More than a dozen area artists are helping represent northern Indiana in an exhibition of abstract art in Indianapolis.
“IN the Abstract: Art from Northern Indiana” opened in March and continues through June 23 in Ford Gallery at Indiana State Museum, 650 W. Washington St.
The exhibition was adapted and expanded from an exhibit at Fort Wayne Museum of Art. “A Sense of Place: Abstract Art in Northern Indiana” ran Dec. 4, 2021, to March 13, 2022. It was curated by Abby Leon and Bob Cross.
Cross curated “IN the Abstract” with Mark Ruschman, Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites senior curator of art emeritus.
Local artist George Morrison, who had work in “A Sense of Place,” remembers hearing Cross talk about wanting to take the show to Indianapolis. Later, Cross got in touch with Morrison and other artists to invite them to participate in the state museum show.
Morrison has two ceramic works in the exhibition: “Bad Moon Rising” and “Stretch.” He says his work starts out as an enjoyable personal activity, and not everything gets finished. So it is nice when people see a finished piece and like it.
“When other people appreciate it, I guess that’s kind of a pat on the back,” he says.
The work from more than 30 contemporary artists featured in “IN the Abstract” includes paintings, fabric works and sculptures. The artists offer insights about their approaches to art and the way that their surroundings in northern Indiana affect the creative process, according to the museum’s website.
Erin Patton-McFarren used the St. Joseph River to create a large cyanotype work that is part of the exhibition. The local artist uses a nontoxic 1840s recipe for her work.
The process of cyanotype involves coating paper with iron salts, exposing it to UV light such as the sun, then washing with water. Areas that were exposed to the light become blue.
Marking time and place is a part of Patton-McFarren’s work. “St. Joseph Summer No. 2” was made in the St. Joseph near the artist’s home. She says different bodies of water in the area create different cyanotype results because of the unique properties of the water. Lakes tend to be more acidic and produce more gray tones, for example.
“I like to create work in different bodies of water because that affects the chemistry but it also leaves marks on the paper because it stops the process of the light-changing chemistry,” Patton-McFarren says. “So it’s a collaboration of whatever’s happening in nature: the wind, the sunlight and the body of water.”
The exhibition includes Justin Johnson’s “Desert Elegies,” a series of 10 drawings with collage elements that depict the remains of war in the Middle East.
Though the local artist’s work doesn’t specifically reference northern Indiana, he says there are artists in the city and throughout the state that he looks to for inspiration.
“When I first experimented with abstraction, I studied the works of local artist Michael Poorman,” Johnson says. “I had been taught by Maurice Papier and Rick Cartwright at University of Saint Francis.”
Johnson says he also gained insight from first-generation abstract artists from the area such as Norman Bradley, Russell Oettel and George McCullough. “These local influences continue to inspire my work,” he says.
Poorman and Papier are among artists in the state exhibition. Johnson, who is gallery director at Saint Francis, calls it an honor to see himself listed in the show alongside mentors and peers.
Patton-McFarren also considers it an honor to be included in the exhibition’s roster of artists.
“When I think of people that are creating powerful work in this area, those are all the people that come to mind – and here I am making it with that group somehow,” she says with a laugh.
She has visited the exhibition and says it is interesting to see the interaction between pieces from local artists she knows and others from northern Indiana that she doesn’t but looks forward to meeting.
It’s enjoyable for Patton-McFarren to look at her work and see pieces nearby by Sayaka Ganz and Audrey Riley, then look at another wall and see work by Theoplis Smith III – all Fort Wayne artists.
“So I’m surrounded by friends, and then to see new people that I am not aware of and look forward to meeting is really exciting,” she says.
The self-professed “museum nerd” says it’s worth a drive to Indianapolis to see the show, museum and other arts projects in that city.
Other exhibitions currently running at Indiana State Museum include “Towers of Tomorrow,” a collection of skyscraper models created with Lego bricks; “Woven Together,” which features Jacquard blankets created by Indiana weavers; and “Symphony in Color,” the results of a statewide program where students created work inspired by music.
Admission to Indiana State Museum is $20 for adults, $18 for seniors and $14 for ages 3 to 17. Go to IndianaMuseum.org for more information.
