Big Car

Tsanavi Spoonhunter Select Short Films
2022-06-03 18:00 - 22:00 (America/Indiana/Indianapolis)
“Purple Flower Girl”
Raised from humble beginnings in a rural town, artist Jean LaMarr celebrates her cultural traditions while making a name for herself in the larger art world. Purple Flower Girl will take viewers into a space meant for those who are unfamiliar with LaMarr’s legacy and its impact.
Director and Producer: Tsanavi Spoonhunter
Cinematographer and Colorist: Christian Lee Collins
Composer and Re-Recording Mixer: Conor Chee
Editor: James Tensuan
“Sagebrush Heathen”
Jack Malotte’s work showcases the Native American experience by way of art, and challenges Nevada’s political landscape around extraction and nuclear test sites on tribal lands. From his remote reservation in rural Nevada, Malotte presents a unique perspective of what it means to be, what he describes, a Sagebrush Heathen.
Director and Producer: Tsanavi Spoonhunter
Cinematographer and Editor: Tim Lenard
Composer: Sage Romero
Tsanavi Spoonhunter was born and raised in Payahuunadü— “the land of flowing water,” homelands of her Paiute people— located in Owens Valley, California. She is also a proud citizen of the Northern Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming.
Her ancestry and upbringing in Indian Country have strongly informed her storytelling and artistic vision. Some of her published works have included federal government funding for tribes, jurisdictional issues between governing agencies and economic development on tribal lands.
Spoonhunter’s educational background is rooted in journalism. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno; and a Masters of Journalism degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley with a focus on documentary film.
Her master’s thesis film, Crow Country: Our Right to Food Sovereignty (2020), has screened at festivals and selected venues across the country and has won numerous awards including Best Documentary Short from the American Indian Film Festival. In all, her short films have screened on Alaska Airlines, at the National Museum of the American Indian, The Redford Center, art museums and PBS affiliates.
She serves as director and producer on her first feature-length documentary titled Holder of the Sky (2023). The film has received support from SFFilm, the International Documentary Association, Sundance Institute, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Center for Independent Documentary, the Native American Media Alliance and the Logan Nonfiction Program. It is currently in production.
Spoonhunter is a 2022 Sundance Institute Humanities Sustainability Fellow, SFFilm FilmHouse Resident and First People’s Fund Fellow. As a Native American reporter and filmmaker, her goal is to pursue the highest levels of accuracy and ethical standards when telling stories about communities across the United States, and abroad.

Image from artist Jean LaMarr.

Rob Funkhouser- Study In Place
2022-06-03 18:00 - 2022-07-24 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Study in Place is a set of interactive sound sculptures and instruments that celebrate the everyday sounds and objects around us. An attempt to unify diverse threads in his creative practice, daily life, and occupation, Funkhouser seeks a reckoning with the tension between falling into routine and cultivating long-term personal growth.
“Moving to Indianapolis caused in me this profound, almost cosmic, sense of being in the right place at the right time. It afforded me both the right economic circumstances, and artistic community to begin a period of joyful exploration into my own art and identity. Having lived the better part of a decade here, changes in all aspects of life have surfaced a need to take an inventory and rediscover my place in life– both literally and artistically,” says Funkhouser who previously lived in his hometown of Richmond, Indiana.
This show also features the first exhibition of a collaboration between Funkhouser and his neighbor and visual artist, Justin Cooper (both are residents in Big Car’s Artist and Public Life housing program). Each piece they made together features a flower found in the Garfield Park neighborhood, many of which have taken up residence in their respective yards.“
The kalimbas and sound boxes represent the fruit of many conversations had on one porch or another, and approximately 55 gallons of coffee between us,” says Funkhouser. “Living close to each other, we were able to slowly build a set of instruments that both pushed into new aesthetic territory and helped grow a shared language of form.”In a time where content is being created and served on a bigger scale than any one person can possibly keep up with, Funkhouser shares with his audience the possibilities that music affords us as a medium to connect to place and each other.
About the artist
Rob Funkhouser is a composer, performer, and instrument builder who can never quite sit still. His work is concerned with ideas of place, memory, and pattern and he is interested in interrogating the interstitial spaces between established genres. He holds an M.M. from Butler University in Music Composition, and most recently completed Peace of Mind, Speed of Thought for Classical Music Indy. He has released recordings, curated performances, and installed works in many places both around Indianapolis and in many other parts of the country. In 2020, he began a long-term living residency with Big Car as part of their APLR program, and served as a resident artist for Cat Head Press in collaboration with Landon Caldwell. He also serves as Education Manager for the Rhythm Discovery Center, where he runs public programming for schools and community members. He has collaborated with diverse groups including Forward Motion, Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, No Exit Theater, and Chicago-based director Ryan Gleason.
Made possible through the generous support of The Efroymson Family Fund. Additional support provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Arts Council of Indianapolis and the City of Indianapolis.

