Big Car

Qahar Behzad: The Colors of Afghanistan
2022-08-05 08:00 - 18:00 (America/Indiana/Indianapolis) | IN
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.

Thursdays on the Mall Film Series
2022-08-04 19:00 - 23:00 | Indiana War Memorial, 55 N Michigan Ave, Indianapolis, IN, 46204, United States
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Thursday, August 4, 2022, 7-11 PM
The Indiana War Memorials Foundation in partnership with Indy Film Fest and us at Big Car invite everyone to gather in Indy’s backyard, American Legion Mall (700 N Pennsylvania St.) for a summer evening and free movie screening of Rocky IV on July 7. Enjoy food trucks, beer from Sun King Brewing, popcorn, games, and more. Bring a lawn chair or blanket, soak in city views, and spend time with your neighbors. The fun kicks off at 7 pm, movie starts at dusk!
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse: Bitten by a radioactive spider in the subway, Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales suddenly develops mysterious powers that transform him into the one and only Spider-Man. When he meets Peter Parker, he soon realizes that there are many others who share his special, high-flying talents. Miles must now use his newfound skills to battle the evil Kingpin, a hulking madman who can open portals to other universes and pull different versions of Spider-Man into our world.
Please be aware this event is outdoors. Check back on the Indiana War Memorials Foundation page for weather updates.

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.

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

Lunchtime at Lockerbie Featuring Live Performance by Joy Caroline Mills
2022-07-07 11:00 - 13:00 | Lockerbie Marketplace, 320 N New Jersey St, Indianapolis, IN, United States
Join us on Thursdays at Lockerbie Marketplace — a lovely downtown greenspace next to Needler’s Fresh Market. Ping pong, foosball, and giant Jenga are always available for additional entertainment as we enjoy live music by Joy Caroline Mills, and local food by That Vegan Joint.
All events are free at 320 N New Jersey Street in the greenspace right off the Cultural Trail
Check out bigcar.org/lockerbie for details and updates.

Lunchtime at Lockerbie Marketplace
2022-06-30 11:00 - 13:00 | Lockerbie Marketplace, 320 N New Jersey St, Indianapolis, IN, United States
Join us on Thursdays at Lockerbie Marketplace — a lovely downtown greenspace next to Needler’s Fresh Market. Ping pong, foosball, and giant Jenga are always available for additional entertainment as we enjoy music and local food by That Vegan Joint.
All events are free at 320 N New Jersey Street in the greenspace right off the Cultural Trail
Check out bigcar.org/lockerbie for details and updates.

We’re also looking for food and art vendors!
If you’re interested in being a featured food truck at Lockerbie Marketplace for lunchtime on Thursdays from mid May until mid October. We don’t charge any fees and you can use the space to operate beyond lunch hours if you’d like. If you’re interested in being a featured food truck, email us. Also, we’re going to be hosting some after-work happy hour mini-markets. So if you are an artisan vendor let us know if you’d be interested. Lastly, let us know if you’d like to bring your food truck or vendor table to Tube Factory as we look forward to expanding as construction winds down this summer on our outdoor space.

Power Plant Grant Information Session
2022-06-29 18:00 - 19:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
We’re hosting several outreach sessions to add clarification and insight to the Power Plant Grant process. Join virtually or in-person:

June 14, 2022 at 6 p.m. (EST) via Zoom. Join here.

June 29, 2022 at 6 p.m. (EST) at Tube Factory artspace (1125 Cruft St, Indianapolis, IN 46203)

Power Plant Grant Information Session
2022-06-14 18:00 - 19:00 | IN
In 2022, we’ll host several outreach sessions to add clarification and insight to the Power Plant Grant process. Join virtually or in-person:
June 14, 2022 at 6 p.m. (EST) via Zoom. Join here.
June 29, 2022 at 6 p.m. (EST) at Tube Factory artspace (1125 Cruft St, Indianapolis, IN 46203)

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.

Tsanavi Spoonhunter Select Short Films
2022-06-03 18:00 - 22:00 | IN
“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.

Lunchtime at Lockerbie Returns
2022-06-02 11:00 - 13:00 | Lockerbie Marketplace, 320 N New Jersey St, Indianapolis, IN, United States
This summer, we’ll welcome local musicians, artists sharing creative activities, and food trucks at Lockerbie Marketplace — a lovely downtown greenspace next to Needler’s Fresh Market. Ping pong, foosball, and giant jenga are always available for additional entertainment as we enjoy live music and local food.
We’re also looking for food and art vendors!
If you’re interested in being a featured food truck at Lockerbie Marketplace for lunchtime on Thursdays from mid May until mid October. We don’t charge any fees and you can use the space to operate beyond lunch hours if you’d like. If you’re interested in being a featured food truck, email us. Also, we’re going to be hosting some after-work happy hour mini-markets. So if you are an artisan vendor let us know if you’d be interested. Lastly, let us know if you’d like to bring your food truck or vendor table to Tube Factory as we look forward to expanding as construction winds down this summer on our outdoor space.

Power Plant Grants are back for 2022! Visual artists, teams, artist-run spaces apply for grants up to $10,000
2022-05-09 09:00 - 2022-07-10 23:30 | IN
Power Plant Grants are back for 2022! Visual artists, teams, artist-run spaces apply for grants up to $10,000

How it works: A panel of out-of-state and local jurors will select artists to receive Power Plant grants between $2,000-$10,000. Applications will be available online May 9 and are due July 10, 2022. Eligible applicants are…

Visual/multidisciplinary artists who create original work in painting, drawing, sculpture, book art, ceramics, fiber, printmaking, digital media, film, video, photography, performance art, sound art, social practice, interdisciplinary practice of any/all of the above.
21 or over at the time of the application, and not full-time students.
Artists who live and/or work in Indianapolis.
Teams, partnerships, and unincorporated individuals running spaces.

