Kevin West | |
---|---|
Born | Kevin West |
Nationality | American |
Notable work | Black Lives Matter street mural (Indianapolis) |
Website | www |
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. [1]
Kevin West was introduced to fine art in high school after he had the opportunity to participate in an art competition at Georgia Tech. [1] West attended Danville Area Community College on a Basketball scholarship where he majored in Business. [1] His collegiate career came to a halt in 2001 when he suffered a knee injury. [1] He then transferred to the Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in 2002. [2] West made the decision to drop out of school to pick up jobs and support his family. [2]
West began his career after sustaining a career ending knee injury in 2001 and decided to devote his time to painting. In 2009, West started working as an art teacher at the Keenan Stahl Boys and Girls Club. [2] It was in this position that he thought of a custom "paint-by-number" technique to help students paint easier. [2] After introducing this technique to his students, there was a demand from parents to have his custom "paint-by-number" paintings rose. This sparked his entrepreneurial venture, Gifted Custom Art, which he operated with his longtime friend, Kelly Hipskind. [3] He called on Hipskind to join in partnership because he had a background in tech. [3] Together, they came up with technology to produce what became the first fully automated, on demand, paint by number company. [2] [3] Their unique technology allowed the customer to send in their portrait of choice, and West would turn the portrait into a paint-by-number-canvas for the customer to paint. [3]
Three years after starting the company, they had already garnered 286 licensed partners in the country. [2] West and Hipskind put the company on pause citing demand and product turnaround issues. [2] West is the CEO and Founder of West Innovations who has serviced 175 sip and paint studios and companies across the United States, including Storie Brush, Wine and Canvas, and Canvas and Cocktails, with his custom "paint-by-number" technology. [4] In 2020, West was selected as an artist to be featured in the Black Lives Matter mural by the Indy10 Black Lives Matter and other community groups and was the contributing artist for the letter "K". [4]
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.
George Winter was an English-born landscape and portrait artist who immigrated to the United States in 1830 and became an American citizen in northern Indiana's Wabash River valley. Winter was one of Indiana's first professional artists. In addition, he is considered the state's most significant painter of the first half of the nineteenth century. Winter is especially noted for his sketches, watercolors, and oil portraits that provide a visual record of the Potawatomi and Miami people in northern Indiana from 1837 to the 1840s, as well as other figures drawn from his firsthand observations on the American frontier.
Johann Henrik Carl Berthelsen was an American Impressionist painter, as well as having a career as a professional singer and voice teacher. Essentially self-taught as an artist, he is best known for his poetic paintings of New York City, often in snow.
Spaces with Iron is a public sculpture by American artist Will Horwitt. It was installed in January 2009 on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus, near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The sculpture is located at the corner of Blackford and Vermont Streets, on the southeast lawn of the Science Building, and is on long-term loan from the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, also referred to as the 100 Acres or Fairbanks Park, is a public interactive art park located on the Newfields campus in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.
The Eskenazi Health Art Collection consists of a wide variety of artworks composed of fragments from the 1914 City Hospital mural and artwork project, artworks added over time, and newer pieces which include works created for the new Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and campus in 2013. Other works have been added occasionally; there are also artworks at the clinics throughout Marion County.
India Crago Harris (1848–1948), a native Connersville, Indiana, United States, was an art patron and civic leader in Indianapolis, Indiana, who served on the Art Association of Indianapolis's board of trustees, including roles as recording secretary (1893–1899) and its fifth president (1904–1907). The Art Association was the predecessor to the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis's Herron School of Art and Design). During her tenure as president, Harris laid the cornerstone for the association's first new building, named the John Herron Art Institute, at 16th and Pennsylvania Streets. In addition, Harris established Herron's reference library. As the wife of Addison C. Harris (1840–1916), who was a prominent Indianapolis lawyer and a civic leader, she accompanied him to Vienna, Austria, during his diplomatic service as U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary (ambassador) to Austria-Hungary.
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.
Shamira Wilson is an interdisciplinary visual artist based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Wilson's work has been featured in exhibitions and installations at Newfields Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Indiana State Museum, and The Children's Museum of Indianapolis.
Ess McKee is an American 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.
Rebecca Robinson, also known as PSNOB, is a mixed media artist from Indianapolis, Indiana. Her work has been exhibited at the Chicago Museum of Science and History, Newfields, the Harrison Center, the Kurt Vonnegut Museum, and featured by the Arts Council of Indianapolis. She also designed custom cleats for the Indianapolis Colts. She is a member of the Eighteen Art Collective that created the Black Lives Matter street mural in Indianapolis.
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).
Gary Gee is an artist based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Gee is a member of the Eighteen Collective which is known for painting the Black Lives Matter street mural (Indianapolis). Gee's work has been featured in exhibitions and installations at BUTTER art fair, Indianapolis Public Library, Indiana State Museum, and Indianapolis Museum of Art. He also conducts community art sessions that encourage Indianapolis residents to participate in art making for the public.
Amiah "Mimsy" Mims is an American artist based in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is a member of the Eighteen Art Collective which was responsible for the creation of the Black Lives Matter mural in Indianapolis. She created and owns a creative services business, Works By Mimsy LLC.
Ashley Nora is an American multi-media artist born in Laurel, Mississippi. She is primarily known for her murals surrounding the Indianapolis area including the Black Lives Matter mural and her "Keepers of Culture" mural, both of which are on the historic Indiana Avenue. Nora is the CEO of her Indiana-based company, Ashely Nora Art LLC, and is acting vice president of the Eighteen Art Collective. Nora art focuses on Black joy and following one's dreams.
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.
Harriet Watson is an Indiana based artist who has predominantly worked in 2-D abstraction throughout her artistic career. She is a member of the Eighteen Art Collective, formed after a project in which eighteen Black artists collaborated to create the Black Lives Matter street mural on the historic Indiana Avenue. Watson's art is inspired by Black female artists from the 70's such as Faith Ringgold and Emma Amos. Watson owns her own business, Harriet Watson Art LLC, where she sells her art and clothing brand.