indian Land
The music playing in the Jeremy Efroymson Gallery, honors communities destroyed and lives lost through human created climate change. Harkins, in collaboration with Mark Kuykendall, composed this piece for the tornado shelter sculpture to serve as a poignant tribute to the lives lost, communities disrupted, and environmental imbalances exacerbated by human negligence.
“Land Back means all land back,” said Harkins, who sees Indigenous political projects such as language revitalization as, most of all, an empowering force for protecting Ekvnv (Land), the Sacred Mother from which we came. In Harkins’ works, she calls for definitions of tribal sovereignty which center land protection over individual political claims to place. She intervenes in narratives of singular or strongest connections of tribal claims to mounds in favor of historical narratives where tribal interrelations connect more peoples to more lands for the purpose of building solidarities of responsibility and care for Indigenous land.
In Ekvnv, Harkins calls for universal participation in and attention to the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous hands, inviting viewers to reckon with the power imbalances that continue between settler colonial structures and Indigenous historical worlds. To Harkins, sovereignty includes care for all–from health care to land protection that reaches worldwide, just as the Sacred Mother receives care from all.
The exhibition is made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Efroymson Family Fund, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and a printing partnership with Aurora PhotoCenter.

The artist wishes to thank:
Ian Byers-Gamber
Mark Kuykendall
Don Tiger
Brose Partington
About Harkins
Elisa Harkins is a Native American (Cherokee/Muscogee) artist, singer, electronic music composer, and curator based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her 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. She is the first person to sing a contemporary song in the Cherokee language. 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 MoMA.
In 2020, she created the Indigenous concert series 6 Moons and published a CD of Muscogee/Seminole Hymns. She is also the DJ of Mvhayv (ma-hi-ya) Radio, an Indigenous radio show on 99.1FM in Indianapolis, IN. Radio III / ᎦᏬᏂᏍᎩ ᏦᎢ (ga-wo-ni-s-gi tso-i) is a dance performance that features music and choreography by Harkins. With support from PICA and Western Front, songs from the performance have been collected into a double LP, which can be found on Harkins’ Bandcamp. Harkins resides on the Muscogee Reservation and is an enrolled member of the Muscogee Nation.
About Tube Factory artspace: Tube Factory is a contemporary art campus and community center. There are four galleries on the campus, two are commissioning galleries. Admission is free. It’s also home base for Big Car Collaborative’s work across Indianapolis and beyond. Tube Factory features rotating exhibits, interactive projects, community space, a reference library, an outdoor gathering space, and much more to find through exploring. Tube Factory is an independent, noncommercial, nonprofit public place. 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.
About Social Alchemy:With this multifaceted, multiyear project, Indianapolis-based arts organization Big Car Collaborative — with our partners, the University of Southern Indiana, 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.
Conceived by Big Car co-founders Shauta Marsh and Jim Walker and artist and philanthropist Jeremy Efroymson, 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 — first 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. We all grapple with divides in society and real-life examples of dystopia (shootings, mass incarceration, ecological degradation) and utopia (experiments such as co-living communities that make people demonstrably happier). This project is about exploring historical and contemporary real-world examples of utopian experiments and social design projects as well as theoretical and fictional utopias and dystopias. Our goal is for the impact of Social Alchemy to be a deeper understanding — via history, literature, and the philosophy of art, design, and architecture — of the relationship between the built environment and social good.
About Indiana and Tribal Land (from the Indiana.Gov website)
There are two tribes that have land in Indiana. However there are many other tribal members of other federally recognized tribes that live in Indiana, approximately, 25,000.
The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi receive a small portion of their land back from their removal in Indiana. The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi is a federally recognized tribe. It is one of 573 federally recognized tribes in the United States. The Bureau of Indian Affairs contacted Chairman John Warren to state that their tribe, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi had been approved on November 18, 2016 to receive 166 acres of land in trust in South Bend, Indiana. The tribe successfully put a few housing units and tribal government buildings to assist their tribal members living in Indiana. It also built a 175,000 square foot and 1,800 Class II gaming devices, four restaurants, a player’s lounge, a coffee shop, two bars, a retail outlet and approximately 4,500 parking spaces including an enclosed parking structure. For more information, visit: http://www.pokagon.com/government/indiana-land-restoration
The second tribe that has land in Indiana is the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. The tribe was given land to put a Cultural Extension Office for their tribal members living in Indiana to attend specific gatherings, ceremonies and education events at this office located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. For more information, visit: http://miamination.com/thpo
Please note that many other tribal members from other federally recognized tribes living in Indiana such as Apache, Cherokee, Navajo, Comanche, Lakota Sioux, etc.

Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series Concert - September 1st
2024-09-01 12:00 - 15:00 | 2432 Conservatory Dr., 2432 Conservatory Dr, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46203
Big Car Collaborative, Arte Mexicano en Indiana, and our partners are excited to be part of a national program of the Los Angeles-based Levitt Foundation to bring FREE, family, friendly, live concerts to Garfield Park in Fall 2024 — and continuing in 2025 — as part of the new Levitt VIBE Indianapolis series! To learn more about the Levitt Foundation, head over to their website, levitt.org.

Where: The lawn behind the Garfield Park Art Center, on the near southside of Indianapolis. 2432 Conservatory Dr., Indianapolis, IN 46203. While there will be some provided seating at this outdoor event, we encourage visitors to bring blankets or other lawn seating for them to enjoy during the event.
What: The September 1st concert is the first of seven Sundays of free multi-genre outdoor concerts and creative community gatherings in September and October. These performances range from spoken word poetry, jazz, folk, soul, rap, Latin, electronic music, and much more! Each week a select food vendor or food truck will be located and available to attendees, but visitors are also encouraged to pack and picnic openly in the Levitt VIBE space.
Why: To bring additional liveliness to an underused area of our neighborhood park with free outdoor music experiences and neighborly, inclusive, fun, and creative social gatherings.
Who: Arte Mexicano en Indiana and Big Car are collaborating with our partners at the City of Indianapolis/Indy Parks, local and national musicians, local vendors, artists, and poets — with the Bean Creek and Garfield Park neighborhoods and the Friends of Garfield Park.
This week’s lineup:

Sylvia Thomas

El Mirambaso

The Roundups

Mina and the Wondrous Flying Machine

To get a taste of the music the Levitt VIBE Indianapolis series will be bringing to Garfield Park, take a listen to our playlist featuring artists in our 2024 series!: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6XpDgduwF5sqhhZELQ5ocf?si=e564db6fb8a64714

Thanks to Efroymson Family Fund, Citizens Energy Group, and the Levitt Foundation for their generous support of Levitt VIBE!

The Levitt VIBE City Name Music Series is supported in part by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, which partners with changemakers and nonprofits across the country to activate underused outdoor spaces, creating welcoming and inclusive destinations where the power of free, live music brings people together, fosters belonging, and invigorates community life. www.levitt.org

Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series Concert - September 8th
2024-09-08 12:00 - 15:00 | 2432 Conservatory Dr., 2432 Conservatory Dr, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46203
Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series Concert – September 8th

Big Car Collaborative, Arte Mexicano en Indiana, and our partners are excited to be part of a national program of the Los Angeles-based Levitt Foundation to bring FREE, family, friendly, live concerts to Garfield Park in Fall 2024 — and continuing in 2025 — as part of the new Levitt VIBE Indianapolis series! To learn more about the Levitt Foundation, head over to their website, levitt.org.

Where: The lawn behind the Garfield Park Art Center, on the near southside of Indianapolis. 2432 Conservatory Dr., Indianapolis, IN 46203. While there will be some provided seating at this outdoor event, we encourage visitors to bring blankets or other lawn seating for them to enjoy during the event.