Funding for Power Plant comes to Big Car via a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts through its Regional Re-Granting Program, the Warhol Foundation supports partners like us across America to, in turn, support visual artists.
Power Plant grants are facilitated by the nonprofit arts organization, Big Car Collaborative and are made possible by funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
For more information, and to apply, visit powerplantgrant.org

Juan Chawuk: Iridiscencia Cultural
2022-05-06 18:00 - 2022-07-17 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Juan Chawuk invites viewers to experience his home state of Chiapas, Mexico through paintings, photography, sculptures and murals. As part of an ongoing series, this work shines light on the multicultural citizens of Chiapas, how they’ve coexisted for centuries, and how conflict there has fostered new ways of creating.
As an indigenous Maya Tojobal artist, Chawuk’s photographs show how cultures fuse together a shared iconography including some imposed by outside cultures with what remains from traditions of the past — including from the land’s ancient cultures. These icons generate dialogue and reflect emotional colors and shapes, leading to surprises. The series of small paintings are more mythical with a touch of the magical realism often linked with Latin American art and literature. Featuring live models and jungle animals, the paintings’ brushstrokes suggest the magnificent handicrafts of the Chiapas region. And the sculpture is made of mud and fibers from the jungle that the Lacandones people once used for tunics. This piece encourages viewers to experience the Chiapas cultures and their nature.
Chawuk’s interpretations transform perceptions of Chiapas and allow viewers to experience the creative iridescence (a reflection of various colors, similar to a rainbow) that his senses capture in these works.

The exhibit is a partnership with Arte Mexicano en Indiana and curated by its founder, Eduardo Luna. Luna is a social practice artist, cultural promoter and advocate for Mexican identity and Latina/o/x culture. Luna hails from the state of Guerrero, the city of Acapulco, in the Costa Chica region of southern Pacific Mexico. Since 2012, he has been curating events featuring artists of Mexican and Latina/o/x heritage for diverse Indiana audiences. Eduardo is a co-founder of Nopal Cultural, La Sardina Gallery, and Radio Calaca (formerly Espanglish Night), and has served for many years as Big Car staff artist. Arte Mexicano en Indiana was founded in 2020, with a mission to encourage and promote Mexican art, music, and culture in Indiana through collaborations and by organizing and promoting public events. “Our vision is that people of Mexican heritage develop pride in their cultural heritage, and that native Hoosiers develop a richer perspective on the Mexican people and the culture we contribute to Indiana,” says Eduardo. He is a member of the international Mexican Cultural Art Alliance (MCAA), a group of Mexican and Mexican-American arts administrators started by Carlos Tortolero, founder of the National Museum of Mexican Art.

Juan Chawuk: Iridiscencia Cultural
La percepción de la cultura de Chiapas se transforma con las interpretaciones. Ahí surge la iridiscencia (Reflejo de colores distintos, generalmente como los del arco iris)creativa que captan mis sentidos y que se manifiesta a través de estas obras.
En esta muestra de tres series, hago referencia a esas interacciones en el tiempo que muestran a Chiapas como hogar de varias culturas milenarias en gran agitación global, con una identidad en constante conflicto que se expresa en nuevas maneras de crear.
La serie de fotografías es una muestra clara de una combinación de filosofías y creencias religiosas; la interpretación de las imágenes impuestas por una cultura externa con lo local, el pasado remoto de una cultura milenaria, pero que en la actualidad tienen interlocución y genera los prismas que reflejan colores emocionales y formas que sorprenden a la vida diaria.
Esta serie de fotos se hizo reflexionando sobre las emociones que provoca las fusiones de iconografías.
La serie de obras pequeñas es más mítica y su toque de realismo mágico identifica a Latinoamérica con los procesos creativos, desde modelos en vivo hasta animales de la selva. Sus pinceladas recuerdan las energías de la naturaleza que se mezclan con las magníficas obras artesanales de la región Chiapaneca.
Asimismo, la serie de piezas de barro y fibras de la selva que antes utilizaban los lacandones para túnicas, juega con las estampas de los textiles sin ser tan obvias pero pretende llevar al espectador a rememorar un Chiapas que, si ya lo conoce, se transforma en experiencia que revive. Y si aún no lo conoce, transporta al espectador a Chiapas y sus textiles en un contexto contemporáneo, fantástico y creativo que invita a una experiencia de vida con estas culturas y su naturaleza.
Que esta muestra sea una manera de conocer una parte de México que se identifica con lo global contemporáneo pero con una raíz muy valiosa de su pasado milenario.

Made possible by Arte Mexicano en Indiana, The Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Mary Ann Michna-Art Influenced By The Road
2022-05-06 18:00 - 2022-06-13 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
May 6-22 Guichelaar Gallery
“I have been a longtime enthusiast of American roadside culture that began with childhood trips with my family in the 1950s and 60s. One summer car trip in our 1961 Comet took us to Panama City, Florida and in the following year a western trip to Yellowstone Park to see Old Faithful geyser.
My most memorable journey was riding a Greyhound bus with my mother to visit a cousin from Decatur, Georgia. The bus seemed to stop quite frequently in small towns along the way and it gave me a small window of opportunity to experience those
communities while they were still in good condition. I was given a moment in time to glance at the neon signs, diners serving “Good Food,” and movie theater marquees advertising Jerry Lewis in “The Bellboy.”
For the last twenty years, my painting and photography have been influenced by my ongoing search for these roadside remnants of the past. My process usually involves spending a block of time shooting photographs during a road trip and then editing the imagery that works for me. Recently, I spent a week traveling Route 66 through Illinois and Missouri and took a second trip this past summer on the Lincoln Highway in lowa. Usually, I use my photo references for producing acrylic paintings, but I have also been experimenting with various computer programs such as Corel Painter and have produced a body of work consisting of digital paintings. For me it has been a way to combine an artist’s skills as a painter and a photographer.”-Mary Ann Michna

“Mary Ann Michna won an award for her short documentary Remembering James Dean, 1989. The recognition, given by Video Review magazine, was titled the “Real Life” award. How apropos of her American art. The reviewer cited Michna’s care and poignancy in portraying the sincere admiration fans expressed for the late actor.This care for the past is key to Michna’s art; she seeks moments, events, icons of our past that still speak. Her worlds embrace ordinary life in America and her bond to the everyday makes Michna part of the long history of American artists seeking to commemorate aspects of life in our country. Robert Henri and the Ashcan School over one hundred years ago challenged the Academy for the right to paint everyday life in America Michna proves what Henri wrote in 1923 (updated), “Painting is the expression of ideas in their permanent form. It is the giving of evidence. It is the study of our lives, our environment. The American who is useful as an artist is one who studies her own life and records her experiences; in this way she gives evidence. Fleeting evidence expressed in permanent form.”–Rusty Freeman

Part of our Social Alchemy Project in partnership with University of Southern Indiana & The New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art- this exhibit was made possible by Indiana Humanities, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, The Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis and The Efroymson Family Fund.