Frida Está Chida
2022-07-09 10:00 - 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
El 6 de Julio de 1907, en Coyoacán, México nació una pintora conocida por sus famosos autorretratos. Frida Kahlo se convirtió en una fuerza del movimiento surrealista al crear un estilo único mezclando elementos de la naturaleza y la identidad mexicana con aspectos de su vida.

On July 6, 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico a painter was born, known for her famous selfportraits. Frida Kahlo became a force in the surrealist movement by creating a unique style mixing elements of nature and the Mexican identify and aspects of her life.

La imágen de Frida continua influyendo la cultura popular. El Festival İFrida está Chida! celebra la influencia de Frida Kahlo a nivel mundial atravesando fronteras, idiomas y tiempo.

Frida’s image continues influencing pop culture. The Frida está Chida! Festival celebrates Frida Kahlo’s influence worldwide piercing through borders, languages and time.
Con sus propias creaciones en honor a Frida, los artistas presentados en éste Festival muestran la fuerza de la imágen de la famosa pintora mexicana.

With their own creations in honor of Frida, the Festival’s artists showcase the famous Mexican painter’s force.

Este evento es familiar y abierto al publico. Están invitados a traer su mejor atuendo para celebrar a Frida porque….Frida está Chida!

This is a family event open to the public. You are invited to join the celebration by wearing your best Frida custom because…Frida está Chida!

Artistas y Vendors participating :
Monica Valadezza
K Cun Aragon
Luz Yoli Urquiza
Samuel Penaloza
Konny Rivera
Mary Mindola
Gissa Mur
Juan Gabriel Tiscareno
Gelone Broadnax’ Gelone’s Creations
Artesanias Mexicanas y Novedades
Alo Croschet
Sophia’s Bows
Maria Moreno
Esperanza Alonzo
Artesanias Ramirez
Comida/Food
Tortas Guicho Food Truck
Musica en Vivo:
Yuri Rodriguez, cantara canciones de Chavela Vargas

Image by: Mary Mindola

Rob Funkhouser and Eric Salzaar Study In Place Live Performance
2022-07-24 16:00 - 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Rob Funkhouser will perform live on the Cristal Baschet he created during the pandemic.
Funkhouser is a composer, performer, and instrument builder who can never quite sit still. His work is concerned with ideas of place, memory, and pattern and he is interested in interrogating the interstitial spaces between established genres. He holds an M.M. from Butler University in Music Composition, and most recently completed Peace of Mind, Speed of Thought for Classical Music Indy. He has released recordings, curated performances, and installed works in many places both around Indianapolis and in many other parts of the country. In 2020, he began a long-term living residency with Big Car as part of their APLR program, and served as a resident artist for Cat Head Press in collaboration with Landon Caldwell. He also serves as Education Manager for the Rhythm Discovery Center, where he runs public programming for schools and community members. He has collaborated with diverse groups including Forward Motion, Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, No Exit Theater, and Chicago-based director Ryan Gleason.
Eric Salazar holds a B.M. in Clarinet Performance from Ball State University and an M.M. in Clarinet Performance from Bowling Green State University. He currently serves as an Director of Community Engagement for Classical Music Indy where he manages, books, and promotes over a hundred and fifty performance events a year in Central Indiana. Eric also mentors and hires 30-40 independent classical musicians annually. With their combined efforts this group brings music to over 100,000 Indiana residents a year, with a focus on people who would not otherwise have access to live music performance.
Made possible through the generous support of The Efroymson Family Fund. Additional support provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Arts Council of Indianapolis and the City of Indianapolis.