What: The September 8th concert is the second of seven Sundays of free multi-genre outdoor concerts and creative community gatherings in September and October. These performances range from spoken word poetry, jazz, folk, soul, rap, Latin, electronic music, and much more! Each week a select food vendor or food truck will be located and available to attendees, but visitors are also encouraged to pack and picnic openly in the Levitt VIBE space.

Why: To bring additional liveliness to an underused area of our neighborhood park with free outdoor music experiences and neighborly, inclusive, fun, and creative social gatherings.

Who: Arte Mexicano en Indiana and Big Car are collaborating with our partners at the City of Indianapolis/Indy Parks, local and national musicians, local vendors, artists, and poets — with the Bean Creek and Garfield Park neighborhoods and the Friends of Garfield Park.

This week’s lineup:

Regan Shalome
Mffred
Mariachi Sol Jalisciense
Forgotten Tribe

To get a taste of the music the Levitt VIBE Indianapolis series will be bringing to Garfield Park, take a listen to our playlist featuring artists in our 2024 series!: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6XpDgduwF5sqhhZELQ5ocf?si=e564db6fb8a64714

Thanks to Efroymson Family Fund, Citizens Energy Group, and the Levitt Foundation for their generous support of Levitt VIBE!

The Levitt VIBE City Name Music Series is supported in part by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, which partners with changemakers and nonprofits across the country to activate underused outdoor spaces, creating welcoming and inclusive destinations where the power of free, live music brings people together, fosters belonging, and invigorates community life. www.levitt.org

Christen Baker: New! and Impervious to Natural Elements
2024-11-01 18:00 - 2024-12-20 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
New! and Impervious to Natural Elements is an exhibition and gallery activation of sculptural glass, photography, and motion-activated neon lights by artist, Christen Baker. This work explores the complex interplay between our internal and external worlds and examines the aesthetics and structural elements of built environments. Baker’s specific use of glass and light has deep ties to our desires, which fuels her interest in mapping the visceral, physical, digital, and ephemeral experiences of hyper-attention. These materials possess qualities of necessity, utility, optics, and opulence that resonate deeply with our psyches. This work arises from the collision of intuition and observation that Baker experiences daily, and is an evaluation of perception, development and disrepair. This intangible feeling is the foundation for her exploration of the economy of attention and desire, as it relates directly to the necessity for care in our current moment. With this work, Baker articulates the slippage that exists in built environments contributed by exponential growth, surveillance, digital technologies, streams of material use and waste, and the architecture of information hierarchies.
About the artist
Christen Baker is a multidisciplinary artist that explores the intersection of our internal and external worlds. With a BFA in Ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA in Glass from Tyler School of Art and Architecture, she merges technology and visual art across mediums like glass, neon, sculpture, 3D rendering and photography. Baker’s work delves into how attention and desire influence material use, space, and information hierarchies. She has completed residencies at Belger Arts in Kansas City MO, The International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemet, Hungary, The Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco, and received the Leroy Nieman Fellowship in Glass at Ox-Bow School of Art. Recently moved from Philadelphia, PA, she continues to explore the geographies of public spaces and objects, real and imagined, in Indianapolis, IN.
The exhibition is made possible by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Efroymson Family Fund.