Social Alchemy Symposium- Imaginary Cities, The Arts and Healing
2022-04-13 11:00 - 21:00 | Murphy Auditorium, 419 Tavern St., New Harmony, IN, 47631, United States
The Social Alchemy Symposium is a participatory mini-conference happening online and in person in New Harmony, Indiana April 10-13, 2022.

Each day is themed and focused on single days. The symposium is free to attend either virtually or in person. Donations are appreciated and can be made via the registration link.
Discounted lodging is available at the New Harmony Inn (details below). Attendees are welcome to join any parts of the conference in person, online, or both. Registration is required to support communication and feedback.

Wednesday, April 13
8-10am central time – Mini-tours on the hour. Jump in either in person or on-line with artist led tours of various New Harmony landmarks! Check out the Harmonist Labyrinth, a wunderkammer in the Workingmen’s Institute, The Wabash River, the Roofless Church and more.

10-10:50 am central time
Opening conversation:
Utopian literature/writing in New Harmony featuring Susan Neville, Matthew Graham, Adrian Matejka.

11 am-noon central time
Utopic cultural projects conversation – visual art, music & movement featuring Artist and musician, Oreo Jones, Visual artists, Docey Lewis, Big Car Co-founder, Shauta Marsh, Keesha Dixon, Executive Director of Asante Art Institute of Indiana, and Indy Dance Movement Collective Executive Director, Lauren Curry.

1:15-2:15 central time
Author Maurice Broaddus
Worldbuilding towards Community Work
A community organizer and teacher, his work has appeared in places like Lightspeed Magazine, Black Panther: Tales from Wakanda, Weird Tales, Magazine of F&SF, and Uncanny Magazine, with some of his stories having been collected in The Voices of Martyrs. His books include the sci-fi novel Sweep of Stars; the steampunk works, Buffalo Soldier and Pimp My Airship; and the middle grade detective novels, The Usual Suspects and Unfadeable. His project, Sorcerers, is being adapted as a television show for AMC. He’s an editor at Apex Magazine.

2:30-3:30pm central time (Zoom)
Imaginary Cities with Darran Anderson.
Anderson is the author of Imaginary Cities and Inventory. Imaginary Cities was chosen as a best book of 2015 by the Financial Times, The Guardian, and the A.V. Club. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, the TLS, frieze magazine, Wired, and the Architectural Review. He was born in Derry, Ireland, and lives in London.

7:30pm central time (In person)
Golf Cart Drive In-The Black Panther, introduced by Maurice Broaddus
Note: New Harmony, IN (CST) and Indianapolis, IN (EST)are in different time zones. Central time is one hour earlier than Eastern.

More about the Symposium:
The Social Alchemy Symposium is a participatory mini-conference happening online and in person in New Harmony, Indiana April 10-13, 2022.
Twice the site of utopian experiments in communitarian living, New Harmony is now a town rich in beauty, culture, and history. And it makes the perfect location for people to enjoy some moments of respite and reconnect with others through conversations about the roles of art, design, and place in society.
Conversations — led by more than 20 notable authors, artists, designers, researchers, and philosophers from Indiana and around the world — will look at the role of utopian thinking today and tomorrow while connecting with the past.
The symposium — organized through a partnership between Big Car Collaborative, the University of Southern Indiana, Historic New Harmony, and the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art — is made possible by Indiana Humanities, the Efroymson Family Fund, and New America. Additional partners include Indiana State Museum and PATTERN Magazine.

Speakers, in-person unless otherwise noted, include:
Emily St. John Mandel, author of the 2015 utopian/dystopian novel, Station Eleven among other books and essays. Station Eleven has been translated into 33 languages and was adapted into an HBO series premiering in 2021 (virtual talk).
Maurice Broaddus, author of fiction centered on utopian and dystopian ideas through the genres of science fiction, urban fantasy, and horror.
Darran Anderson, author of Imaginary Cities (2015), an Irish writer focused on the intersections of urbanism, culture, technology and politics (virtual talk).
Cara Courage, executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit; scholar and author in the realms of art and placemaking; and formerly of the Tate Modern in London.
Also: Indiana writers Susan Neville, Adrian Matejka, and Matthew Graham (current poet laureate); Indiana artists and arts leaders from New Harmony, Columbus, Bloomington, and Indianapolis; leading architects, planners, and designers; and utopian/communal studies scholars.

WHY ATTEND?
• To gain a deep understanding — via history, literature, philosophy and design — of the relationship between the built environment and social good.
• To connect with others interested in imagining and striving for better communities.
• To experience the extraordinary atmosphere, public art, and architecture of New Harmony — nestled along the Wabash River and steeped in contemporary art and a historic utopian spirit.
• To savor the spring weather of southern Indiana.

Located at the southwest tip of Indiana near Evansville on land originally occupied by the Mississippian culture, New Harmony is approximately 2.5 hours drive from Indianapolis, and just over two hours from St. Louis and Louisville. Conference goers receive a special $89/night rate at the New Harmony Inn Resort & Conference Center. Call (812) 682-4431 to book and mention “Social Alchemy Symposium.” Click here for other lodging options.

Social Alchemy Symposium-IN Context
2022-04-12 10:00 - 22:00 | Murphy Auditorium, 419 Tavern St., New Harmony, IN, 47631, United States
The Social Alchemy Symposium is a participatory mini-conference happening online and in person in New Harmony, Indiana April 10-13, 2022.

Each day is themed and focused on single days. The symposium is free to attend either virtually or in person. Donations are appreciated and can be made via the registration link.
Discounted lodging is available at the New Harmony Inn (details below). Attendees are welcome to join any parts of the conference in person, online, or both. Registration is required to support communication and feedback.

8-10am -Mini-tours on the hour.
Jump in either in person or on-line for artist led tours of New Harmony landmarks! Check out the Harmonist Labyrinth, a wunderkammer in the Workingmen’s Institute, The Wabash River, the Roofless Church and more.

TUESDAY, APRIL 12
9:30-10:30
Opening conversation: Learning from each other (Utopic public places, small towns and cities)

10:30-11:20
David Rubin — The Dystopian Utopia in Practice

11:30-noon
Co-operative Ownership for Healthy Communities:Jacob and Nathan Bower-Bir

1-1:45
Amana, Oneida and New Harmony with Claire Eagle

2-2:45
Contemporary utopias and planned communities with Director of USI Communal Studies, Dr. Silvia Rhode and USI Archivist, Jennifer Greene

3-3:45 In person networking/sharing
Who Are You & What Do You Want?

