Artists work to improve downtown art scene
KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) - Earlier this month, Kokomo artists partnered with downtown businesses to create art unique to each business for First Friday's Artsapalooza, signaling a larger culture of art emerging in the downtown area.
The artists teamed up with businesses as part of U-Shop, which fed into the Artsapalooza theme. U-Shop focused on creating a collaboration between local artists and downtown businesses.
The artists chose a partnering business and created works of art to fit that store's overall theme. Several of the pieces will remain on display for a few weeks or longer.
Eric Deerly and his wife, Anita Garza, chose to partner with P. F. Hendricks, an outdoor clothing and equipment store. Their work lies at the back of the store - a glass-covered case with travel mementos, including a walking stick, post cards, an animal bone and other curios, many of them collected by Deerly and Garza during their own travels.
Next to the case is a travel journal, written by Garza, portraying a fictional traveling Midwesterner named Fran.
Deerly chose P. F. Hendricks because he and Garza like to hike, camp and travel. He wanted to create something unique that could fit into the store's atmosphere, telling a story made possible by the items in the store.
"It represents travel, but travel in a 'get dirty while you're doing it' kind of way," Deerly said.
Other artists also chose downtown stores to showcase their art. Chantel Kebrdle, owner of Jitterbug, said the artist Sandra Bilafana walked around Jitterbug and was inspired by the merchandise.
Her piece was a combination of driftwood from the Eel River and macramé.
Artist Miranda Douglas chose the clothing store Lux as her inspiration, creating a piece out of fabric and buttons.
Having art displays in downtown businesses will hopefully get people to visit places they haven't before, Deerly said. Knowing there's a unique piece of art on display for a few weeks will be an attraction, but it's also part of a larger artistic culture that's blossoming in downtown Kokomo.
This emerging culture includes the Kokomo Public Arts Action Coalition, created by Indiana University Kokomo professor Gregory Steel. Steel said he's been a part of similar coalitions in other states, and decided to create one in Kokomo.
The coalition's goal is to promote more public art projects, especially in the downtown area.
Steel said he hopes the coalition brings local artists together, but he isn't the only one looking to connect and showcase artists in the area.
Artworks, a downtown art gallery run by the Kokomo Art Association, already showcases local artists who have a variety of work, from paintings to wood carvings to woven baskets. The gallery also hosts painting classes.
Karen Taylor, coordinator for the gallery and secretary for the Kokomo Art Association, said she does see a growing artistic vein in the city, and she's glad the gallery is able to be a part of it.
The KAA also runs the Artist Alley right next to the Artworks gallery. The alley features local art that is routinely auctioned off. The community has been receptive to outdoor art, Taylor said.
At P. F. Hendricks, Steel and Deerly discussed the possibility of placing audio art installations in downtown alleys. Steel hopes to continue to place art in alternative spaces where people might not think art would fit.
"There's a lot of very interesting artists that live in Kokomo, around Kokomo, but there's not a lot of outlets," Steel said. "There's not a lot of galleries where they can show their work, and I'm a big proponent of public art, art that's in alternate spaces. It doesn't necessarily have to be in galleries and museums."
A few blocks away from P. F. Hendricks, Zachary Davidson sat at a table in Comics Cubed with small, black and white booklets with comic-styled graphics. Next to the booklets sat a box of crayons, and customers could stop by and draw their own comic books.
Davidson wanted people to think of the project as a fun stress-reliever.
"When you read comic books or get into stories or narratives, you imagine yourself in place of the heroes you see, you routinely go back and become fascinated with a certain character's trajectory. I thought it would be cool if people could have the time to make their own narratives, their own stories."
Leonard Piggs, with the Sexy Beard Club Press, which publishes comics, joined Davidson at Comics Cube. The two passed comic sheets back and forth, each drawing one frame and then passing it to the other to continue the art. Piggs is a comic artist himself, and wanted to show support for other local artists.
"The more people start mainstreaming the different facets of art, whether it's pop art, comic, impressionism, etc., it draws attention to it and maybe it will inspire somebody else to do something within any of those fields, and I feel like anytime somebody's doing something innovative or interesting on a local level, we need to support it," Piggs said.
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Source: Kokomo Tribune, http://bit.ly/2bfXnbH
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Information from: Kokomo Tribune, http://www.ktonline.com