August FIRST FRIDAY with the Circle City Industrial Complex Artists

As the CCIC follows state and county regulations, masks are no longer required for vaccinated visitors but are highly encouraged, and individual artist studios may continue to require masks within their space. The CCIC is a 500,000 square foot building, making social distancing somewhat easier than other venues, but the smaller studios may also maintain limitations on visitor numbers at times.

Open Studios and Galleries

Several studios and gallery spaces will be open throughout the building. This list is not all-encompassing; some artists may decide to open that night based on current information and comfort levels.

The Schwitzer Gallery
Located on the second floor of the North Studios, the Schwitzer Gallery will host Indianapolis-native Raymond Gray and The Way of the Scarf. With a centerpiece of his 300-foot-long scarf, Gray presents a display of textile-focused abstract, assemblage, and illustrative work. Various fibers, including repurposed leathers, wools, cashmere, vicuna (the world’s most expensive fabric), synthetics, buttons and garment labels act as Gray’s “paint” on canvas wearables. This collection represents over 35 years of work in fashion and art. Raymond Gray’s work is inspired and directed by the many aspects of mental health and the weights and joys of life experiences.

Arts & Images by Anthony Armstrong
Anthony Armstrong presents an array of abstract paintings and fine art framed photography. Armstrong’s abstract paintings highlight bold colors, deep textures and layers in his mixed media presentations. Armstrong is a self-taught abstract painter and photographer. His photography tries to capture the essence of life from his various European destinations. Anthony Armstrong is located in the South Studios.

Bruce Armstrong
Anthony Armstrong’s father Bruce joins the South Studios, presenting his own abstract, minimalist and collage art for the first time in the Circle City Industrial Complex. Bruce Armstrong is located in the South Studios.

Roberta Avidor
Roberta Avidor is an illustrator who creates representational art, dealing primarily in oils and watercolor. Avidor trades in a wide variety of themes and subjects from local, salt-of-the-Earth scenes to intriguing glass bottle paintings, to bicycle-themed compositions. Be ready to live again, on her artistic adventure. Roberta Avidor is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Bebito Toys
The Bebito Studio welcomes guest artists Vanessa Legner and Venessa Monfreda for a collaborative exhibition inspired by themes from astrology’s fifth house, Leo. The show will feature paintings, collage, and soft sculptures honoring creativity, charisma, and of course, cats! This show is dedicated to the expansive, creative, and warm energy of Leo season and the artists are excited to pay tribute to everything they love about cats: self-confidence, grace, and a distinct love of naps in the sun. Bebito Toys is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Daily Epiphany Studio: Michele Burns and Kurt Kriese
A duo for the ages. Michele Burns and Kurt Kriese hit with a double whammy of the experimental and the grounded; geometry and political commentary, the new and the old, and more besides. Be it patterns and texture or figure painting and stained glass, this has something for everybody. Burns uses photoluminescent (glow-in-the-dark) minerals that create a second “nightlight composition,” whereas Kriese deals in experimental mediums and is a gifted original landscape and figure painter. Daily Epiphany is located in the South Studios.

Darkroom Revelations
Darkroom Revelations displays photographs by the three owners of their collective: Nancy Frass, Gayle Moore, and Tom Potter.  It is also a paean to artistic collectivism, as during the year they invite guest photographers to exhibit their work. The three Darkroom Revelations photographers will exhibit black and white images from many travels and encounters with local people. “We enjoy living in rural areas and are pleased to feature some our local friends as well as showcasing other rural communities and their activities,” Nancy Frass said. Darkroom Revelations is located on the first floor of the North Studios.

Taylor Figg/Oliver Upside-Down
Oliver Upside Down is perfect if you’re “feline fine” on the August First Friday. The artist presents a collection of unique and playful cat-themed art, as well as catnip-filled toys. Figg also uses her art to give back where it’s most needed, with a portion of profits donated to local animal organizations. She has everything for furry friends and their human companions, including kickers, keychains, magnets, and stickers. The best way to support animals in need, while getting handmade artwork in exchange. Taylor Figg/Oliver Upside-Down is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Full Circle Nine Gallery
The Full Circle Nine Gallery will feature Wayne Bertsch with POPcycle, an exhibition that uses upcycled and repurposed materials with a thrifty, make-the-most-of-what-you-have edge. POPcycle approaches art the way one might approach a competitive reality cooking show: Base ingredients mixed together to present the most visually appealing and tasteful result. In this instance, it creates a stew whose foundation is the pop culture landscape, and simmered expertly. Being heavily embedded in pop culture, POPcycle recalls recognizable themes and elements as Bertsch is a lover of memes and visual puns. Full Circle Nine Gallery is located on the first floor of the South Studios.