4-5pm Indiana in Context/ New Harmony and Columbus, IN
Richard McCoy, Kathryn Armstrong and Kent Schuette and Chris Merritt discuss how the two are connected through contemporary art and design, how the city of Columbus, the town of New Harmony build on what our state offers, current plans/upcoming collaborations between New Harmony and Columbus.

6:30pm
Utopian Architecture: discussion on the importance of architecture in our well-being, past, present and future projects with well-being in mind.

8-10pm
In person activities
Note: New Harmony, IN (CST) and Indianapolis, IN (EST)are in different time zones.
More about the Symposium:
The Social Alchemy Symposium is a participatory mini-conference happening online and in person in New Harmony, Indiana April 10-13, 2022.
Twice the site of utopian experiments in communitarian living, New Harmony is now a town rich in beauty, culture, and history. And it makes the perfect location for people to enjoy some moments of respite and reconnect with others through conversations about the roles of art, design, and place in society.
Conversations — led by more than 20 notable authors, artists, designers, researchers, and philosophers from Indiana and around the world — will look at the role of utopian thinking today and tomorrow while connecting with the past.
The symposium — organized through a partnership between Big Car Collaborative, the University of Southern Indiana, Historic New Harmony, and the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art — is made possible by Indiana Humanities, the Efroymson Family Fund, and New America. Additional partners include Indiana State Museum and PATTERN Magazine.
Speakers, in-person unless otherwise noted, include:
Emily St. John Mandel, author of the 2015 utopian/dystopian novel, Station Eleven among other books and essays. Station Eleven has been translated into 33 languages and was adapted into an HBO series premiering in 2021 (virtual talk).
Maurice Broaddus, author of fiction centered on utopian and dystopian ideas through the genres of science fiction, urban fantasy, and horror.
Darran Anderson, author of Imaginary Cities (2015), an Irish writer focused on the intersections of urbanism, culture, technology and politics (virtual talk).
Cara Courage, executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit; scholar and author in the realms of art and placemaking; and formerly of the Tate Modern in London.
Also: Indiana writers Susan Neville, Adrian Matejka, and Matthew Graham (current poet laureate); Indiana artists and arts leaders from New Harmony, Columbus, Bloomington, and Indianapolis; leading architects, planners, and designers; and utopian/communal studies scholars.
WHY ATTEND?
• To gain a deep understanding — via history, literature, philosophy and design — of the relationship between the built environment and social good.
• To connect with others interested in imagining and striving for better communities.
• To experience the extraordinary atmosphere, public art, and architecture of New Harmony — nestled along the Wabash River and steeped in contemporary art and a historic utopian spirit.
• To savor the spring weather of southern Indiana.
Located at the southwest tip of Indiana near Evansville on land originally occupied by the Mississippian culture, New Harmony is approximately 2.5 hours drive from Indianapolis, and just over two hours from St. Louis and Louisville. Conference goers receive a special $89/night rate at the New Harmony Inn Resort & Conference Center. Call (812) 682-4431 to book and mention “Social Alchemy Symposium.” Click here for other lodging options.

Social Alchemy Symposium -Visualizing Spaces
2022-04-11 12:00 - 19:00 | New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, 506 Main St, New Harmony, IN, 47631, United States
The Social Alchemy Symposium is a participatory mini-conference happening online and in person in New Harmony, Indiana April 10-13, 2022.
Each day is themed and focused on single days. The symposium is free to attend either virtually or in person. Donations are appreciated and can be made via the registration link.
Discounted lodging is available at the New Harmony Inn (details below). Attendees are welcome to join any parts of the conference in person, online, or both. Registration is required to support communication and feedback.

Monday, April 11

On-line
noon
Utopic Spaces (Museums and Public Space) Cara Courage in conversation with Jim Walker

5:30 p.m. central time
Panel led by New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art Director, Iris Williamson.

7 p.m. central time
Reception for “Visualizing Spaces” at the gallery. More information to come.

9 pm central time
(In Person) Self-guided activities created and led by Big Car staff in partnership with New Harmony experts.

Note: New Harmony, IN (CST) and Indianapolis, IN (EST)are in different time zones. Central time is one hour earlier than Eastern.

More about the Symposium:
The Social Alchemy Symposium is a participatory mini-conference happening online and in person in New Harmony, Indiana April 10-13, 2022.
Twice the site of utopian experiments in communitarian living, New Harmony is now a town rich in beauty, culture, and history. And it makes the perfect location for people to enjoy some moments of respite and reconnect with others through conversations about the roles of art, design, and place in society.
Conversations — led by more than 20 notable authors, artists, designers, researchers, and philosophers from Indiana and around the world — will look at the role of utopian thinking today and tomorrow while connecting with the past.
The symposium — organized through a partnership between Big Car Collaborative, the University of Southern Indiana, Historic New Harmony, and the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art — is made possible by Indiana Humanities, the Efroymson Family Fund, and New America. Additional partners include Indiana State Museum and PATTERN Magazine.

Overall symposium speakers, in-person unless otherwise noted, include:
Emily St. John Mandel, author of the 2015 utopian/dystopian novel, Station Eleven among other books and essays. Station Eleven has been translated into 33 languages and was adapted into an HBO series premiering in 2021 (virtual talk).
Maurice Broaddus, author of fiction centered on utopian and dystopian ideas through the genres of science fiction, urban fantasy, and horror.
Darran Anderson, author of Imaginary Cities (2015), an Irish writer focused on the intersections of urbanism, culture, technology and politics (virtual talk).
Cara Courage, executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit; scholar and author in the realms of art and placemaking; and formerly of the Tate Modern in London.
Also: Indiana writers Susan Neville, Adrian Matejka, and Matthew Graham (current poet laureate); Indiana artists and arts leaders from New Harmony, Columbus, Bloomington, and Indianapolis; leading architects, planners, and designers; and utopian/communal studies scholars.

WHY ATTEND?
• To gain a deep understanding — via history, literature, philosophy and design — of the relationship between the built environment and social good.
• To connect with others interested in imagining and striving for better communities.
• To experience the extraordinary atmosphere, public art, and architecture of New Harmony — nestled along the Wabash River and steeped in contemporary art and a historic utopian spirit.
• To savor the spring weather of southern Indiana.
Located at the southwest tip of Indiana near Evansville on land originally occupied by the Mississippian culture, New Harmony is approximately 2.5 hours drive from Indianapolis, and just over two hours from St. Louis and Louisville. Conference goers receive a special $89/night rate at the New Harmony Inn Resort & Conference Center. Call (812) 682-4431 to book and mention “Social Alchemy Symposium.” Click here for other lodging options.

