May 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.

The Schwitzer Gallery, located on the second floor of the North Studios, will host Cindy Wingo of Wingo Studio and Bruce Dean of Bruce Dean Creative with “Two Heads Are Better Than None.” It will showcase a variety of large-scale contemporary, abstract, and traditional work in various media, such as watercolor, acrylic, linoleum block, and mixed media, blending the varied outlooks of the two artists—Wingo, an abstract artist, and Dean, a realism artist. Wingo began her career as a graphic designer and returned to drawing and painting 30 years ago. Dean started out as a fine artist, but was drawn over time to graphic design and has a long history in the field in Indianapolis. He’s returned to landscapes and portraits in his work currently, especially fish and fishing scenes inspired by a beloved past-time.

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.

Arts & Images by Anthony Armstrong
Anthony Armstrong presents a new array of large scale photographs. These images depicting everyday life and simplicity of still life, people and places. Displayed in mostly black and white to allow the viewer to see the texture and movements of the images. Multi-talented, Armstrong also presents a blend of new abstract painting highlighting bold colors and deep texture. Armstrong is a self-taught abstract painter and photographer. “Often times, we are moving through the day so quickly, we forget to look at our surroundings and how every beat creates the pulse of the city,” Armstrong said. Anthony Armstrong is located in the South Studios.

Roberta Avidor
Roberta Avidor is a graduate of Parsons School of Design (NYC) in illustration and has been working as an illustrator for the last 40 or so years. Now semi-retired, she focuses on painting scenes in and around Indianapolis. “I am inspired by the various scenes around Indianapolis and create oils and watercolors based on them,” Avidor said. “Lately, I have added some scenes based on my travels.” Roberta Avidor is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Bebito Toys
Bebito Toys are handmade toys and soft sculpture created from up-cycled, recycled, and repurposed materials. They’re made from original patterns and often feature quirky looks and personalities. “They are earth-friendly as there is no Planet B,” Rachel Hedges said. “I use mostly re-purposed material to create work that will mean something to people who care about the planet.” Bebito Toys is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Circle City Metalworks
Circle City Metal works is helmed by Dan Jones, who will be displaying a small sampling of products for sale from their large product line. “We offer over 300 different unique and artistic items on our website. We also do design and custom work. If you can dream it we can make it,” Jones said. Circle City Metalworks is located in the back corridor, near the South Studios, on the first floor of the building.

Daily Epiphany Studio: Michele Burns and Kurt Kriese
Daily Epiphany Studio will present new work by Michele Burns featuring a lot of greens, golds, and copper by day, with super-bright green blue and aqua glow by night. Burns’ art draws from diverse inspirations. She features recurring elements of pattern and tessellation, texture, added objects, delicious colors, organic abstraction, mandalas, art deco motifs, and naturally photo-luminescent minerals that create a “Nightlight Art” second composition when the lights go out. She makes these luminous paints herself with minerals that are 30 times brighter than ceiling stars and glow for 10-20 hours after any light exposure. Daily Epiphany is located in the South Studios.

Five Seasons Studio and Gallery
Martha Nahrwold presents “Road Trip,” a collection of work inspired by recent travels, all created by floating acrylic inks on water in a technique Nahrwold calls marbled impressionism, an ancient art form she manipulates into modern takes. “My art is created by floating acrylic inks on water, applied with an eye dropper, whisk, or glass rod,” Nahrwold said. “My landscapes often feature a path or road meandering through. Where will it take us? What’s on the other side? I look for peace, calmness, and serenity. I create those in my paintings and hope to share that with others in this crazy world.” Five Seasons Studio and Gallery is located on the first floor of the North Studios.

Taylor Figg/Oliver Upside Down
Taylor Figg, of Oliver Upside Down, will have a new collection of spring and summer kitty kicker toys as well as the usual stickers and artwork during the month of May. This month’s 40% donations will go to Indiana Skunk Rescue for their efforts in rehabilitating orphaned and injured wildlife. “Until you follow a licensed rehabilitator, you have no idea the extent of the work they do during the spring and summer to help our wildlife in need,” Figg said. Oliver Upside Down is located in Studio S62 on the second floor of the North Studios, sharing a space with Rachel Hicks.

Full Circle Nine Gallery
The Full Circle Nine Gallery will feature Sydney McQuade Otto with “Mentor’s Picnic.” “My paintings and such are the core of who I am. My creativity is where I live. Everything else is just background noise,” McQuade Otto said of her show, which is dedicated to the trusted mentors and co-pilots who have believed in her and the passion that feeds her work. Sydney McQuade Otto has been involved in the arts since a young age, growing up in Indianapolis, but spending 20 years living in upstate New York and Vermont. She has studied drawing, painting, sculpture and graphic design. She currently creates both abstract and figurative acrylic and mixed media paintings that are diverse and eclectic subject matter and technique. Using her hands, brushes, palette knives, and graphite, McQuade Otto creates a body of work with a sense of movement and texture without hard edges. Full Circle Nine Gallery 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.

