Art at Indianapolis International Airport

In partnership with the Indianapolis Airport Authority, the Arts Council of Indianapolis manages the award-winning temporary exhibition program at Indianapolis International Airport. The Arts Council curates rotating installations in closed cases in the main terminal, commissions new work for the video screens above the main escalator/staircase, and operates a long-term loan program for large sculpture outdoors in the North Terminal Garden.

 Currently on view:

CONCOURSE A

LIZ WIERZBICKI: LATERAL ATTACHMENT

The pipes that carry water and waste through and away from our homes are often hidden from view, yet they play a critical role in our daily lives. These unassuming pathways are essential for delivering the life-giving force of water to our taps and facilitating the basic functions of our homes. Just as pipes connect individual homes to a larger network of infrastructure, so too do our individual experiences and perceptions connect us to the larger social and cultural systems in which we live. Lateral Attachment is a series of work that references plumbing components to facilitate personal growth and interconnectedness.

Liz Wierzbicki is a multimedia artist who works in drawing, printmaking, video and installation. She received her BA in Mathematics at Augusta College in Illinois and her MFA from Indiana University, Herron School of Art and Design. Wierzbicki is an Assistant Professor of Fine Art at Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis.

CONCOURSE B

JACINDA RUSSELL: THE ARCTIC CIRCLE & ANTARCTICA

As an artist with a longstanding interest in edges, borders, and topographical extremes, I have explored the impacts of human-accelerated climate change in the polar regions since 2017.  I have collected water from all but one of the oceans in the world. I have sent postcards from the most far-reaching places on the planet. I watched the landscape unfold behind windows while in Covid quarantine in Svalbard and two months before it was declared a pandemic on the Antarctica Peninsula. The Indianapolis airport is my gateway to these locations, allowing me to gather the photographs for fabrication in my studio in the Midwest as if these actions will be the only versions left once the icecaps are gone.  

For this series I viewed, documented, and then sculpted plasticine icebergs based on calving glaciers in Ilulissat, Greenland and the Antarctic Peninsula. I formed silicone molds, filled them with water, froze them, and then photographed the sculpted reproductions on the original imagery that inspired them. I also used the molds to cast sculptures in glass, a fragile medium that mirrors the ephemerality of the ice.  

Despite the approximate 45,852 miles traveled in the age of watching one’s carbon footprint, there is a sense of urgency in documenting the disappearances of places in peril as this affects everyone, despite our political, geographical, and cultural differences.

Jacinda Russell is a conceptual artist who seeks the edges, the ends of the line, and the blue in between. She works primarily in the mediums of photography, sculpture, installation, and bookmaking. Her artwork has been exhibited at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Texas Gallery, Houston Center for Photography, and the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. She is the recipient of the 2019 and 2022 DeHaan Artist of Distinction Award of the Arts Council of Indianapolis and the Photographic Arts Council / Los Angeles Research Fellowship at the Center for Creative Photography. Born in Idaho, she received her BFA from Boise State University in Studio Art and her MFA from the University of Arizona. Currently, she lives in Indianapolis and works as an Associate Professor of Art at Ball State University.

TICKET HALL

KRISTI MARSH WATSON: MY INDIANA HOME

As an artist, I find inspiration in the natural world around us. My abstract artwork explores the beauty of nature and the internal and external landscapes. My goal is for viewers to develop their own process of engagement and interpretation while experiencing my work. I utilize a delicate balance of expressing my ideas while providing just enough information for viewers to create their own meaning.  My art is a celebration of nature, pigment, and exploring materials.  

Kristi Marsh Watson is an abstract experimental painter and jewelry assemblage artist.  Her studio is located at the Harrison Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

MAXINE WALLACE: WILDFLOWER EDITION

These photos explore the beauty and layers that reside within the people of Indianapolis. Every photo was taken either in Indianapolis or in one of the surrounding suburbs. I was proud to work on these projects with everyone in them. So welcome home to all the Hoosiers, and a very special welcome to those just visiting. I hope you can see Indianapolis in bloom the way I do.

It's funny to have an exhibition in the airport right when you are about to leave the state for a few years. Indianapolis helped me grow as an artist and a person. I met some of the most inventive collaborators during my time in Indianapolis, some of the best people, some of the best artists, some of the best friends. I feel like Indiana is consistently counted out when it comes to giving people opportunities, but like with all good farmland what it does is give you an opportunity to grow into something good.

Maxine Wallace is a self taught editorial photographer and documentarian as well as the co-founder of Region 90, an artist collective

Her work centers on the dignity and beauty of Black and Queer community, as well as unique local events. Maxine’s work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, and she was a featured artist in 2021’s SWISH Sidewalk Galleries

She considers Diane Arbus, Gordon Parks, Annie Leibovitz, and Richard Avedon as her main influences. Maxine's work primarily showcases the interplay between color and shadow, and she believes that empathy and an eagerness to collaborate with other creatives gives her photographs life. 