Social Alchemy Symposium-Emily St. John Mandel
2022-04-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom, United States
Join us for the online opening keynote of the Social Alchemy Symposium with author Emily St John Mandel who will discuss her work, the pursuit of utopia, the dystopia that can create for others. Even in the face of societal collapse, we create spaces and art that bring us meaning, comfort and reassurance.

The Social Alchemy Symposium is a participatory mini-conference happening online and in person in New Harmony, Indiana April 10-13, 2022.
Each day is themed and focused on single days. The symposium is free to attend either virtually or in person. Donations are appreciated and can be made via the registration link.

Our opening keynote by Emily St John Mandel is made possible by Indiana Humanities and New America.

Tickets must be reserved to receive the Zoom links for the symposium.

About Emily St. John Mandel
She is the author of five novels, most recently “The Glass Hotel.” Her novel “Station Eleven,” which was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, won the 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Toronto Book Award, and the Morning News Tournament of Books, and has been translated into 27 languages.
A previous novel, “The Singer’s Gun,” was the 2014 winner of the Prix Mystere de la Critique in France. Her short fiction and essays have been anthologized in numerous collections, including Best American Mystery Stories 2013. She is also a staff writer for The Millions.
She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter. Her next book, “Sea of Tranquility,” will be released in April 2022. Copies will be available for purchase at the in-person event.

“I’m a big believer in people needing stories to help us process times when our reality is unstable,” Somerville says. “That plays out in the show, too. You come to a point when you can’t talk about things anymore. But when there’s no answer, that’s when art’s most valuable. When the words we have don’t work anymore, we can sing a folk song or put on a play. I’m a big believer in the functional, pragmatic utility of art. It’s not just a fancy thing you go see at the museum, but a thing we need that should be jammed into Maslow’s hierarchy of needs at a very, very important rung.””–Patrick Somerville on Emily St. John Mandel’s Station 11.

More about the Symposium:
The Social Alchemy Symposium is a participatory mini-conference happening online and in person in New Harmony, Indiana April 10-13, 2022.
Twice the site of utopian experiments in communitarian living, New Harmony is now a town rich in beauty, culture, and history. And it makes the perfect location for people to enjoy some moments of respite and reconnect with others through conversations about the roles of art, design, and place in society.
Conversations — led by more than 20 notable authors, artists, designers, researchers, and philosophers from Indiana and around the world — will look at the role of utopian thinking today and tomorrow while connecting with the past.
The symposium — organized through a partnership between Big Car Collaborative, the University of Southern Indiana, Historic New Harmony, and the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art — is made possible by Indiana Humanities, the Efroymson Family Fund, and New America. Additional partners include the Indiana State Museum and PATTERN Magazine.
Other speakers, in-person unless otherwise noted, include:
Maurice Broaddus, author of fiction centered on utopian and dystopian ideas through the genres of science fiction, urban fantasy, and horror.
Darran Anderson, author of Imaginary Cities (2015), an Irish writer focused on the intersections of urbanism, culture, technology and politics (virtual talk).
Cara Courage, executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit; scholar and author in the realms of art and placemaking; and formerly of the Tate Modern in London.
Also: Indiana writers Susan Neville, Adrian Matejka, and Matthew Graham (current poet laureate); Indiana artists and arts leaders from New Harmony, Columbus, Bloomington, and Indianapolis; leading architects, planners, and designers; and utopian/communal studies scholars.
WHY ATTEND?
• To gain a deep understanding — via history, literature, philosophy and design — of the relationship between the built environment and social good.
• To connect with others interested in imagining and striving for better communities.
• To experience the extraordinary atmosphere, public art, and architecture of New Harmony — nestled along the Wabash River and steeped in a historic utopian spirit.
• To savor the spring weather of southern Indiana.
Located at the southwest tip of Indiana near Evansville on land originally occupied by the Mississippian culture, New Harmony is approximately 2.5 hours drive from Indianapolis, and just over two hours from St. Louis and Louisville. Conference goers receive a special $89/night rate at the New Harmony Inn Resort & Conference Center. Call (812) 682-4431 to book and mention “Social Alchemy Symposium.”

Drea Cofield: All At Once
2022-04-01 18:00 - 2022-05-23 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Alla prima is the Italian term for the material technique of wet on wet painting, and literally translates to “at the first”, but I prefer to read “all at once” as it denotes a kind of urgent submission to the sensorial subject that parallels the sublimation of my more libidinal imagery into the touch of the landscape. Like a lover lost in the realms of desire, a pendulous breast or glistening ass becomes the wet slip of a brushstroke, the resonant touch of two tones, and other things unnameable. How does a stand of trees relate to the figure? How does the midday sun relate to my state of mind? Temperature and speed become tantamount in the lived moment as I try to consume everything with my eyes. Less time to think for more time to feel the shifting light and twining trees mirrored in the creek. Most of the paintings in this body of work were created in one sitting.
About the artist
Drea Cofield is an artist currently working between Indianapolis, IN and Brooklyn, NY. In 2013, she received her M.F.A from Yale School of Art (New Haven, CT), and in 2008, her B.A from DePauw University (Greencastle, IN). She has exhibited in the U.S. and internationally including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Portland and Italy. Most recently she exhibited in the Armory Show with 1969 Gallery in New York. Her work has been featured in the Brooklyn Rail, Artnet News, Juxtapoz, Blouin Art Info, and in Suzanne Hudson’s latest issue of Contemporary Painting (World of Art). She is the recipient of an Elizabeth Greenshields Grant and the Yale University Gloucester Painting Prize. Residencies include the Guild of Adventure Painters SWAB Mobile Residency in 2019. She is the Founder and Director of Bomb Pop-Up, a pop-up Art & Music initiative that focuses on providing visibility in exciting contexts to emerging and established artists and musicians; working with other 200 artists from all over the world and collaborating with institutions such as the National Academy of Design. Cofield has been a visiting artist at Cooper Union, Pratt Institute, and the School of Visual Arts. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.
Image :”Hole” 60 x 50 inches, oil on canvas
This exhibition was made possible by the Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and The Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation.