Qahar Behzad: The Colors of Afghanistan
2022-08-05 08:00 - 18:00
Opening in Tube Factory artspace’s Guichelaar Gallery is a collection of works by Behzad created between the years 2011-2022 in Afghanistan and the US.
Behzad grew up in Kabul in a family of book publishers, surrounded by centuries-old historical texts and rare books of poetry in his father’s libraries and bookstores. Behzad remembers reading traditional Afghan storybooks his father published that directly influence the art he creates.
Behzad paints about life in Afghanistan, often from observation, depicting places like Kabul’s busy bazaars and Afghanistan’s picturesque mountain ranges. He paints with depth and expressive color, drawing inspiration from one of his favorite Western painters, Claude Monet. Through these influences, Behzad expresses his take on the rich and storied culture of his country.
Behzad’s journey as an artist began in the mid-1990s, when he was six years old. The Taliban had first emerged in his home country, and Behzad’s family found safety in Pakistan. Not able to attend school yet, he spent his days drawing. Here, he completed his first artwork, a drawing of former Afghan king, Mairwais Naika, after studying his portrait in a history book.
His family encouraged him to pursue development as an artist. “I had no real training or instruction in art,” says Behzad. “I just sat down and began to draw. Everyone who looked at my drawings appreciated what my artwork stood for, and pushed me to continue.”
A few years later, his family was able to resume life in their home country, and Behzad began to explore painting in oil and watercolor. After the establishment of US military base Camp Eggers in Kabul, Behzad became the first artist to display and sell artworks there. From 2005-2015, he created daily in his studio on base, producing thousands of drawings, oil paintings, and watercolors. Behzad’s studio became a haven of peace amid an otherwise hectic atmosphere. Soldiers and other military personnel could drop in for tea, to observe Behzad’s creative process, commission a painting, or take a lesson with the artist.
One of the paintings featured in this exhibition, Behzad Bookstore and Afghan Burqas was originally created by Behzad in 2009. In this piece, a group of women dressed in traditional burqas read from shelves of books in his father’s shop in Kabul. The piece celebrates the new freedoms available to women after the first Taliban regime ended, when they could leave their homes, pursue education and learn their rights. In 2021, these freedoms were again taken away. The Taliban is again denying the education and enlightenment of Afghan people, and Behzad Bookstore has closed due to their threats. Behzad recreated this painting in 2022 to highlight this tragic regression, and to remember better times in his country.
Behzad’s works have gained international recognition. Some of these works include portraits of Queen Elizabeth ll commissioned by the British Ambassador to Afghanistan, former US President George W. Bush, for which Behzad received a personal letter of appreciation, and former US President Barack Obama, commissioned by his election campaign staff. The US Navy also commissioned a large canvas mural featuring a fleet of ships stationed in San Diego, California. Behzad has completed many paintings for U.S diplomats and advisors, NATO representatives, and the government of Afghanistan.

Qahar Behzad Bio
A self-taught artist from Kabul, Afghanistan, Abdul Qahar Behzad is now based in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he works as a Legal Assistant for Exodus Refugee Immigration. He earned a degree in Law and Political Science from Rana University in Kabul in 2020.
Behzad was the first artist to display and sell his paintings at Camp Eggers, a US military base in Kabul. From 2005 to 2018, he operated painting studios there, as well as at Camp Phoenix, NKC (New Kabul Compound) Base, ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) “Resolute Support” Headquarters, Camp Cobra, and Camp Qula House, where he created artworks for soldiers and military personnel.
When Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, Behzad was working as an artist in Kabul. Amidst the chaos and violent takeover, former commanding US officials, many of whom served in the Indiana National Guard, wrote letters of support to bring him to safety in the US. Behzad evacuated to Camp Atterbury, Indiana, where he volunteered as an interpreter for 4 months.
Behzad is committed to helping other refugees like himself. He is working to bring the rest of his family to safety in the US, and advocating for the evacuation of other Afghans who still live under threat of the Taliban every day.