Susan Hirsch
Susan Hirsch is a painter and sculptor who aspires to augment reality with themes from traditional wisdom, fairy tales, and dreams. She attended the Kansas City Art Institute, studying philosophy and fine art, and obtained her Master’s degree from Indiana University in Media Arts and Science in 2012. She primarily works with oil on canvas or wood board, and sometimes ceramic or leather sculpture. During the day, she manages accessible design in educational software development and is interested in merging these two worlds by creating tactile art that is not dependent on vision. Susan Hirsch is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

HI Print Gallery
James Hubbard & Kurt Ihrig, Indianapolis print artists, will open up HI Print Gallery for the evening with plenty to see. HI Print Gallery is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Sylvia Gray and Sara Love Gallery
Sara Love is a painter and designer. Her work explores observations of the ordinary. Love received her BFA from Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis. “Color, shapes, and patterns have always inspired me. Creating artworks are puzzles to me. I like to create shapes that vary in size, colors that create a harmony and all fit together in a fascinating pattern,” Love said. Abstract and Fiber Artist Sylvia Gray creates largely using silk and various means to interpret her designs on the delicate fabric. “I love the freedom of painting on silk. My silk wearables and paintings will be on display. Hope you will enjoy my work as much as I have creating it,” Gray said. Sylvia Gray and Sara Love Gallery is located on the second floor of the 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.

Nancy Lee, Nancy Lee Designs Studio
Nancy Lee is known for her handmade sterling silver jewelry and will feature new silver and gold jewelry designs in her freshly updated gallery space. She has made custom work for clients in gold and silver for over a decade. She specializes in alternative wedding and engagement rings in a warm and inclusive environment. Her offerings also include kiln-fired enamel landscapes on copper substrates. These paintings show the same attention to detail with which Lee touches all of her work. “Details delight me, and I can easily get lost in them, whether in gold, silver, or enamel. You might say tiny things are my superpower!” Lee said. Nancy Lee is one of the original three artist pioneers who brought First Friday art openings to the Circle City Industrial Complex. Nancy Lee is located on the first floor of the North Studios.

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 M Design is an Indianapolis-based custom jewelry/fashion shop owned and managed by Grace Marshall, a certified jeweler and gemologist from the Gemological Institute of America, and will feature new work for First Friday. Marshall is an Army veteran with a B.A. in Industrial Design from Purdue University and a Graduate Jeweler/Gemologist degree from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Grace Marshall has always had a passion for using her hands to create beautiful and functional designs. Making unique jewelry with precious metals and gemstones has been both a challenging and rewarding career choice. Grace has been at the heart of forming a jeweler’s community in Indianapolis. Grace M Design is located on the first floor of the North Studios.

Shaun M. Niles
Shaun M. Niles works with large format analog photography and other historical processes, bringing a contemporary perspective to photographic techniques of an era gone by. Niles is best known for his work on the Beneath It All project, where he applauds the human form with a reverence, recognizing that we are all individually unique while also being very much the same. “The human body is an exquisite thing to contemplate,” Niles said. “I choose to celebrate this appreciation of the unique beauty that I find in the human form. Once we learn to love and accept ourselves we realize that we have nothing to be ashamed of and that’s the difference between being naked and being nude.” Shaun M. Niles is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

REDEFINITION
REDEFINITION is a clothing brand founded by creative director Tendai Phillips that caters to urban fashion lovers who are culturally diverse. Influenced by a combination of pop cultures (Afro-pop, hip-hop, K-pop, and Japanese street style), streetwear, and current fashion trends. REDEFINITION offers a courageous and creative approach to color and print with a hint of both masculinity and femininity, and has been featured on the SHEIN website. REDEFINITION is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Rebeka Anastasia Sweetland
Rebeka Sweetland is a mixed media figurative painter on large wood panels. She builds her own surfaces out of wood that she selects only after she has either sketched or photographed the individuals in each piece. “I love working on wood, because of its rigidity, but also because each piece is unique, and the surface reminds me of human skin,” Sweetland said. “l begin each piece with carving and graphite, then work in layers consisting of a variety of media and carving before finally sealing in preparation of painting with oils.” The grain of the wood is incorporated into the painting, as the layers are built up and the final layers are painted in oil. Sweetland is an Indiana University Graduate with a BFA in Painting and a BA in Ceramics. Rebeka Sweetland is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Steven Vinson
Steven Vinson documents the urban landscape through paintings of the infrastructure in the 46201 zip code. He is a born and raised Indy native and employee for Indianapolis Public Schools.  He holds a BFA in painting from Herron and an MFA from KCAD in Grand Rapids, MI. He currently teaches 6th grade for IPS and has previously worked as a collegiate faculty member and gallery preparator, while also operating his own live/work gallery space. This artist is fully vaccinated. “I will always have a new work or two on view in my studio every First Friday,” Vinson said. Steven Vinson is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

The CCIC is also open during regular business hours, with the Schwitzer Gallery accessible throughout the week. Several artists and galleries will remain open for their regular ‘retail’ hours, usually on weekends, and posted on their own websites and social media. Some studios will also be open by appointment.

The Circle City Industrial Complex has become a destination for art appreciators and supporters of local work, with the total number of artists working within the CCIC at topping 100. Just northeast of the Mass Ave. Art and Theatre Cultural District, at 1125 Brookside Ave., the CCIC Artists First Friday programming is a must-see stop, 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 the 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.

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

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., 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 50 galleries, individual artists and artisans. The main artist entries are the North Studios entrance and the South Studios entrance, each marked with signage along Brookside Avenue. 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, Lick Ice Cream, and Eighth Day Distillery and The Fowling Warehouse.

For more information on the building, please visit: http://circlecityind.com
For more information on the artists please visit: https://ccicindyartists.wordpress.com/