Mayasa Design House: In Color
2022-04-01 08:00 - 2022-04-24 17:00 | Listen Hear, 2620 Shelby St, , Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
I am always seeking ways to blend the art in my soul, blur the genres, and allow a cohesive expression to come from multiple places within. -Uzuri Asad, Mayasa Design House
Listen Hear will host paintings, jewelry and other items from Uzuri Asad of Mayasa Design House. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Uzuri Asad now lives and works in the Garfield Park neighborhood of Indianapolis as part of Big Car Collaborative’s Artist in Public Life Residency program. She’s a singer, dancer, choreographer, and jewelry-maker. Formally trained in West African dance and contemporary movement, her art is guided by lived experiences and her cultural upbringing. Her style is a unique blend of fluid, free flowing, yet intentional movements. For Asad, dance is a sacred means of individual expression that lives and breathes through her.
Music has always been a big part of her life. Beginning with an idea or a piece of music, her creative process is a daydream of ideas and music that become living and breathing pulsations within her. Deeply in tune and connected to each individual element, she creates jewelry by envisioning the people who would wear what she makes, the environment they might dwell in, and how those pieces may be incorporated into their lives naturally.
She recently worked as a choreographer and performer for “Village Voices: Notes from the Griot”, a collaborative production created by Joshua Thompson and directed by Megan Simonton. Within this work, she was part of an educational experience that brought creative expression from the stage to the classroom, creating dialogue to address the painful and ugly things that aren’t spoken.
Everything I do is based on lived experiences. A great deal of my work is centered around celebrating and creating space for healing Black women. I’m moved by the living artistry of my family’s existence, and by the people who I have come to love along my journey. I’ve been inspired to examine and express things happening in the world as of late, so I am exploring movement and adornment that reflects the emotional and spiritual effects of my community.
Asad believes, through movements of expression, that her work can create a meaningful reflection of the times that become reference points in the future of what has occurred. With her bold, unapologetic, and intrepid movements, she inspires people to find their voice and create a space to heal women. In this space, women don’t have to make themselves smaller or quieter. They embrace their identity and power to its fullest.
Facebook.com/ijomovement
Instagram: zuri_mayasa
This exhibition was made possible by the Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and The Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation.

Process/Progress Art Salon
2022-03-25 19:00 - 23:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join Indy Movement Arts and Big Car Collaborative for an innovative evening of performance, performance art, and kinetic creation.

Kelvin Burzon and Jenny Delfuego will premier new work as a part of the Indy Movement Arts Process/Progress residency, accompanied by original work from Indy Movement Arts dance-makers, Bethany Bak and Lauren Curry. Patrons are invited to freely traverse the space; Drink, talk, and make merry as creation unfolds in all the nooks and crannies of the Tube Factory Artspace. From the intricately constructed to the joyfully participatory, there will be something for everyone. For the truly locked-in art-goer, the evening will culminate in a technicolor dance party.

Will we levitate the Tube Factory with good vibrations? There’s only one way to find out…

In the fall of 2020, Indy Movement Arts began experimenting with digital fellowships as a small contribution to towards keeping artistic production viable. The Process/Progress residency is part of that experiment, paying artists to reflect on their creative process and how they incorporate movement into their practice.

About this event
Doors open at 7:00pm. The performances and participatory offerings will be scattered throughout the evening (7:00-9:00pm) and we will close out the night with a technicolor dance party, beginning at 9:00pm.

Process/Progress Art Salon is presented in partnership with Big Car Collaborative and is made possible by The Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis, and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

The Color of Pomegranates
2022-03-23 19:30 - 21:00 | Kan-Kan Cinema, 1258 Windsor St., Indianapolis, IN, 46201, United States
Join Kan-Kan Cinema and Big Car Collaborative for the screening of “The Color of Pomegranates” (Sayat Nova). The late Soviet director, Sergei Paradjanov, makes an earnest attempt to fuse poetry and film by seriously exploring the poetic potential of the cinema.
A breathtaking fusion of poetry, ethnography, and cinema, Sergei Parajanov’s masterwork overflows with unforgettable images and sounds. In a series of tableaux that blend the tactile with the abstract, “The Color of Pomegranates” revives the splendors of Armenian culture through the story of the eighteenth-century troubadour Sayat-Nova, charting his intellectual, artistic, and spiritual growth through iconographic compositions rather than traditional narrative. The film’s tapestry of folklore and metaphor departed from the realism that dominated the Soviet cinema of its era, leading authorities to block its distribution, with rare underground screenings presenting it in a restructured form. This edition features the cut closest to Parajanov’s original vision, in a restoration that brings new life to one of cinema’s most enigmatic meditations on art and beauty.
A deliriously beautiful film “The Color of Pomegranates” stays in the mind long after the film has run its course.
Big Car Co-founder & Director of Programming and Exhibitions, Shauta Marsh will host a discussion and Q&A post the film.

pLopLop Vol. 14 Submission Form
2022-03-17 08:00 - 2022-08-01 17:00 | IN
Are you a writer? Have something to say? Want to put it in print? Submit your work to PLopLop! 100 word limit. Submissions are due by August 1.
pLOpLop is an “Antholozine” of Poetry, Prose and Artwork published by Indianapolis, IN based visual artist, Big Car co-founder and writer John Clark since 1992.
pLopLop has published the work of writers like Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, Fielding Dawson, Eileen Myles, Gerald Locklin and more.
Influences: Surrealism, Dada, Henry Miller, Patchen, lo-fi indie rock, DIY activities, indie publishers and bookshops, British Invasion, mimeo-revolution, underground writers, garage rock and improvisation.

Laura Foster Nicholson: Scenes From The Carbon Border
2022-03-04 18:00 - 2022-04-18 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
From the hands of a young person in China, to a shipping container crossing the Suez Canal, to a semi-truck driver transporting containers cross country, to people at the big box or mom and pop who unload them, to everyone going to the stores to buy things. These are carbon borders we’ve created 一 our feet, our cars, trains, planes, streets, and sidewalks all in motion. These borders both connect and divide us.
Two years ago, driving from her home in New Harmony, Indiana to Chicago, artist Laura Foster Nicholson — a textile artist known for her handwoven tapestries — paused to notice the landscapes from our carbon borders. And the work she began creating then offers us — in this exhibition — a view of the path taken by the goods we purchase. This is often unseen and costs the world more than what’s listed on the price tag. And these carbon borders separate us from the people who made many of the items with which we live and adorn ourselves.
Nicholson noticed the cost to the environment and ultimately ourselves. She began incorporating these aspects in her works, calling attention to disasters and accidents along these borders, reminding us of the seen and unseen dangers of our way of life. “I watched the Wabash swell annually, frequently inundating the fields, sometimes filling basements, and once in a while warranting the efforts of the National Guard to sandbag around the New Harmony Inn. This past couple of weeks, texts have updated me regularly about extending the flash flood warning for the area,” says Nicholoson.
With this, we can pause to consider the invisible people and places behind items we consume and the inevitable disasters that result from the journeys. As each piece takes many hours to create, Nicholson’s work gives us access to our connectedness as humans instead of being based on consumerism and the whims of market research and algorithms. “As an artist, I am first visually inspired: the reflections in the water of these structures, foretelling the future, reflecting the past,” says Nicholoson.
This work reminds us that though we say the world has become smaller, we have become more distant from one another. No longer do we know all the hands that touched the objects we use to define ourselves. These tapestries are scenes from the carbon borders driven by our consumption and connecting us like the threads of her works.