LaShawnda Crowe Storm-Sister Song:The Requiem
2022-08-05 18:00 - 2022-10-16 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Sister Song: The Requiem is a community-based project that examines how art and community co-creation processes can be used to heal the intergenerational trauma associated with enslavement and its aftermaths. The project, led by artist LaShawnda Crowe Storm, blurs the lines between the public and private by transforming mundane places into sacred spaces through public rituals.
A requiem is an act of remembrance for the dead. How does honoring the dead give life to the living? How do the living remember their histories while creating new futures? How does embracing history help us release specific traumas and move toward a future where healing is possible? We explore these questions through the community co-creation process that is at the heart of Requiem: womb making.
Each womb is handcrafted and designed in wax by Crowe Storm, then cast in aluminum. After casting is completed, Crowe Storm invites artists and community members to choose a womb. Womb makers then adapt and modify the womb by following these simple directions: Make this into a talisman or spiritual object to heal your/our histories, be willing to allow what needs to emerge to emerge, and transform the womb to reflect a vision of healing. Each womb maker must also be willing to continuously ask themselves the question, “How do I reclaim the ‘spirit of the womb’ when that spirit has been stolen, harmed, wounded?”
Requiem is the second iteration of Sister Song. The first included 8 wombs that were installed as part of the exhibit Keeper of My Mothers’ Dream (2017, Indianapolis). Requiem incudes nearly 50 vessels on exhibition: the wombs by the original 8 participants along with 40 others, some invited by the original womb makers and others identified by Crowe Storm. In addition, some of the original 8 womb makers created new wombs. The exhibit also includes newly commissioned poems by Maria Hamilton Abegunde.
Participating womb makers include: Abegunde, Afriye We-Kandodis, Alice Berry, Ariana Beedie, Bambi Aldridge, Breon Tyler, Clare Wildhack-Nolan and Ezmae Wildhack-Cain, D. Olivia Jones, Joyce Moore, Juaquita Callaway, Julia Rodreguiz , Keesha Dixon, Kianga Jinaki, LaToya Marlin, Lillis Taylor, Malaika Baxa, Marilyn Kunkle, Melissa Larimer, Monica Johnson, N’dieye Gray Danavall, Phyllis Boyd, Ronda Chapman, Samantha Horton, Sharon Clark, Shauta Marsh, Stacia Murphy, Stephanie Roberston, Trish Williams, Tysha Ahmad, Uzuri Asad, Val Tate, Veronica Schwartz DeFazio, Viola Moten Ratcliffe, Yolanda Echols and Yvette Upton.
LaShawnda Crowe Storm is a mixed media and community-based artist, activist, community builder and occasionally an urban farmer. Whether making artwork or sowing seeds, she uses her creative power as a vehicle for dialogue around topics such as racial and gender violence, social change and justice. At the core of her practice is a desire to create community; any community in which the process of making art creates a space for difficult discussions with an eye towards community healing. She has received numerous awards for art and community activism. Crowe Storm received an M.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2004.
Image: LaShawnda Crowe Storm, “Mother At The Crossroads,” bronze, 2021. Photographer: Polina Osherov.
Made possible by Mr. & Mrs. Craig E Von Deylen and Laurel S Judkins with support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Arts Council of Indianapolis, The Arts Council of Indianapolis and The Efroymson Family Fund.

Sister Song Womb Makers Artist Talk
2022-08-06 15:00 - 17:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Hear from some of the artists and community members that LaShawnda Crowe Storm invited to create a womb. Womb makers adapted and modified the womb by following these simple directions: “Make this into a talisman or spiritual object to heal your/our histories, be willing to allow what needs to emerge to emerge, and transform the womb to reflect a vision of healing.”
Each womb maker had to continuously ask themselves the question, “How do I reclaim the ‘spirit of the womb’ when that spirit has been stolen, harmed, wounded?”
Womb makers: Abegunde, Afriye We-Kandodis, Alice Berry, Ariana Beedie, Bambi Aldridge, Breon Tyler, Clare Wildhack-Nolan and Ezmae Wildhack-Cain, D. Olivia Jones, Joyce Moore, Juaquita Callaway, Julia Rodreguiz , Keesha Dixon, Kianga Jinaki, LaToya Marlin, Lillis Taylor, Malaika Baxa, Marilyn Kunkle, Melissa Larimer, Monica Johnson, N’dieye Gray Danavall, Phyllis Boyd, Ronda Chapman, Samantha Horton, Sharon Clark, Shauta Marsh, Stacia Murphy, Stephanie Roberston, Trish Williams, Tysha Ahmad, Uzuri Asad, Val Tate, Veronica Schwartz DeFazio, Viola Moten Ratcliffe, Yolanda Echols and Yvette Upton
Made possible by Mr. & Mrs. Craig E Von Deylen and Laurel S Judkins with additional support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Amy Kligman and Ish Muhammad In Conversation
2022-08-17 19:00 - 20:30 | 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.

