Archive
“Influencing Lincoln” Opens March 18 @IndianaMuseum
By Marc Allan
Indiana State Museum
“Influencing Lincoln: The Pursuit of Black Freedom,” an exhibition that explores the Black community’s fight for freedom and equal rights during and after the Civil War at the national level and in Indiana, opens March 18-Oct. 29, 2023 at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Visitors will learn how members of the Black community – national figures like Frederick Douglass or people in Abraham Lincoln’s immediate circle – influenced the President as he moved toward ending slavery and advocating for greater rights. And they’ll see rare historic documents that resulted from this movement: the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment.
“Influencing Lincoln” covers the years 1861-1875, from the beginning of Lincoln’s presidency to the extension of voting rights under the 15th Amendment and the election of the first Black members of Congress.
The exhibition is free with museum admission, which is $17 for adults, $16 for seniors, $12 for children and $5 for current college students with an Indiana school ID. For more information, visit https://www.indianamuseum.org/experiences/influencing-lincoln/ or call 317-232-1637.
“Black people were active in this freedom struggle,” said Kisha Tandy, curator of social history and co-curator of the exhibition. “They weren’t sitting around waiting for someone to give them freedom. They were organized, effective and deliberate. Deliberate in their actions to obtain freedom, organized in the way they went about it, and effective because they made change.”
“Emancipation was a process rather than an event,” added Susannah Koerber, chief curator and research officer and co-curator of the exhibition. “And it was pushed forward by people in the Black community.”
This was not just a national story, but an Indiana story as well.
“The same institution-building and use of social networks to effect change and equal rights were also happening in communities around the country, including Indianapolis,” Koerber said. “In the exhibition, we have the national story that happens with Lincoln and the parallel story that happens here with places like Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and the organization of the 28th Indiana United States Colored Regiment.”
“The institutional foundations that were laid during this time period continue to support the community today,” Tandy added.
Visitors will:
-See how the Black community fought for freedom and equal rights in many ways, using their resources, connections (including Lincoln) and the institutions they built, especially the Black church, as well as military service.
-Appreciate the valor of the United States Colored Troops, including the 28th Indiana, and explore why the Black community fought so hard for the right to fight with the Union troops and how their service helped advance the cause of equal rights and citizenship.
-Understand why fighting for freedom alone was not enough but had to be joined with the rights of full citizenship, including voting rights and political representation.
Artifacts that will be on display include:
-The inkwell used by Lincoln to sign the Emancipation Proclamation.
-Copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and 13th Amendment signed by President Lincoln. (Because these documents are light-sensitive, they will only be displayed March 18-April 16, June 14-July 2 and Sept. 20-Oct. 29.
-The battle flag of the 28th Indiana United States Colored Infantry, on loan from the Indiana War Memorial Museum.
-A pew and pulpit from the historic Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Indianapolis.
“Influencing Lincoln” is supported by Ball Brothers Foundation and Barnes & Thornburg LLP.
Indian Market and Festival @EiteljorgMuseum June 25-26, 2022
ABOVE: Image courtesy Eiteljorg Museum.
By Bryan Corbin
Eiteljorg Museum
INDIANAPOLIS – One of the Midwest’s most iconic cultural weekends takes place June 25-26, 2022 in Indianapolis when the Eiteljorg Indian Market and Festival returns as an in-person event for the first time since 2019. More than 140 Native artists from across the United States and Canada will be at the Eiteljorg Museum to show and sell their jewelry, pottery, paintings, beadwork, weavings, carvings and more.
This year’s market weekend will be an especially meaningful celebration of Native arts: It is the 30th annual Eiteljorg Indian Market and Festival and coincides with the grand reopening of the museum’s newly redesigned Native American Galleries, a defining capstone project in the museum’s history.