Glen Fuller/Fuller Design
Glen Fuller prides himself on his emphasis upon original lighting and furniture. As an Indianapolis artist, he works with and pulls together the elements that make this city so great, and such an inspiration for artwork. His latest work leans upon the vacuum-infusion molding of the Indy 500 and aerospace technology. Visitors can also expect the most innovative 3D printing and Japanese organic papers re-imagined with new-to-world applications and forms.  For August, Fuller showcases new works, projects and material experiments, using new and old world processes, Japanese paper, and infusion epoxy-molded carbon fiber to create new-to-the world pieces. “I am always exploring new materials and processes and rearranging what has been done into what hasn’t. These experiments and explorations always yield new thinking, approaches and ideas,” Fuller says. Glenn Fuller/Fuller Design is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Victoria Gillieron
Victoria Gillieron decided that one day she wanted to become an artist. She got a studio and soon found she had absolutely no idea what she was doing. Other artists quickly came to her rescue, took her under their wings, and mentored her, providing not only painting instruction, but also information on where to buy supplies, frames, how to enter juried shows, etc. After years of intense study fixing millions of mistakes, and painting well over a couple of thousand paintings, Gillieron has developed an impressionistic style that allows her to capture brief moments of beauty with oil paints and a few brushes. Victoria Gillieron is located on the first floor of the South Studios.

Glass Arts Indiana, Inc.
Glass Arts Indiana creates a collaborative glass community to support emerging and established artists; host fun, interesting and educational events; increase appreciation and understanding of the glass arts; and promote glass-related opportunities in Indiana and the U.S. Finished works are available and visitors will get to see glass-blowing in action. Glass Arts Indiana, Inc. is located on the first floor, in the corridor.

Sylvia Gray Art Studio/ Sara Love Sylvia Gray
Sylvia Gray is an Indiana native. Her home and studio are in Westfield, IN. She is a painter, print maker, and textile artist. For many years Sylvia has honed her craft, while developing an intuitive expressionistic style that defines her work and brings emotion and warmth to each piece she creates. “I enjoy creating and seeing what happens when the dye or paint flows. I find that part of my work relaxing. I love creating patterns in my work, to experiment with colors and process, and to keep producing and moving forward,” Gray said.  Sylvia Gray Art Studio/ Sara Love Sylvia Gray are located on the second floor of north studios.

Matt Hurdle
Matt Hurdle is a self-taught painter of contemporary landscapes. Blurring the line of impressionism and abstraction with a dreamlike quality in his big sky landscapes with 2-D acrylic landscapes, Matt Hurdle creates paintings of tranquil, far off places. He’s an award winning Hoosier Salon and Indiana Artisan member and solo exhibitor. Matt will be exhibiting new work with his In Your Mind – a Collection of Dreamscapes exhibit during First Friday at his studio on the second floor of North Studios.

Larry Lad, LadArt
Larry Lad is a self-taught painter experimenting with a variety of media and surfaces, such as cigar boxes, recycled material, and unique surfaces. “While I start with a general idea of what I would like to create, I am learning to listen, to see, and to let the art tell me where to go next,” Lad said. “With COVID, we have been given the gift of time. It has allowed us to produce some new art and new poetry. It has also taught us patience.” Larry Lad, LadArt is located in the corridor on the first floor.

Wendell Lowe Fine Art
Wendell Lowe has a unique style of abstract expressionism finger painting. Since being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2009, Lowe’s style has evolved from detailed chalk pastel landscapes and photography to his current work. His work evolves from deep in his soul and documents his Parkinson’s journey. “My finger paintings deal with my Parkinson’s and my Parkinson’s Psychosis,” Lowe said of his work that sometimes combines his finger painting techniques with prints of his own photography. Wendell Lowe Fine Art is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Grace Marshall, Grace M Design
Grace Marshall has always had a passion for using her hands to create beautiful and functional designs. As a certified jeweler and gemologist from the Gemological Institute of America, making unique jewelry with precious metals and gemstones has been both a challenging and rewarding career choice. Besides showing her own collection of fine jewelry, Indianapolis-based Marshall is now offering Permanent Jewelry, having a gold or silver chain welded around a wrist or ankle. Grace M Design is located on the first floor of the North Studios.