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 | 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).

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.
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Made possible by The Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis and the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation.

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.

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

African Dance with Uzuri
2023-05-17 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!
$10

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.

Cyanotype Workshop with Asli Narin
2023-07-14 11:00 - 16:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Cyanotype is a camera-less photography made out in the sun, rather than in a darkroom. You place objects — such as plants — on top of a piece of photo-treated paper, and then use the sun to expose the paper. The result is an image that is an exact outline of the object. It’s a fun and magical way to engage photography! Although it may be new to modern people, cyanotype has been around since photography was invented in the 1800s.

Come explore the creative possibilities of this fascinating process with Indianapolis-based artist Asli Narin. Narin often incorporates cyanotype into her artistic practice. She will give a short talk about cyanotype at the beginning of each hour, and then you will make your own cyanotypes with Narin’s assistance.

We will have some objects on hand to experiment with, but feel free to bring your own objects. Flat items usually work best, and cyanotype can be messy, so precious things like family heirlooms should probably stay at home. All other necessary materials will be provided free at the workshop.

This activity is best suited for artists 7+ years old; minors must be accompanied by an adult.

Asli Narin (1985, Istanbul) is a visual artist and an educator based in Indianapolis, US. Narin’s artistic practice is based on photography as well as video, installation, and performance, inspired by nature and the cities. Taking inspiration from walking and wandering, she explores the human experience through forms and abstractions. Her subjects are often the thresholds and dualities of life.

Image: Anna Atkins is famous for these cyanotypes she made of British algae in the 1840s. A book she made out of her cyanotypes is considered to be the first photobook ever made.

In partnership with Aurora PhotoCenter for SPARK on the Circle .

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.

Cut Paper Art with Christina Hollering
2023-08-16 16:00 - 18:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Join artist Christina Hollering in an all-ages cut paper collage workshop celebrating the creative possibilities of paper. Learn how to intuitively create compelling compositions using the principles of design. All materials are provided; just come prepared to cut, paste, and play!

Christina Hollering is a cut paper artist and associate professor at Herron School of Art and Design. Her artwork centers around themes of biology, the environment, and the interplay between art and science, inspiring viewers to contemplate their relationship with nature.

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. Read more about Big Car Collaborative’s approach to placemaking and socially engaged art.
When? Visitors can enjoy SPARK on the Circle from 11 a.m. until dusk each day until November 3.

Lunch Break Live with Laura Balke presented by Lake City Bank
2023-08-29 12:00 - 13:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States
Indiana native Laura K. Balke has been writing songs for as long as she can remember. Through the years her music has explored folk, pop, and country stylings while weaving tales from her life. Laura will be performing an acoustic set of songs from across her discography for Lunch Break Live.

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.

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.

Live music, food & artist-led activities at Lockerbie Place
2023-09-21 11:30 - 13:30 | Needler’s Market, 320 N New Jersey, Indianapolis, IN, 46204, United States
Join us for live music by Awetree and food by Chomp’z Truck. Games like foosball, ping pong, chess & checkers, and giant Jenga are available for additional entertainment.
About Awetree
Awetree is the ukulele-pop project of Indianapolis-based singer songwriter Audrey Coy. Lyrically inspired by the complexities of interpersonal relationships, Awetree explores the sadness and hope of love and friendship.

All events are free at 320 N New Jersey Street in the greenspace right off the Cultural Trail.

NIGHTJAR, a poetry series with open mic
2023-11-15 19:00 - 21:00
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