At Indian Market and Festival, seasoned collectors and general market-goers alike appreciate the personal interactions with artists and learning about their artwork, process and cultures. The event forges relationships between artists and their collectors, builds support for and interest in Native art generally, and is a family-friendly cultural experience for those eager to learn more about Native peoples. Indian Market and Festival is presented by the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and the Indiana Soybean Alliance.
“The Eiteljorg Indian Market and Festival has become one of our community’s most important cultural celebrations,” Eiteljorg President and CEO John Vanausdall said. “This year is sure to be memorable because it is the 30th year of the event and the first in-person presentation of the market since 2019. Market weekend also marks the grand opening of the museum’s $6 million, completely redesigned Native American galleries.”
Since its inception in 1993, the annual Eiteljorg Museum Indian Market and Festival has grown in stature to become one of the top Native American art markets in the country, as well as a must-do event on the downtown Indianapolis summer calendar. For three decades, artists, performers and thousands of market-goers and art buyers have come together at the Eiteljorg to celebrate Native arts and cultures.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and state and local health precautions in effect at the time, the Eiteljorg could not hold an in-person market and festival in 2020 and 2021. Instead, in 2021 the Eiteljorg was able to support the artists and performers by hosting a successful all-virtual Indian Market that brought together artists and buyers online. The museum is pleased to be able to welcome back artists, collectors, performers and market-goers in person in 2022.
Artists partake in a juried selection and must be members of a federally or state-recognized tribe. Many of the artists also enter their artwork for judging as part of the weekend’s juried art competition, which includes awards and cash prizes across various categories. Artists’ booths will be inside the museum and outdoors on the Eiteljorg grounds.
Market-goers this year will also get to experience the completely reconstructed and re-envisioned Native American Galleries featuring Expressions of Life: Native Art in North America, opening Saturday, June 25. The new galleries are designed to showcase Native art in a multi-sensory space creating a contextual experience — organized around the themes of relation, continuation and innovation — that demonstrates a continuum of Native art told through the voices of Native peoples.
For Eiteljorg members, free admission to Indian Market and Festival is available for the individual named on the museum membership card with a reduced admission price of $15 for two adult guests. Non-member adult tickets to Indian Market and Festival are $20 at the gate either day. Advance discount tickets of $15 can be purchased online at https://Eiteljorg.org/IndianMarketandFestival or by calling 317.636.9378. Youth and children ages 17 and under are free. Tickets to Indian Market and Festival also include admission to the entire museum and the new Native American Galleries.
Eager art-buyers who want to get an early start on shopping can register for the Market Morning Breakfast at 8 a.m. Saturday June 25, which includes early access to the artists’ booths, and a breakfast catered by Kahn’s Catering. To register, contact Jennifer Hiatt at jhiatt@eiteljorg.com or 317.275.1360.
There will be a variety of delicious food options at Indian Market and Festival, including delectable fry bread. Visitors of all ages will enjoy a wide range of entertaining cultural performances, including music, dance and storytelling, as well as family art-making activities. Performers are scheduled on the Indian Market outdoor stage both days, June 25-26. They include:
· Woodland Sky Native American Dance Company: Composed of Ojibwe, Lakota, Potawatomi, Menominee and Apache dancers, the group represents men’s and women’s Native American dance styles
· Ed Kabotie and Tha ’Yoties: a reggae/rock band from Flagstaff, Arizona, notable for their lively performances
· Randy, Rykelle and Raven Kemp: a family of storytellers, artists and musicians
· Innastate: a reggae/rock band from Santa Fe, N.M., that honors their Indigenous heritage
· Wade Fernandez: a multi-award-winning musical artist and educator.
Visit https://Eiteljorg.org/IndianMarketandFestival for a schedule of performances events. The design for this year’s commemorative Indian Market and Festival T-shirt is the image of a beautiful turquoise necklace titled Kewa Birds, created by artist Mary Louise Tafoya (Kewa Pueblo). Shirts, tote bags and notecards will be available at the Eiteljorg Museum Store.
