During the month of February, Conrad Indianapolis and Long-Sharp Gallery will transform over 8,800 square feet of the hotel's public space into a tribute to significant Indiana artists, with a spotlight on blue-chip pop artists Robert Indiana.

The installation will begin on February 7, as a dozen art movers, clad in iconic "LOVE" shirt, morph the Conrad lobby into an homage to Robert Indiana's "LOVE" and "American Dream" works. The comprehensive exhibit, titled "Always in an Indiana State of Mind," will also feature the photography of William John Kennedy. Kennedy's early 1960s photographs of Robert Indiana, only recently discovered, have taken the pop art world by storm. Several of Kennedy's photos are part of the Indianapolis Museum of Art's permanent collection.

Conrad Indianapolis' lobby exhibition will foreshadow the IMA's Robert Indiana exhibit opening February 14 and follow Robert Indiana's September retrospective at New York's Whitney Museum of American Art.

To continue the tribute to hoosier talent, Long-Sharp Gallery proper will open "Indiana Icons" on February 17. The exhibit will feature contemporary portraits of iconic Indiana faces created by Indianapolis figurative painter Constance Edwards Scopelitis. This solo exhibit is the first of its kind in the gallery by any artist other than Robert Indiana. Long-Sharp Gallery will celebrate this exhibit at the IDADA First Friday on March 7 from 6-9pm.

Work by Indiana-based artists will extend to the public space on the Conrad's second floor, featuring the abstract works of The Herron School of Art and Design's 2013 Outstanding Alumnus, Lois Main Templeton; the prints of The 2012 Indiana Legend in Design, Walter Knabe; the Indiana Limestone sculptures of Dale Enochs; and additional works by Scopelitis. 

All works comprising the "Always in an Indiana State of Mind" exhibit are available for purchase. Proceeds from art sales will be used to support various Indiana charities. In the month of March, 20 percent of the sale price of all works by Constance Edwards Scopelitis will go to support Indianapolis' Gennesaret Free Clinics. In April, 15 percent of the sale price of Walter Knabe's works will be donated to the Indianapolis Humane Society. In May, 15 percent of the sale price of all works by Lois Main Templeton will be donated to Herron's Lois Main Templeton Outstanding Artist Scholarship.