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, in the Schwitzer Gallery, Cindy Wingo and Bruce Dean will be showing their work in ARTLOOK 2023 throughout the month of November. Both Wingo and Dean are painters, and this will be a collection of work done over this past year as well as new work done specifically for this show. Wingo’s works are generally large format abstracts while Dean’s works vary in size and are based on traditional subject matter.

Stokol Gallery
Taylor Figg presents the Itsa Art Show and Fundraiser, a group show honoring Itsa Cat, the longtime resident, chief mouser, and all-around boss of the Circle City Industrial Complex. Itsa went missing last winter, with still no sign of her, and she is missed by the entire building. The show will act as a fundraiser with 100% of the proceeds going to CCIC neighbor FACE Low Cost Spay and Neuter Clinic, just up Brookside Ave. All of the work will be cat-themed in honor of our lost friend.

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.

Aurora PhotoCenter
Aurora PhotoCenter is a nonprofit that serves Central Indiana photographic artists with exhibitions, residencies, workshops, visiting artist talks, and access to creative tools. As the only nonprofit in Indiana devoted exclusively to photography, Aurora is an essential hub for the medium in our arts community. Aurora also serves as a bridge between local artists and the greater photographic community, with a regional, national, and international scope, and is passionate about photography’s emotional and social power as an art medium in its own right. Aurora PhotoCenter is located on the first floor in the corridor.

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.

Stan Blevins
Stan Blevins is a painter living and working in Indianapolis. His work ranges from abstract to still life. Using a range of materials, primarily oil and enamel, his work has been described as “whimsical” and “pop surrealist.” Stan Blevins is located in the South Studios.

Aimee Bruno
Aimee Bruno is a mixed-media artist who has a passion for vibrant colors and all that is abstract and this month presents Feel Your Way – Tactile Art. “I’m very excited to share my most recent work with yarn and felt,” Bruno said. “Inspired by nature, I create pieces that are vibrant and abstract. As we head into the holiday season, art makes a wonderfully unique gift. Making art accessible to all is important to me and this style of work I am highlighting this month is for all ages.” Her works are thought provoking and full of stories. She focuses not on the outcome but on the process, technique, and the overall journey of creation. Aimee is an alumnus from Indiana University and majored in Studio Art with a minor in Art History. During her years at IU, she interned at both the Indiana University Museum of Art and the Mather’s Museum. As a mixed-media artist, Bruno pours emotional energy into each piece which translates into stories, moments of clarity, and sometimes even healing. Aimee Bruno 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, and present all of that this month with, Welcome to Fall: New works for Autumn 2023. 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,” mixing the pigments herself for maximum luminance – 30 times the brightness of ceiling stars (6000 millicandéla versus 320 mcd). The minerals, primarily industrial strength strontium aluminate, glow brightly for hours from any light exposure, and recharge for decades. 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 is a gallery displaying the photography of its three owners—Tom Potter, Nancy Frass, and Gayle Moore. This month they will feature The West: Remembrance and Honor, a black-and-white exhibit that spans many years and travels throughout the western U.S. via each artist. Special places, unique experiences, and spectacular beauty of the West will be on display. Darkroom Revelations is located on the first floor of the North Studios.

Down The Hall Gallery
I’ll Be Alright is a collaborative art and poetry show including a book release party in conjunction with the art show and will have live poetry readings. The show amplifies mental health awareness which is a subject very close to the heart of artist host Dano. Dano is an abstract artist and poet that paints on the darkest side of color wheel. Using layers and textures, Dano creates colorscapes evoking darkness and shadows. The subject matter is almost always the mental health struggles that he faces on a daily basis. Art is the therapy and a means to an end to purge and push out negative thoughts and energy and to try to exorcise the demons. Down the Hall Gallery is located in the corridor on the first floor.

Five Seasons Studio and Gallery
Martha Nahrwold creates her art with a centuries-old technique of floating paints on water. Her marbled impressionism is known for her trees, landscapes and animals. An original CCIC Artist, Nahrwold has had her studio in the building for over 30 years! Nahrwold’s marbled impressionism is 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.