In addition to presenting sponsors the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and the Indiana Soybean Alliance, the 30th annual Indian Market and Festival receives support from the Margot L. Eccles Arts & Culture Fund (a CICF Fund), Ice Miller, the Indiana Arts Commission and the Arts Council of the City of Indianapolis.
During market weekend, a new special exhibition that runs April 30 to Aug. 14 will be open inside the Eiteljorg Museum: Celebrating 30 Years of Indian Market and Festival, featuring award-winning Native works from past markets that are now in the museum’s collections. Visitors to the Eiteljorg during market weekend also can experience two other exhibits. A traveling exhibition featuring Andy Warhol’s screenprint portraits of iconic Western figures, Warhol’s West continues through Aug. 7. Contemporary Native Art 101 looks at contemporary works by Native artists across several decades, and continues through July 2023. All are included with Indian Market and Festival admission June 25-26, and with regular museum admission at other times.
95th Annual Hoosier Salon Exhibition opens August 2, 2019 @hoosiersalon @indianamuseum
Indiana State Museum in White River State Park in Indianapolis, Indiana.
AroundIndy.com staff photo, (c) 2011, all rights reserved.
By Renee Bruck
Indiana State Museum
INDIANAPOLIS (July 18, 2019) – Artwork created by 140 Hoosier artists will be featured during the 95th annual Hoosier Salon Patrons Association and Fine Art Galleries exhibition when it returns to the Indiana State Museum beginning Aug. 2, 2019.
The annual competition is Indiana’s longest-running art exhibition and is considered to be the preeminent juried exhibition of Indiana art by Indiana artists. This year, 225 artists applied to the show and entered more than 570 pieces of artwork. Jurors accepted only 161 pieces from 140 artists – including 23 new artists to the exhibition this year.
“The jurors for the Hoosier Art Salon’s 95th Annual Exhibition, Derek Penix and Stephen Hicks, have done a great job identifying work by Indiana artists that is beautiful, compelling and in some instances, satirical and funny,” said Bob Burnett, executive director of the Hoosier Art Salon. “We are very excited to see the show come together.”
While the 161 pieces of art will be on display to the public from Aug. 2 through Oct. 13, many of the pieces will be for sale too. Sales of the artwork begin during an awards and special preview event that begins at 6 p.m. on Aug. 1. Tickets for the preview event can be purchased online prior to the preview event at hoosiersalon.org.
“We are excited to partner once again with the Hoosier Salon to bring this exhibition to the Indiana State Museum,” said Cathy Ferree, president and CEO of the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites. “This show allows us to provide visitors access to an amazing array of the best art from Indiana artists.”
In addition to the Hoosier Salon exhibition, a show featuring student artwork will be on display at the museum. The Indiana Electric Cooperatives’ Calendar of Student Art Contest features artwork from K-12 students with the first-place winner from each grade featured in the cooperative’s annual wall calendar. The winners of the kids’ show will be announced during an awards ceremony at 2 p.m. on Aug. 2.
The cost of both shows is included with the purchase of general museum admission, which is free for Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites members.
For more information, visit https://indianamuseum.org, or call 317-232-1637.
Eiteljorg Indian Market & Festival, June 22-23, 2019 @eiteljorgmuseum @whiteriverstprk
Image courtesy Eiteljorg Museum. Used with written permission.
By Bryan Corbin
Eiteljorg Museum
One of the region’s best art and cultural experiences returns to downtown Indianapolis the weekend of June 22-23, 2019: the 27th annual Eiteljorg Museum Indian Market and Festival.
More than 120 Native American and First Nations artists from more than 50 cultures across the U.S. and Canada will show and sell their fine art, including jewelry, pottery, beadwork, basketry, paintings, sculptures and more.
The Indian Market and Festival takes place on the beautiful Eiteljorg grounds from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, and features artists’ booths both outside and inside the museum.
Seasoned art collectors and first-time market-goers alike will appreciate the personal interactions with artists and wide variety of Native fine art available.
