Kyle Ragsdale is a New Mexico native who studied art at Baylor University and Southern Methodist University. He started his career in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. In 1992, he moved to Indianapolis where he began executing both commissioned and independent work, exhibiting in galleries around the country. He has a studio in the Harrison Center for the Arts where he is chief curator.

In this painting, Pitch-In at Five Points, friends and neighbors of all ages meet and eat under a bright-day sky, and in doing so invite the viewer to feel as if they are invited to this greater story in progress. The feeling of profound togetherness highlighted in the painting is characteristic of the area, with its old-fashioned charm and close-knit community.

Kyle’s first-ever visit to Indiana was for a Thanksgiving celebration with friends just a mile or so from this location. His idea of “home” is deeply intertwined with the virtue of hospitality, and to Ragsdale–an Indiana resident ever since that fateful Thanksgiving–being able to revisit his first impression of the area was a sincere pleasure.