Katrina J Murray Studio & Gallery
Katrina Murray is a multidisciplinary artist focused primarily on ceramics and hosting other artists in her gallery. For August, she hosts Public by Becky Wilson. These 3” x 3” acrylic paintings are birds-eye perspectives of expansive, concrete pool-scapes drenched in playful light and snuggled into natural environments that hide an inherent yet subtle undertone of social redlining. Becky Wilson is an Indianapolis painter and assemblage artist whose work connects through expressive, narrative, metaphorical and sometimes timely visual references. This series uses reference from details of a 1950s architectural rendering of a proposed, idyllic Broad Ripple public pool. It reveals to us how normalized segregation was in planning public spaces for future generations. All of the people in the original rendering are represented as white patrons enjoying the day. Mapped out real estate locations intended to keep some citizens out of certain areas, including public spaces, are sometimes invisible boundaries that only become obvious when upon closer look. Katrina J Murray Studio & Gallery is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Tendai Phillips – REDEFINITION Clothing
REDEFINITION Clothing is the place to be if you want your togs influenced by the best of pop culture, the most up-to-date streetwear and all other prevailing current trends. Phillips is a bold, daring, courageous designer, with alluring approaches to color and print. Phillips also presents the most daring hints of masculinity, femininity, and everything in between. Ultimately REDEFINITION is in the name: There is no definition of fashion, it is up to you to define what it means. Tendai Phillips – REDEFINITION is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Susan Semenick, Sue’s Fine Art
Susan Semenick is an award winning watercolor artist. Semenick is a daydreamer who creates her work from a vivid imagination. She has achieved success as a portrait and figure artist, but also a landscape painter. Semenick has seen success as a finalist for the cover competition of Watercolor magazine. She has also served as one of the very first Artists in Residence at Crater Lake National Park, Crater Lake, Oregon, and has studied with some of the leading watercolor artists in the country. Her hard work in the studio every day is shown in her unusual use of color and her sense of composition. Susan Semenick, Sue’s Fine Art is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Rebeka Sweetland
Rebeka Sweetland is an Indianapolis-based maker with the qualifications to back it up. She has a BFA in Painting and a BA in Ceramics. Sweetland creates large scale, carved, mixed-media figurative paintings on wood. Her work centers on themes of life, birth, and death; documenting and expressing her perception of this transitional momentum. Sweetland composes imagery that emanates life and contemplates the ethereal notion of the here-and-now on Earth. Her work is a physical documentation of her experience as a woman and a mother, creating an ever-changing world. She’s intrigued with the interweaving of the physical human experience with our inner psyche. Rebeka Sweetland is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Steven Vinson
Steven Vinson creates urban landscape paintings of the infrastructure in and around Indianapolis. Most recently he has focused on the railroad overpasses on the east side of the city. Steven is a mixed-media painter located on the second floor of North Studios.

—-

The CCIC is open during regular business hours, and the Schwitzer Gallery is accessible throughout the week. A number of the city’s most varied and exciting artists and galleries will remain open for their regular hours, with many of them available on weekends, posted on their own websites and social media. Some studios will be open by appointment.

About the Circle City Industrial Complex Artists

The Circle City Industrial Complex (CCIC) is a nearly half-million square foot industrial building, located at 1125 Brookside Ave., just northeast of the Mass Ave Art and Theatre Cultural District, and was formerly home to the Schwitzer automotive company. Its industrial appeal remains and artists and artisans have made the space their home, carving cozy studio, work, and show spaces from the concrete and steel structure, and the CCIC Artists have grown in number to over 100 galleries, individual artists and artisans. The CCIC Artists First Friday programming is a must-see stop, one of the most authentic Indianapolis experiences, while events and viewable hours continue throughout the month.

The main entrance of the building (identified by its black marble façade) provides easy access to both the South Studios and North Studios (with a wheelchair accessible ramp and elevator). Maps of the building are also available in several locations to help visitors find all that the building has to offer. The CCIC provides free parking in a large lot, and is accessible by the Pogue’s Run Trail, connecting to the Monon Trail and the downtown Cultural Trail system. The complex also offers other art-supporting destinations such as the Centerpoint Brewery, Eighth Day Distillery and The Fowling Warehouse.

For more listings and event updates, please visit https://ccicindyartists.wordpress.com, or the CCIC Artists Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ccicartists