Cultural experiences, food and performances are a big part of the weekend; and this year’s event features contemporary and traditional Native musicians, hoop dancing and storytelling. Thousands of visitors attend the market, held every June the weekend after Father’s Day.
“Visitors often say Indian Market and Festival is a wonderful combination of fun and culturally meaningful experiences because it allows them and their families to see Native American art and meet exceptional artists in person,” Eiteljorg President and CEO John Vanausdall said.
“Art collectors appreciate the opportunity to purchase Native art close to home without traveling great distances. Non-collectors get to savor the memorable market and festival atmosphere, and returning artists enjoy the Hoosier hospitality and the opportunity to get reacquainted with old friends and meet new collectors and fans,” he said.
A lineup of Native American performers will appear on the Indian Market and Festival stage June 22 and 23. Two of the four acts also will perform at separate events in the days leading up to the market:
- World champion hoop dancer and musician Tony Duncan (Apache/Arikara/Hidatsa) and his family of dancers astound crowds with their high-energy moves, and they are returning to the Eiteljorg for performances and hoop-dancing workshops. First, the Duncan family performs at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at River West along the White River as part of A Rising Tide, a free outdoor program with Indy Convergence. Then the Duncan family performs at Indian Market, June 22 and 23, and their appearance is through the support of the Arts Midwest Touring Fund.
- The award-winning band Son of Hwéeldi plays a blend of rock, soul, blues and world music based on Navajo and Apache histories that they describe as “resistance rock.” The band will first perform at the Eiteljorg at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 19 during the museum’s free Summer Under The Sails concert series, then will be back June 22-23 to play again during Indian Market.
Music and storytelling is a crowd-pleasing part of Indian Market and Festival. In addition to the Tony Duncan Family and Son of Hwéeldi, the Eiteljorg is pleased to present other entertainers June 22 and 23 during market weekend:
- An a capella group, Sisterz in Song, featuring a trio of young women vocalists from Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara cultures who perform traditional songs. They perform at 11 a.m. both days.
- Cultural storyteller Jacque Tahuka Nunez, who performs “Journeys to the Past,” describing the lifestyle of California’s first people, the Acjachemen Nation of Orange County. She performs at noon both days.
For the entertainers’ onstage performance schedule, visit www.eiteljorg.org/indianmarketandfestival/
Adult tickets to the Eiteljorg Indian Market and Festival are $15 at the gate either day. Advance discount tickets are $13 and can be purchased online at www.eiteljorg.org or by calling 317.636.WEST (9378). Youth ages 17 and under are free at Indian Market and Festival. For Eiteljorg Museum members, free admission to the market is available for the individual named on the membership card, but the admission fee will apply for their non-member adult guests.
Tickets to Indian Market and Festival also include museum admission, so plan to experience the museum galleries featuring special exhibitions: A Sense of Beauty: Showcasing the Power and Beauty in Native Art, and Bringing Friends Together: Contemporary Hopi Carvings from the Eagle, Perelman and Rader Collections. Also, see a new traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, For a Love of His People: The Photography of Horace Poolaw, now open at the Eiteljorg.
After a modest start in 1993, the Eiteljorg Indian Market and Festival now is considered one of the nation’s top Native American art markets. Artists are invited to participate through a juried selection and must be members of a federally or state recognized tribe. Many of the artists also submit their artwork for judging as part of the weekend’s juried art competition. Ribbons and cash prizes are awarded to top artists in multiple divisions. Last year, nearly $25,000 in prize money was awarded to artists.
This year’s Indian Market and Festival will be of special interest to the participating artists because for the first time it will feature a $5,000 cash prize for the artist whose art work wins the Margot L. Eccles Best of Show Award in the juried art competition. The prize is supported by The Margot L. Eccles Arts & Culture Fund, a fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation. The award is named for the late Margot Eccles, a civic leader, philanthropist, art collector, Eiteljorg board member and past chair of Indian Market and Festival, who brought passion, vision and generosity to the annual event.
