The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a 152-acre (62 ha) campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It is located at the corner of North Michigan Road and West 38th Street, about three miles north of downtown Indianapolis, northwest of Crown Hill Cemetery. There are exhibitions, classes, tours, and events, many of which change seasonally. The entire campus and organization was previously referred to as the Indianapolis Museum of Art, but in 2017 the campus and organization were renamed "Newfields" as part of a branding campaign. The "Indianapolis Museum of Art" now specifically refers to the main art museum building that acts as the cornerstone of the campus, as well as the legal name of the organization doing business as Newfields.
Theodore Clement Steele was an American Impressionist painter known for his Indiana landscapes. Steele was an innovator and leader in American Midwest painting and is one of the most famous of Indiana's Hoosier Group painters. In addition to painting, Steele contributed writings, public lectures, and hours of community service on art juries that selected entries for national and international exhibitions, most notably the Universal Exposition (1900) in Paris, France, and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904) in Saint Louis, Missouri. He was also involved in organizing pioneering art associations, such as the Society of Western Artists.
John Ottis Adams was an American Impressionist painter and art educator who is best known as a member of the Hoosier Group of Indiana landscape painters, along with William Forsyth, Richard B. Gruelle, Otto Stark, and T. C. Steele. In addition, Adams was among a group that formed the Society of Western Artists in 1896, and served as the organization's president in 1908 and 1909.
Otto Stark was an American Impressionist painter, muralist, commercial artist, printmaker, and illustrator from Indianapolis, Indiana, who is best known as one of the five Hoosier Group artists. Stark's work clearly showed the influence of Impressionism, and he often featured children in his work. To provide a sufficient income for his family, Stark worked full time as supervisor of art at Emmerich Manual High School in Indianapolis from 1899 to his retirement in 1919, and as part-time art instructor on the faculty of the John Herron Art Institute from 1905 to 1919. Stark frequently exhibited his paintings at international, national, regional, and local exhibitions, including the Paris Salon of 1886 and 1887; the Five Hoosier Painters exhibition (1894) in Chicago, Illinois; the Trans-Mississippi Exposition (1898) in Omaha, Nebraska; the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904) in Saint Louis, Missouri; and international expositions (1910) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Santiago, Chile. He also supervised the Indiana exhibition at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition (1915) in San Francisco, California. Stark remained an active artist and member of the Indianapolis arts community until his death in 1926.
Donald Magnus Mattison was an American artist born in Beloit, Wisconsin. His father, Magnus Wilhelm Mattison, invented machine tools, and his mother, Florence May Knickerbocker Mattison, taught school. Mattison also had two sisters, Dorothy M. Spaugh and Ruth M. Eaton. He spent his early youth in Wisconsin, but the family relocated to Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1920.
John Wesley Hardrick was an American artist. He painted landscapes, still lifes and portraits.
Gary Freeman (1937–2014), is an American sculptor from Indianapolis, Indiana. He is Professor Emeritus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and served as head of the Herron School of Art Sculpture Department for 33 years, from 1968 until his retirement in 2001.
Young Abe Lincoln, is a 1962 public artwork by American artist David K. Rubins, located outside of the government center near the Indiana State House, in Indianapolis, Indiana, US. This bronze sculpture is a depiction of a young Abraham Lincoln, an Abraham Lincoln that spent the majority of his formative years in Indiana.
Brose Partington is an Indianapolis-based kinetic sculptor. He graduated from Cathedral High School in 1998 and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Herron School of Art & Design in 2004. His artworks have been shown in numerous cities across the United States including New York, Chicago, Miami, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles; in European galleries, and the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Robert Edward Weaver was an American regionalist artist, and illustrator. He was professor emeritus of art at the Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis, Indiana. Weaver earned a BFA from the Herron School in 1938. Weaver grew up in Peru, Indiana, winter home of the American Circus Corporation, a conglomerate of circuses that traveled the country at the later part of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The circus performers that frequented his father's general store influenced his creative senses.
The Black Lives Matter street muralin Indianapolis is a large, colorful mural reading "#BLACKLIVESMATTER", with a raised fist, that 18 artists painted across a downtown roadway in August 2020, as part of the George Floyd protests. The mural is located on Indiana Avenue, the historic hub of the city's Black culture, on the same corner as the Madam C. J. Walker Building.
Ganggang is an American cultural development and social justice organization. Founded by spouses and business partners Alan Bacon and Malina "Mali" Simone Jeffers in late 2020, Ganggang works to showcase and financially support Black visual artists and their work. Their efforts have included organizing artist collectives, fine art fairs, a curated exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, and live performances.
Malina "Mali" Simone Jeffers co-organized the Black Lives Matter street mural (Indianapolis) and is a co-founder of Ganggang and Butter fine art fair.
Ess McKee is a multimedia artist whose work has been featured in We.The Culture, an exhibit at Newfields Indianapolis Museum of Art. As an artist at the Harrison Center and a member of the Eighteen Art Collective in Indianapolis, McKee's work has focused on activism and education.
Aaron S. Coleman is an American multidisciplinary artist who works in printmaking, sculpture, and installation. He recontextualizes found imagery and artifacts to create jarring juxtapositions in his exploration of the legacy of slavery, ongoing systems of white supremacy, and contemporary Black experience in the United States.
Artur Silva is a Brazilian artist who works in Indianapolis in the United States. His work has been shown at the Ludwig Foundation, the VanAbbe Museum, the Smart Museum, the Indiana State Museum, and the Centro Cultural de España. His work has resulted in awards and fellowships, including from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Arts Council of Indiana, the Efroymson Contemporary Art Fellowship from the Central Indiana Community Foundation, and the Christel DeHaan Artist of Distinction Award.
Kaila Austin is an interdisciplinary visual artist, public historian, and community activist in Indianapolis, Indiana. Austin's works has been featured in exhibitions and installations at Big Car Collaborative, BUTTER Fine Art Fair, and Herron School of Art & Design.
Israel Solomon is an American painter, muralist and educator based in Indianapolis, Indiana known for his colorful geometric paintings depicting people and community. Solomon has painted murals and exhibited work across the United States, including at the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Indianapolis Art Center, The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, and the Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago).
Kevin West is an American visual artist based in Indianapolis, Indiana, US. His work has been featured in We. The Culture: Works by The Eighteen Art Collective, an exhibit in the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. As part of The Eighteen Art Collective, West's art highlights his experience and the comradery in the Black Community in hopes for people who are outside the community to see its beauty.
Deonna Craig is an American abstract visual artist and art instructor who is based in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is primarily known for her contribution to the Black Lives Matter street mural on Indiana Avenue, created by the Eighteen Collective of which Craig is the president. The artist has had her work featured in numerous notable institutions such as the Indianapolis Museum of Art (Newfields), the Indianapolis Children's Museum, the Indiana State Museum, the Indianapolis International Airport, and the Indianapolis Art Center. Craig has also held the titles of Virtual Resident Artist at the Madam Walker Legacy Center from 2020 to 2021 and Visiting Artist at the Indianapolis Children's Museum from 2021 to 2022. Art by Deonna Craig is Craig's art company in which she sells many of her original abstract paintings and prints. Her work as an artist has largely been focused on community building in the Indianapolis area and historical art's influences on present-day culture.
