Thursday, October 20, 2011

“Art Walk on Washington” (AWOW!)

Walk Promotes Local Art
Jamie Barrand jbarrand@jrpress.com

AWOW! event planned for Thursday

The gallery walk — the first of its kind in Crawfordsville — will take place

5-7 p.m. today, Thursday, October 20th.

“We all really wanted to partner and give people a chance to see all the galleries,” said Kim VanArsdell, director of Athens Arts. “It will be a nice evening.”

VanArsdell believes the arts are alive and well in Crawfordsville.

“I think in any community, a good measure of the quality of life in that community is how much attention is paid to the arts,” she said. “We are fortunate in Montgomery County to have a wealth of talent, and it is so important to expose people to that talent. For children, it can show them so many ways to be creative. We have actual artists working in our studio, so it’s not just a place to acquire art, it’s also a teaching environment.”

AWOW! will be the debut of the pieces the Carnegie Museum will receive from the Hoosier Salon, a non-profit organization founded in 1925. The Hoosier Salon sponsors an annual exhibit of Indiana art, which since 1990 has been shown at the Indiana State Museum. In late October, the exhibit is split and pieces are sent to various locations throughout the Hoosier State.

“We will have 20 paintings, primarily the works of West Central Indiana artists,” said Carnegie Museum curator Kat Burkhart. “This is very high-quality art, and having it here is very original to (the Hoosier Salon’s) purpose, which is getting art out all over the state.”

The Hoosier Salon pieces will remain on display at Carnegie through Dec. 16.

“It fits nicely into our space; it’s fun and it’s free,” Burkhart said. “I’m excited to see what we get ... it should be some really cool art.”

Burkhart was grateful for the opportunity to team up with the other art venues for AWOW!

“It’s fun to be collaborative,” she said.

Diane Hamill, curator of the Mary Bishop Gallery, agreed.

“I think it’s exciting,” she said. “It’s wonderful that we can show people how much culture is available in such a short distance. We all have something different ... everybody has something to teach somebody.”

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