Julie Xiao: A Journey
2024-11-01 18:00 - 2025-02-23 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Thirty-foot-long scrolls telling a story of self acceptance and belonging will fill the Main Gallery of Tube Factory artspace starting November 1. The “Jellyfish Person” is the central character in Indianapolis-based artist Julie Xiao’s large-scale ink and gouache works. In Xiao’s immersive exhibit, the audience will follow — and may identify with — Jellyfish’s pursuit of finding a place to feel welcomed at, to fit in, and to feel at home.
“I have always been interested in jellyfish because they are mesmerizing creatures,” Xiao said. “They adapt very easily to different environments in the water. They have their own defense mechanisms and are just really beautiful creatures. I was thinking about how many individuals have to adapt to their environments in order to fit in, through that idea the Jellyfish became this anthropomorphic traveler wandering through this natural —yet dystopic and dark — landscape.”
Jellyfish first emerged as a painting when Xiao was working on her BFA in Animation at Ball State University. It hung in her house for a while. Then, while applying to the MFA program at Herron School of Art and Design, Jellyfish reappeared. Xiao was thinking a lot about environmental issues and spiritual symbols in relation to her own journey moving from China to the United States as a child.
By making the character anthropomorphic, it allows for a wider range of interpretations and personal connections. When a character has human-like traits but also embodies other forms, it becomes a versatile symbol that can represent various experiences and identities.
“I was thinking, maybe, in this way, audiences can always interpret and have their own meanings. Or they can relate with the character more. It can embody everyone in a sense,” Xiao said. “Then all these other images emerged, like the orbs in the background. They’re similar to spiritual guides. Drawing from my roots, I think back on how ancestors are there to protect and guide you in life. I also think a lot about roots and trees. That’s why you see a lot of them in the works. Trees tell a lot of history. They are like living time capsules, holding a wealth of historical information within their rings and roots.”
The first large-scale scroll, The Keeper, was inspired by an apple tree from her childhood. And, it led Xiao to create scrolls ranging between 30 and 40 feet long by 4 feet wide. “I would wait for the bus every day under the tree,” says Xiao. “But then, one day, it was suddenly chopped down. I still pass by it sometimes because it’s near where my parents’ restaurant is. You can see it regrowing again. So, I was just thinking about that when I created this tree, it was a landmark in a sense. Trees are like little landmarks of places.”
Xiao creates the pieces on the scrolls by rolling them out a section at a time. And with the work being very detailed, it requires her to use her full body to paint back and forth on the 4-foot wide scroll. The newer pieces in the exhibit are the gouache paintings and the large scale tapestry. These continue her use of auspicious Chinese symbols such as gourds, chrysanthemums, beans, and lanterns.
“Much of my work is inspired by Japanese print and traditional Chinese painting and landscape work. Some works from China and Japan are very similar because they have inspired each other throughout history. A lot of the superstitions, mythologies, and symbolism in the work are from Chinese beliefs and symbols I’ve grown up with,” Xiao said.
Overall, Xiao hopes the audience will find hope, guidance, and optimism in her work — while also acknowledging the difficulty of moving through life and change.
“Everyone’s on this journey to find a place of acceptance. I think a lot of people can relate and identify with that,” Xiao said.“But this work is also a reflection of my life and experience as a multicultural person. I am tethered between two different worlds and identities but not fully embraced by either.”
Xiao’s body of work is meant to challenge and question our perceptions of identity and to consider how our experiences and environment influence who we are. With its unique imagery and symbolism, A Journey invites viewers to engage with the profound and often unconscious forces that shape understanding of ourselves and our place in the world.

About the artist: Julie Xiao received her Bachelor of Fine Art degree in Animation in 2019 from Ball State University (Muncie, Indiana) and a Master of Fine Art in Visual Art in 2023 from the Herron School of Art and Design (Indianapolis). As a multicultural artist, she has felt caught in a constant state of displacement and suspension. This has led her to ask several questions through her work like: How is our identity shaped? How do we embrace and accept the different fragments that contribute to our sense of “home” as it relates to our identity? Much of her research centers around how art can be a vehicle to explore our fragmented histories and contemplate where we come from, as well as where we are heading in an ever-changing and uncertain world. Through various visual elements, she explores the ways in which our sense of self is shaped by factors such as society, culture, and history. She works in multiple mediums: digital, oil, acrylic, watercolor, and gouache, but is best known for her use of ink on expansive paper scrolls that pay homage to the rich tradition of Chinese ink painting. Her work is in the Eskenazi Health Public Art Collection and various murals she has painted — such as Chilled Water Cycle, City of Carmel, and Scottsburg —can be found throughout Indiana.

