Artist and activist Inocente Izucar, who used her art to overcome homelessness and other life challenges, to show artworks and work with Indianapolis community.

Inocente is a San Diego artist and activist. As a young child, Inocente and her family immigrated to the US from Mexico. After her father’s arrest and deportation for domestic violence, most of Inocente’s childhood was spent moving from one homeless shelter to the next. When she was 12 years old Inocente discovered the power of art, and since then she has been able to use the arts as a vehicle to rise above many great life challenges. Despite her sometimes bleak surroundings, her brightly colored art represents a world of survival, love and hope. Her story is the subject of the Oscar-winning film “INOCENTE”, which depicts her life and art at age 15. Inocente now supports herself as a professional artist and motivational speaker, while also working as an after-school art teacher. For more information on Inocente please visit originalinocenteart.com.

The series of Inocente events are made possible by the Central Indiana Alliance Against Hate and The Clowes Fund Inc. The events are held in partnership with Heartland Film, which awarded the film, Inocente, a Crystal Heart Award at the 2012 Heartland Film Festival, CHIP Indianapolis and Immigrant Welcome Center.
Children are very welcome to attend all programming over the course of the weekend.

June 1st – Documentary screening and artist talk

5:30-7:30pm, Tube Factory artspace 1125 Cruft St

Join us for dinner and a screening of the Oscar-award-winning documentary Inocente followed by a Q & A with the artist. You can learn more about the documentary at inocentedoc.com.

June 2nd – “Home” First Friday exhibition in Listen Hear

6-10pm, Listen Hear 2620 Shelby St.

When people first see the film Inocente, they meet and fall in love with a 15 year old Inocente — homeless, confused, determined, hopeful, and hurt. But today, Inocente is 23 years old, just married, looking to purchase a new home with her husband, “something I never thought I’d be doing, let alone so early in life,” Inocente says. “I want this exhibition to be about hope and home, about hoping to finally find a permanent home with permanent people, a place to call my home.” This exhibition will be housed in the Listen Hear gallery at 2620 Shelby St., and will contain some of Inocente’s most recent work. The artist will be present on FirstFriday and available to answer questions.

June 2nd from 9am-2pm, artist Inocente Izucar will be painting a mural in the Horizon House homeless day shelter at 1033 E Washington St. Indpls, IN 46202.

Signcraft Industries (http://www.signcraftind.com), the Horizon House (http://www.horizonhouse.cc/) and Big Car have partnered to put a mural in their main gathering room, the dayroom. Currently the large, industrial-looking room is painted a pale yellow, but the staff at Horizon House have a vision for the space to be covered in vibrant color. Signcraft has agreed to provide the paint and labor for this project, so Horizon House contacted Big Car about finding an artist to create the design.

Big Car was already planning on bringing San Diego artist and homelessness activist Inocente Izucar to Indianapolis for the first weekend in June, so the timing and circumstances fell together well. Inocente will create a design for the dayroom, and execute a small portion of the mural while she is here in Indianapolis.

June 3rd – Children’s Art Workshops ages 8 and up

11am-1pm and 1-3pm, Tube Factory artspace 1125 Cruft St.

Register your child for art workshop sessions with Inocente! Children will learn to paint with the expressive style that Inocente lends to all her work, and will take home their creations. Cost is $5 per child, and there is a cap of 30 children per class, so enroll today! Email jordan@bigcar.org for more information or visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/k ids-art-workshop-with-inocente -tickets-34639090452 to enroll your child.