Full Circle Nine Gallery
Seymour-native and Indianapolis staple Travis Owens will be featured with Ethereal Projections, a collection of his surreal and pop light-centered paintings. “Being a kid from a small town, I was curious what else was out there in the world; meanwhile, as an adult, having feelings of nostalgia from the era I grew up in, especially from 80s/90s movies,” Owens said. “I think in my mind I try to combine and capture my thirst for adventure, and love of nostalgia by attempting surrealism. By doing so, I am borrowing the special effects lighting and the feeling movies give me when I see them on the big screen. From films like Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Beetlejuice, and Indiana Jones, I try to transfer the spirit of the films to my own surreal landscapes of places I had traveled to abroad, or right here in my very own backyard here in Indiana. I also have many muses to where I will take that very same concept for any of my pop surrealism ideas.” The Full Circle Nine Gallery is located on the first floor of the South 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.

Larry Lad, LadArt
Larry Lad is a painter who covers the spectrum of abstract and representational work. He likes to add dimension to his paintings using additional canvas, cigar boxes, collage, and other materials to layer his work. His show Replication traces his journey as an artist as he searches for his own style by borrowing from the works of artists he admires. Lad also creates large sculptures and installations. Larry Lad, LadArt is located in the corridor on the first floor.

Nancy Lee Designs Studio
Nancy Lee is a metal smith and artisan jeweler. She specializes in alternative wedding and engagement rings in a warm and inclusive space. Her offerings include copper sculpture and kiln-fired enamel landscapes on copper, and she presents new work, Body Language, for November’s First Friday. “I’m excited to celebrate my fifteenth year at the CCIC,” Lee said. “Fifteen years as a full-time artist. To have been here to bear witness to the enormous transformation of the building and nearby neighborhoods has been a joy. In Body Language, I’ll be focusing on the human form and the topaz gemstone. Topaz is the gemstone for celebrating the fifteen-year anniversary, and I’ll use it in shades of blue and gold for the body adornments and in new enameled pieces incorporating those same shades.” Nancy Lee Design Studio 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 Marshall has always had a passion for using her hands to create beautiful and functional designs. “I’m inspired by our natural surroundings. I find that I don’t get enough time in nature but when I do, I’m recharged. My latest work captures some elements of the natural world that can we adorn our bodies with,” Marshall said. For November, she presents Blue Winter, a collection featuring lapis lazuli, moonstone, quartz, and eye of shiva shells, all set in sterling silver and 18kt gold. 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 and Gallery
As a CCIC Artist for over a decade, Katrina J. Murray Studio and Gallery has been a space to create and exhibit Murray’s own work in ceramic, oil painting and collage. In a new aspect of her work, she has created a space to curate the work of new artists, young and old. This month she’s featuring photographer Tim Meyers with Not From Around Here, landscape photography from Meyers’s recent travels to the west, featuring images from Joshua Tree National Park, the coast of Washington, Arches National Park and western Colorado. Meyers is a lifelong Hoosier with a keen eye and a travel bug. Katrina J. Murray Studio and Gallery is on the second floor of the North Studios.

Leslie Staller
Leslie Staller explores and shares connection and intimacy to the world around us and the self through mixed-media abstract collages, photo montages, and macro photography in her show titled, Intimacy of Place: Finding Connection in the Everyday Moments. Card-sized original artwork is simply awaiting personal messages to be added. A focus on color, texture, close up and the abstract allows a connection to been seen, and more importantly, felt. Expressing a belief that all of life is sacred, the images and collages invite a playful and heartfelt curiosity and an intimacy to the world and others around us. Leslie Staller is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Strawberry Studio
Maya of Strawberry Studio creates abstract art, texture paintings, and custom digital portraits. Strawberry Studio is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

Jake Walker
Jake Walker is a photographer and digital artist whose work is beautifully unique and thought provoking, and this month has discounted some of his work to prepare for the holidays. Walker’s photographic expressions range from traditional to technical and the images become artistic expression through editing. “When I capture an image, that is the draft,” Walker said. “There are some images that stand unedited, but making an image into an artistic expression often requires more than a camera. Imagine a pencil artist moving to include the eraser and crayon. It is freeing.” Some of his pieces are bold and vibrant while others give a sense of nostalgia. Recently he has begun incorporating AI into his artwork as well. Jake Walker is located on the second floor of the North Studios.

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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.