The exhibition is made possible by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Efroymson Family Fund, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Wong Kit Yi: Inner Voice Transplant
2024-11-01 18:00 - 2025-02-23 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Inner Voice Transplant explores the links between subjects as disparate as ancient Egyptian practices of dream interpretation; jiāngshī (Chinese hopping vampires); and the first voice-box transplant, which took place at the Cleveland Clinic in 1998. These inquiries are connected through her signature video essay mode, which incorporates newly composed songs with karaoke-style running subtitles into associative, essayistic narratives. This novel format opens up the videos to viewers’ embodied interactions, something expanded further by her live presentation of a karaoke performance-lecture during FRONT 2022’s opening days, and then at Tate Modern in London as well as M+ Museum in Hong Kong.
The artist has also made a traveling kit that allows other art venues around the world to present a version of the project.
As the artist states, “Ancient temples were the precursors of hospitals, places where body and spirit were meant to be treated together. Modern medicine, however, appears to divorce the concept of treatment from care of the soul.” In her thoroughly interdisciplinary approach, the perceived separation between bodies of knowledge and types of experience are broken down and imagined anew. In the spaces between established genres, Wong considers the question of illness and the need for some to simply live with it rather than heal in the way we are often commanded to do.
About the Artist
Wong Kit Yi lives and works between New York and Hong Kong. Her works have been included in recent projects organized by M+ (Hong Kong, 2023); Tate Modern (London, 2023); FRONT Triennial (Cleveland, 2022); Tai Kwun Contemporary (Hong Kong, 2021); Public Art Fund (New York, 2020); Para Site (Hong Kong, 2019). She was a resident in the Chinati Foundation Artist in Residence program (Marfa, 2021) and received an MFA from Yale University. She has taught university courses about performance, video art, and new media and currently teaches at the School of Visual Arts (New York) in the MFA Fine Arts program. Even when not teaching, she can’t quit lecturing people and continues to do so in her signature karaoke-inspired lecture format. Wong is currently preparing for a new commission by the Lahore Biennial 03, as well as a co-commission by LIAF 2024 (which is the longest-running art biennial in Scandinavia) and The Kitchen (New York).
This exhibition is made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, Efroymson Family Fund, Institute of Museum and Library Services, and The Arts Council of Indianapolis and City of Indianapolis.

Supportive Story Time For All
2024-12-05 18:00 - 19:30 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Each Thursday we will have a reader with a pleasant voice read to you from a book that is positive, expands the imagination and is generally supportive. Bring a blanket, pillow, grab a glass of wine at our bar or bring your own water –whatever you need to unwind and set up in the Main Gallery of Tube Factory artspace.

This series is part of the exhibit Julie Xiao, “A Journey.” Events in the gallery during this show will center around healing and mediation.

The books were selected by Youth Services Librarian Amanda Waller. She is a Youth Services Librarian at a public library in the Chicago suburbs. She believes strongly in the importance of community care and support and has worked in violence prevention, environmental justice, and mutual aid work. Community is what will continue to uplift us and keep us whole!

Benjamin Berg: ░▓ I Can See the Pixels ▓░
2025-01-03 09:00 - 2025-02-23 15:00 | Efroymson Gallery, 1125 Cruft Street, Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Computers do whatever you tell them to, even if you tell them to make a mistake.

There are some seemingly bad ideas behind Benjamin Berg’s exhibition I Can See the Pixels. For starters, everything is created using the 1980s-era GIF image format, which is hated by today’s computer programmers for its limited color palette and inefficient storage. Also, the source images are small and low-resolution. Worst of all, he forces his computer to use colors that are totally wrong, nowhere close to the ones it needs. What’s wrong with this picture?