Laura Foster Nicholson’s artwork is in several museum collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Denver Art Museum. With a BFA from Kansas City Art Institute and MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, she has lectured, taught, and exhibited in the US, Canada and Italy. She has been awarded an NEA fellowship, the Leone di Pietra prize at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, three Illinois Arts Council fellowships, and a grant from the Graham Foundation for Research in the Fine Arts. Most recently she was awarded the Dehaan Artist of Distinction grant.

Part of our Social Alchemy Project in partnership with University of Southern Indiana & The New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art- this exhibit was made possible by Indiana Humanities, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, The Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis, The Efroymson Family Fund and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Image: “Hanjin,” 2021. 31” x 43 ½”. Wool, mylar, cotton. Nicholson used “warming stripes” to indicate long term warming trends.

Kris Graves: A Southern Horror
2022-03-04 18:00 - 2022-04-16 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Kris Graves creates artwork that deals with societal problems and aims to use art as a means to inform people about cultural issues. He also works to elevate the representation of people of color in the fine art canon; and to create opportunities for conversation about race, representation, and urban life. Graves creates photographs of landscapes and people to preserve memory.

“In Summer 2020 a collective uprising rooted in local civic engagements ricocheted around the world in response to the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. It relied on one of the central pillars of Democracy—peaceful protest. Although grounded in the particular, the embodied actions of the multitudes illuminated larger universal questions of basic human rights and dignity in the 21st century. The echo of empathy, anger, and pain born from the eight minutes and 46 seconds of viral video that captured Floyd’s passing, resonated not only in the United States, but in ongoing struggles across the globe. While this was going on, I photographed memorials, monuments, and sites of the antebellum South and the Confederacy. My friend Marshall (@fu64) and I drove approximately 4000 miles across eight southern states making photographs of every site we could find. Some have been removed, most remain in place.” — Kris Graves
A Southern Horror is primarily a series of 175 non fungible token or NFT works. NFTs are unique digital files that can be owned. While any person can replicate the artwork through screenshot or other means, NFTs are designed to give the purchaser ownership of the work. For example anyone can own a Mona Lisa print but there is only one owner of the actual painting. Click here to visit the works.

Kris Graves (b. 1982 New York, NY) is an artist and publisher based in New York and California. He received his BFA in Visual Arts from S.U.N.Y. Purchase College and has been published and exhibited globally, including Museum of Modern Art, New York; Getty Institute, Los Angeles; and National Portrait Gallery in London, England; among others. Permanent collections include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Getty Institute, Schomburg Center, Whitney Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Brooklyn Museum; and The Wedge Collection, Toronto; amongst others. Graves also sits on the board of Blue Sky Gallery: Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, Portland; and The Architectural League of New York as Vice President of Photography

Presented by Aurora PhotoCenter
The exhibit is made possible by The Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Kelvin Burzon and Jenny Delfuego: Process/Progress
2022-03-04 18:00 - 2022-03-25 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Multi-genre visual artists Kelvin Burzon and Jenny Delfuego are creating movement-based work to accompany their visual art as part of a partnership between Big Car Collaborative and Indy Movement Arts.
In the fall of 2020, Indy Movement Arts began experimenting with small, digital fellowships as a small contribution towards the arts economy and keeping artistic production viable. The Process/Progress residency is the latest iteration of this experiment, paying intermedia artists to reflect on their creative process and how they incorporate movement into their practice.
The residency was conceived as a digital one but given that Indy Movement Arts is rooted in movement and dance, a discipline that often involves some immediate interchange between artist and audience, the artists were commissioned in partnership between the two organizations to make a new work involving such an interchange.

About the artists:
Kelvin Burzon’s recent work addresses, but does not attempt to resolve, the tension between religion and homosexuality. He examines religion’s traditions, imagery, theatricality, and psychological vestige. By appropriating religious imagery and language, the work is recontextualized by the insertion of LGBTQ members and activists. Burzon’s work has been exhibited abroad and all over the country and is part of several permanent collections including the Kinsey Institute and The Center for Photography at Woodstock.

Jenny Delfuego was born in Chicago to immigrant parents and has been exhibiting work under different monikers since the 90s. She examines ephemerality, light and shadow, and the edges of impermanence. The indications of our existence are often made and unmade in the time it takes to observe them. Her involvement with Indy Movement Arts has promoted experiments in communal conversation and collaboration. What marks, what indications do these conversations leave? Delfuego studied painting at Indiana University and her work is in private and corporate collections on five continents.

The exhibit is made possible by The Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, The Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Performances will take place March 25th

Art and Vinyl: Amber Zuri Keel, Kendia Lovelady, Harriet Watson
2022-03-04 18:00 - 2022-03-20 18:00 | Listen Hear, 2620 Shelby St, , Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Snuggy Bear Presents “Art and Vinyl,” an exhibition featuring Amber Zuri Keel, Kendia Lovelady and Harriet Watson.
“For this exhibition I wanted to create comfort while stepping outside of who and what I am accustomed to,” says Dr. Dortch aka Snuggy Bear. “The artists were chosen based on their differing approaches as it pertains to medium, subject matter and artistic styles which represent the diversity of the Black woman who so often are subjected to the monolithic categorizations and restrictive boxes created by the mainstream media and the patriarchal society as a whole.”