For the second year in a row, the Eiteljorg will host the Market Morning Breakfast on Saturday morning June 22, for early-bird art collectors who want to meet the artists in a more relaxed setting before the big crowds arrive. Reservations are required to attend the Saturday breakfast; contact csanborn@eiteljorg.com or 317.275.1360 for details.
Popular food vendors will return to the museum grounds during market weekend, including Platero Frybread & Navajo Tacos from New Mexico, as well as Roasted, Toasted and Baked (RTB), Lucky Louie’s Street Food, Bee Coffee Roasters, Menefee Lemonade and Wyliepalooza Ice Cream Emporium’s Wylie Truck. Market-goers also can enjoy the Museum Café and Museum Store. A commemorative Indian Market and Festival T-shirt will be available featuring beautiful art by Gilmore Scott (Diné), Desert Monsoons.
The 27th annual Indian Market & Festival is sponsored by Ice Miller LLP, Arts Midwest, The Margot L. Eccles Arts & Culture Fund and the Cripe Charitable Foundation (which are both funds of the Central Indiana Community Foundation) and Mel and Joan Perelman. The entertainment stage sponsor is the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation. Additional support is provided by the museum’s Mrs. Robert S. Eccles Fund.
Christmas at the Indianapolis Zoo thru Dec. 30, 2018 @indianapoliszoo
Christmas at the Zoo at the Indianapolis Zoo.
Photo provided by the Indianapolis Zoo and used with written permission.
By Carla Knapp
Indianapolis Zoo
INDIANAPOLIS — A light sprinkling of snow and the glow of twinkling lights will fill the sky, creating a magical nighttime experience that has become one of Central Indiana’s most beloved holiday traditions.
Christmas at the Zoo presented by Donatos and Teachers Credit Union is bigger than ever, now offering 36 nights of merriment and memories in the making. With Mondays and Tuesdays added in for the first time, the event kicked off Nov. 23 and continues daily through Dec. 30, 2018, closed only on Christmas Eve and Day. The Zoo opens at noon and Christmas at the Zoo activities go from 5-9pm, extended until 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
Now celebrating 50 years, the Indianapolis Zoo was the first zoo in the nation to host a holiday lights event, and this wintertime favorite continues to grow year after year.
Under the Bicentennial Pavilion, Santa’s Village is a newer addition to Christmas at the Zoo. Guests will feel like they’ve stepped inside a glittering snow globe as they walk under a festive archway and discover the whimsical scene. Children can meet the Jolly Old Elf himself inside his charming study. Families can snap photos in Santa’s Barn presented by State Farm where his magical sleigh and a few reindeer await. Plus, there are opportunities to see penguins and wintertime dogs. The Snowflakery mirror maze hides fun and surprises around every corner. For a special treat, guests can decorate cookies in Mrs. Claus’ Kitchen.
A stunning tunnel of lights will lead visitors from Santa’s Village into the rest of the beautifully decorated Zoo, which will transform at sunset into a winter wonderland. Several large displays provide memorable photo ops, including We Three Trees presented by Central Indiana Honda Dealers and Christmas Tree Joy presented by Honda Manufacturing. The 100 percent LED energy-efficient lights are presented by Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent.
Additionally, many of the Zoo’s more robust animals will be out late to enjoy the cooler weather, including tigers, brown bears, walrus, red panda and others. All the Zoo’s indoor exhibits will be open to offer a perfect place for guests to go when cheeks get rosy. Plus, guests can learn more about their favorite animals during special chats throughout the day.
Christmas at the Zoo is free for Zoo members and included with regular admission. Discount tickets are available at participating Donatos and Teachers Credit Union locations. Guests can receive $1 off admission at the gate with the donation of a new hat, scarf or gloves to benefit St. Mary’s Child Center. Visit IndianapolisZoo.com for advance tickets and more information.
Around Indy 
Recent Comments