Berg isn’t interested in doing things the “correct” way. He’s more curious about what happens when you do them incorrectly. He tries to misuse technology just enough to make it misbehave,
but not so much that it breaks down entirely. Finding the right amount of wrong is a delicate balance.

This GIF-based work requires countless screenshots and hours of sifting through those screenshots, cropping and resizing them, looking for the best mistakes, the most interesting failures.

Sometimes they don’t fail hard enough the first time and so he sends them back through for a second pass. Often only a small area is good enough and he crops everything else away. Finally, he takes his favorite failures and blows them up big. The pixels, once tiny and hard to spot, are now on display for all to see.

I Can See the Pixels features prints and large-scale projections of animated GIFs, accompanied by ambient plunderphonic music playing from two sets of speakers.

For more information, to stream/download music, or purchase art prints, visit animalswithinanimals.com/bent

About the artist: Benjamin Berg is a multidisciplinary artist from Indianapolis. After making glitch music for several years, he started applying similar techniques to the visual arts in 2005, documenting his experiments on his blog. His writings from this period culminated in a series of highly influential and widely cited glitch art tutorials.

By making technologies misbehave, his work challenges the assumptions built into those technologies, assumptions which are often unstated and sometimes even unconscious.

He also releases music with his band Animals Within Animals, and solo under various names including stAllio! and Old Man Glitch.

NIGHTJAR: Alessandra Lynch
2025-01-15 18:30 - 20:30 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Alessandra Lynch will begin reading at 7pm.
After Lynch’s reading and a brief break, the open mic will begin. Open mic prompt: Write a poem at the intersection of the past and the future. Read a poem or short piece that is 317 words maximum, and challenge yourself to share new work!
About Alessandra Lynch:
Alessandra’s fifth book of poetry, Wish Ave, was published by Alice James Books in 2024. She is the author of four other poetry collections: Pretty Tripwire, Daylily Called It a Dangerous Moment (winner of the Balcones Prize, finalist for the LA Times Book Award and the UNT Rilke Prize, listed as a NY Times top ten poetry books of 2017), It was a terrible cloud at twilight, and Sails the Wind Left Behind. Her work has appeared in the American Poetry Review, The New England Review, The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, and other journals.
Alessandra has received residencies from MacDowell, Yaddo, the Lannan Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Vermont Studio Center. She has been the recipient of a Barbara Deming Award and a Creative Renewal Fellowship Award. She has also been a featured blogger for the Poetry Foundation’s Harriet Books. Currently, Alessandra serves as Butler University’s poet in residence where she teaches in the undergraduate and MFA programs.
She has collaborated with musician Earl Townsend, composer Harriet Steinke, painter Richard Rosenblatt, and artist Carlos Rodriguez-Mendez.
NIGHTJAR creates an inclusive space for all by bringing together spoken-word performers and page-based poets writing in narrative, lyric, and experimental forms. Every third Wednesday, C.S. Carrier and Michelle Niemann host a reading and invite audience members to share their own poetic responses.

Integrated Sound Healing with Hoai-Huong
2025-01-25 14:00 - 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Bring your own mat or we might few you can borrow. During the session attendees lie on their backs in a relaxed position, listen and stay present with what they are experiencing with the sounds.
Sound Healing promotes relaxation, release of blockages, promotes healing and restores balance. The harmonic sound waves of the crystal sound bowls eases stress, tension, & emotional distress. These sounds place the brain in alpha & theta states while taking it out of the stress response (flight or fight). The crystal bowls are made of 99.99% quartz tuned to 432Hz. Trauma and stress can manifest in so many unique ways in each one of us and affect the very core of our being; inhibiting true joy to shine through. The interconnectedness between the mind, body spirit is significant and continues to be researched in the medical and spiritual communities.
Hoai-Huong has practiced as registered nurse since January of 2004 and achieved a Master of Science in Nursing Education in 2016. Her career focus has been in the areas of emergency/trauma, academia, & mental health/psych for the pediatric & adult population. “I recognized at an early age that I was destined to care for & serve others in a meaningful way,” says Huong. “To be vulnerable with you, I survived emotional, mental, & physically traumatic events & had to do deep work to heal. Sometimes I felt lost & struggled through therapy sessions, doctor’s visits, and medications which in my case, only masked what was deeper within me that I needed to address. My search to go deeper led me to Reiki and sound vibrational energy healing. I am beyond grateful that I have been able to shift from surviving to thriving.”
Capacity for this event is 50. We can not guarantee a spot.