Largely underrepresented in museums and galleries, “Snuggy Bear”, Dr. Jarrod Nicholas Dortch is part of a movement of Black artists and curators who are hosting exhibits and creating work that shines a light on Black culture. He has been affiliated with Big Car as a Community Artist and Gardener at the Tube Factory artspace. He is also a member of “The Eighteen” a collective of local artists who made history by painting the #BlackLivesMatter mural on historic Indiana Avenue in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. Since this offering he has been part of exhibitions and programs at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and The Indianapolis Art Center, curated “Art and Vinyl” an annual celebration of Black art and music for Big Car and has received several grants to create artworks throughout the city. His work was displayed on downtown storefronts during the NCAA Men’s and Women’s College Basketball Tournament as part of #SWISH. Dortch serves as both a professor of communication and a business owner. He owns and operates Solful Gardens, a natural produce provider in Central Indiana that brings quality food access to urban areas that are underserved with an overall focus on food equity. He also has created Snuggy Bear Presents as a way to further disrupt the status quo of contemporary and fine art. With roots in art, community, and education, Snuggy Bear is leveraging these disciplines to help promote personal and communal growth one bespoke curation at a time.

About Amber Zuri Keel

Amber Zuri is an Indianapolis based artist. She was born in Indy and has spent most of her life in pursuit of understanding and honing her creative practices. Growing up with a mother who is also a painter, Amber was exposed to an endless ﬂow of both materials and the encouragement to use them as she saw ﬁt. Over the years she has devoted herself to developing her own relationship to painting in order to discover her own voice. Emotion is the driving force behind her work. By giving herself permission to create as freely as possible, she is able to feel more herself and more at peace in a chaotic world. This persistent effort has afforded her the opportunity to share her work at a number of local galleries.

“These pieces are the result of deliberate intention. They are an abstract contemplation on communication. In a world where the way one represents oneself has manifested as a form of social currency; communication has become a vital skill. For my part, the language I understand best is that of line, shape, and color. With this work I am attempting to communicate an ease of spirit. We have all had a tumultuous couple of years. The best and most profound message I could try to communicate with my work at this time, is to choose peace, for yourself. Whenever and wherever you can. Your attention is yours to pay to whomever and whatever you choose. For the moment, I choose peace.”
About Harriet Watson
Watson was born in Indianapolis, IN on December 25, 1994. She was adopted 2 days later and grew up with her family in Greencastle, IN, and it was a rural community with little to no diversity. Harriet found difficulties being biracial in a mainly white town. Throughout her life, she has never been content being conventional and doing what society expects of a biracial female. She simply enjoys being Harriet. Many of her early works are self-portraits, depicting herself in different environments, often surrealist with vibrant colors, and using many different types of 2-D mediums. After spending two years at Ohio Wesleyan University studying art and psychology, and nearly two years at Herron School of Art and Design, Harriet finished her degree at Indiana University, Bloomington, with a BA in psychology in 2020.
Today, Harriet is a working artist and is an active member of The Eighteen. Harriet enjoys painting portraits with acrylics and draws inspiration from Black female artists from the 70s. Harriet was selected as the first-place winner of drawing and painting at the 2013 S.W.O.P.E Student Exhibition. In 2020, she was placed alongside 17 other Black artists from Indianapolis and painted the “A” in “Matter” on the #BlackLivesMatter mural on Indiana Avenue.

About Kendia Lovelady
Lovelady is a 21 year old local Indy abstract artist. Painting since before she can remember, she made her official artist debut, “ In The Eye of Genesis” in March of 2020 at the Hoy Polloy Art Gallery located on the Neareast Side of Indianapolis. Since then she has taken a break from publishing her art after creating a life of her own, but don’t be mistaken she has never stopped creating. 6 months later she is now honored to be featured in Art and Vinyl 2022 presented by Snuggy Bear, where she hopes to inspire and connect with other creatives.
“I remember the day my father introduced me to the artwork of Jean-Michel Basquiat. I was around the age of 11, and while looking over my latest piece he told me you could be the next Basquiat. I immediately asked who that was (they never spoke of him in any art class I ever attended) and he proceeded to show me some google images of his work. I vividly remember saying and I quote, “Those are scribbles and a kindergartner could draw that.” Now almost 11 years later I find myself being inspired religiously by the works of Basquiat. Inspired not only by his artwork, but his philosophies on life. Basquiat once said, “ I don’t think about art when I’m working. I try to think about life.” This quote represents everything I stand for as an artist today.
Initially once I started painting I would always have an idea of what I was going to paint and from that idea came a sketch. I knew what colors I would use and I stayed within the lines of my sketches, everything had to be clean and close to perfection. I created these unrealistic standards and expectations for myself that eventually drove me into a depressed creative block. Then one day I stopped thinking about art and started thinking about life. I put down the brushes, picked up some paint and just started splattering it. Before that moment I thought art had to be a certain way and once I realized it didn’t everything about my work changed for the better. I didn’t stop with just splattering paints, I did things that made me feel like a child again. I tried finger painting, with a creative twist of course, I painted my feet and stomped on canvases. Any and everything I thought would be enjoyable I tried. Eventually I’d pick back up the brush but not to create a predetermined idea, I drew inspiration from music, current events, and life experiences then I let the brush lead me. I stopped caring about making clean and precise art pieces because my art is just that, my art and there is no rule book to how to create. Ever since that day I made a promise to myself that I would only paint again if I made the experience just as fun and expressive as that one, and I have been doing so ever since.
If there’s any message I want to get across with my story, it’s that there is no limit to creativity, think outside of the box and do whatever it is that brings you joy even if it’s just scribbles that a kindergartner could draw.”

With support from: SoIndy, Big Car Collaborative and the
Alpha Alpha Omega Chapter of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Incorporated.

Create Hear-John Green and Sarah Urist Green
2022-02-24 12:00 - 13:00, 2022-02-19 14:00 - 15:00 | 99.1 WQRT, United States

Landon Caldwell and Mark Tester: Alice
2022-02-19 16:00 - 17:30 | 99.1 WQRT, United States
Step through the looking glass with WQRT! In late 2021 artists Landon Caldwell and Mark Tester were commissioned to create a live soundtrack to Jan Svankmajer’s “Alice.” Have a cup of tea or coffee and tune in to 99.1 FM. You can also watch along on YouTube while listening.

About Landon Caldwell & Mark Tester:
Caldwell & Tester are Indianapolis-based artists, musicians, composers, and producers. Their duo work explores various niches in electronic music with a focus on process, often incorporating spontaneous composition & experimentation with an array of technology, creating works that harness rhythm, ambiance, and melody to conjure meditations on fleeting sensations and early morning comedowns.
Together they have toured in the United States, Canada, and Europe and are regularly engaged with artists and musicians across the Midwest and beyond. Since 2016 they have operated Medium Sound, producing a number of the label’s releases.
