The show focuses on a collection of nature-inspired mixed media work focusing on mandalas and similar shapes.

“There are natural environments that I encounter, which later meet abstract concepts and shapes, creating mandalas,” Gordon said. “As this union happens, not all mandalas are ‘perfect’ geometric shapes and colors, symmetrically positioned in relationships to each other. Sometimes, they are a process of the integration of life experiences: One of the ‘imperfect’ mandalas has fire smoke, because during the time I created it, there were many wildfires. However, they all represent the spiritual journey from the outside to the inner core.”

About Tatjana Gordon

Born in Croatia, Tatjana Gordon lived her early years in Serbia, moved to the United States in the late 1980’s, and has lived in Indianapolis since 1990. A graduate of the Herron School of Art at IUPUI, Gordon has been a picture framer, a calligrapher, a parent liaison for Indianapolis Public Schools, and currently works as a medical interpreter for Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian immigrants. Gordon is also the mother to twin boys.

“Just like most of us, life transitions influenced me to constantly reinvent myself as a person and as an artist. I have many interests and enjoy change, and as an artist, I tend to alternate from one technique to another,” Gordon said.

Gordon said that her natural style holds a tighter line and the controlled stroke of a brush or a pencil, but for this show, she’s been experimenting with looser, more expressive movements.

“Natural spaces are a reflection of the ‘natural’ life in our own psyche,” Gordon said. “Rawness, beauty, cycles, rhythms; they are all present within us, and yet are often disturbed by the modern lifestyle. Noticing and preserving the nature outside us is preserving and healing the inner ‘natural’ life.”

Additional First Friday programming will include live music performed by FC9 board member and artist Steve Van De Vanter’s house band Agents of Apocalypse, along with guest bands, in the Art Café area near the corridor side of the gallery.

About the Full Circle Nine Gallery

The Full Circle Nine Gallery operates as an artist cooperative gallery, with each of the member artists and the board dividing gallery duties and artists roles. The artists will work together to help each other advance in skill and practice, as well as to bring success to the gallery. With over two dozen artists occupying a large, three-room space of the more factory-reminiscent portion of the Circle City Industrial Complex, Full Circle Nine offers a wide variety of art forms, media, and approaches.

The gallery has regular hours: 6-10pm on Fridays, 12-4pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Full Circle Nine Gallery is located at 1125 Brookside Ave., Indianapolis, IN, 46202, in the South Studios section of the Circle City Industrial Complex. For more information, or for artists interested in joining the Full Circle Nine, please visit www.fullcirclenine.com