Year of the Snake - Lunar New Year Celebration
2025-02-01 17:00 - 21:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Welcome the Year of the Snake with Big Car Collaborative and the Indianapolis Chinese Performing Arts’ Lunar New Year celebration! Join us on February 1st from 5 to 8:30 PM at the Tube Factory artspace in Garfield Park for a night filled with fun for the whole family!

Experience traditional dance performances by the Indianapolis Chinese Performing Arts from 6-7pm, as well as fireworks, and hands-on activities like cut paper art, lantern decorating, fan painting, and so much more! Plus, delicious food will be available for purchase by a local food truck!

The Indianapolis Chinese Performing Arts, Inc. (ICPAI) will perform traditional dances from 6-7pm.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased HERE.

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Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations of the year among East and Southeast Asian cultures, including Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean communities, among others. The New Year celebration is usually celebrated for multiple days—not just one day as in the Gregorian calendar’s New Year.

In 2025, Lunar New Year begins on January 29. China’s Lunar New Year is known as the Spring Festival or Chūnjié in Mandarin, while Koreans call it Seollal and Vietnamese refer to it as Tết.Tied to the lunar calendar, the holiday began as a time for feasting and to honor household and heavenly deities, as well as ancestors. The New Year typically begins with the first new moon that occurs between the end of January and spans the first 15 days of the first month of the lunar calendar—until the full moon arrives.

Slow Flow Yoga Series with Cory Cathcart
2025-02-02 17:00 - 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Celebrating Meditation & Healing for Creatives on Select Sundays: 5-6 p.m. ( also 2/9)
This series is part of the exhibit “Julie Xiao: A Journey,” events in the gallery during this show will center around healing and mediation. Cathcart will explore how movement and meditation benefit the artistic process through rest, mindful flow, and breath.
No experience necessary.
Bring a mat and water – All levels & bodies welcome.
This class is free, donations are welcome.

ASMR Live-Landon Caldwell
2025-02-07 19:00 - 20:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join us in the Main Gallery for a live performance of ASMR with artist Landon Caldwell.
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a previously unstudied sensory phenomenon, in which individuals experience a tingling, static-like sensation across the scalp, back of the neck and at times further areas in response to specific triggering audio and visual stimuli. This sensation is widely reported to be accompanied by feelings of relaxation and well-being. The current study identifies several common triggers used to achieve ASMR, including whispering, personal attention, crisp sounds and slow movements. Data obtained also illustrates temporary improvements in symptoms of depression and chronic pain in those who engage in ASMR.
Landon Caldwell is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer based in Indianapolis. His work explores environment, family, and class, using sound, words, color, and other materials, presenting immersive environments that redirect attention to the present and reveal hidden layers of reality. Landon has toured extensively across the US, Canada, and Europe and regularly collaborates with artists and musicians in the Midwest and beyond, having served time in improvisational units like Eternal Husk, Crazy Doberman, and the Open Sex. With Mark Tester, he curates and runs Medium Sound, a focal point of adventurous music in Indianapolis. Since 2020, he has host free sound art programming, installations, and workshops through Sonic Potluck, a collaboration with Rob Funkhouser. His installation work has been exhibited at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, The Terminal Kyoto, the Indiana State Museum, and more.
This series is part of the exhibit Julie Xiao, “A Journey.” Events in the gallery during this show will center around healing and mediation.