CORY ROBINSON: MANIFESTATIONS

With an art-making career spanning more than 20 years, Cory Robinson has worked through numerous bodies of artmaking investigations in his studio practice. Some of his studio explorations include the creation of form using unique manufacturing processes and materials, designing objects that relay narratives, and more recently a study of form and color that draws on a reduced design language and modernist design principles.

With a strong influence of modernist era architecture and modernist design running in the background, Robinson calls these works the Manifestation Series. As his designs have become simpler and the materials used in his work more narrowed, Robinson still sees ways that these forms connect with the viewer and give visual cues that manifest meaning. As a trained furniture designer and woodworker, his furniture creations tend to reflect a similar design vocabulary as these pieces;  wood remains an important material to the work and how the meaning behind the work is formed.

The wood used in these Manifestation Series sculptures was collected as architectural salvage; specifically, the redwood used in these works was reclaimed from house siding and fascia boards from homes of the mid 20th century, though the incredibly tight growth rings of these boards indicate the material is possibly centuries old. This kind of material evidence, combined with boards having been stored in Robinson’sgrandfather’s shed for decades, builds meaning and helps him in the process of finding form for his sculptures.

Cory Robinson is an artist, designer, and professor at the Herron School of Art & Design in Indianapolis, IN. He has an MFA in Applied Design from San Diego State University and has taught studio arts at Herron since the spring of 2003. He is currently the George and Diane Seybert Endowed Faculty Chair in Furniture Design at the Herron School of Art & Design. His range of artmaking includes painted works on paper, functional furniture objects, lighting designs and public art installations.

KIND Gallery (Concourse A)

STAGED!: INDIANAPOLIS' PERFORMING ARTS

Indianapolis' performing arts organizations have been captivating audiences for decades through the magic of live experiences. Offering distinctive “personalities” in the local arts scene, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Dance Kaleidoscope, and Indianapolis Opera each have a half-century legacy of inspired and inspiring storytelling through words, song, and movement. 

This exhibition offers a look behind the curtain at three of Indy’s longest running performing arts organizations, all of which make their mark both locally and globally. Explore what it takes to bring a performance to life, through little-seen images and objects, tales of the evolution of their repertoire, and an insider’s look at the legacies they are leaving. 

Indiana Repertory Theatre 

The largest professional resident not-for-profit theater in the state, Indiana Repertory Theatre celebrates fifty years in 2023. Its plays are both classical and contemporary, and their production team creates memorable environments where their skilled actors can bring each story to life. 

Dance Kaleidoscope 

Dance Kaleidoscope also celebrates its 50th season this year, marking the occasion with a year-long series of performances and events that celebrate the past and envision the future. Through movement, costume, and lighting, Dance Kaleidoscope puts contemporary dance in the spotlight. 

Indianapolis Opera 

Opera is a dramatic story told entirely through song, traditionally with elaborate sets, costumes, and staging although contemporary opera can express its power through minimalistic stagecraft. The Indianapolis Opera has been telling these stories for 48 years.

VIDEO PROJECT:

I Carry My Loved Ones With Me
Samantha Ortiz

I Carry My Loved Ones With Me is a video of an art piece created from that moment of saudade, a Brazilian word that has no translation to any language but the closest of the profound meaning of it is, missing those you love (saudade has also a melancholic energy to it).

The looping of the video references many lives (in this life!) that the artist has lived lived, as well as the many layers of the button. The button was made with ecru cotton, printed and then stitched. Ecru cotton fabric is a reference to a story still to be written. The words are printed letter by letter and then hand stitched as a reference of the time spent, dedication, care, attention, and of course, LOVE.

Concourse Vinyl Murals
Indianapolis International Airport

The murals in the airport’s concourse connectors and parking garage, coordinated by the Arts Council in partnership with the Indianapolis Airport Authority, showcase the work of artists based in Indianapolis and the surrounding area. They are elements of larger artworks, selected through a competitive process for the stories they can tell about life in this place and at this time. The murals provide inspiration for travelers, whether they are visitors to the city or are returning central Indiana residents.

Mary Mindiola
Garden of the Gods, 2022
Original artwork: Collage
Reproduction located in the Level 3 lobby of the Parking Garage

Barbara Triscari
Le Grandine, 2022
Original artwork: Fiber
Reproduction located in the Concourse A connector

Regina Bunting
The Secret Garden, 2021
Original artwork: Acrylic
Reproduction located in the Concourse B connector