VSAI (now ArtMix) teaching artist, Barbara Zech, was a visiting artist with ISD art teacher Scotty Zwicker’s classes for years leading up to this project. They had a vision to create something on the Monon Trail to share Deaf culture with the community. The gateway was a Deaf-Hearing community collaboration in all aspects of design / planning, building, and development.

To create this sculpture, the artist led workshops with ISD students over the course of a school year and all K-12 students participated, with elementary students contributing the small hand designs and the middle and high school students creating the American Sign Language tiles.  These tiles include signs for the alphabet, the days of the week, and numbers. The students hope that passers-by will try signing, and perhaps learn a sign as they appreciate this piece.

The gateway emulates the historic architecture of the main building on campus, and was designed by the artist in collaboration with a Deaf architect.  Other partners in the project included CSO Architects and Shiel Sexton, while the plaza plantings and pavers were provided by Keep Indianapolis Beautiful through their IPL Project Greenspace program.

Barbara Zech is an Indianapolis-based ceramic artist. She earned her B.F.A. from the Herron School of Art in 1995 and exhibits regionally and nationally.  In addition to her studio and public art work (both temporary and permanent), she is an active arts educator providing creative therapeutic experiences for people with disabilities.  Zech has made numerous trips to Africa, where she co-founded a craft micro-enterprise for HIV+ individuals in Kenya, and she participated in the International Ceramic Workshop in Malawi. She served as a consultant to ISD to set up a fully equipped ceramic studio, and trained the art teacher on kiln firing and ceramics. This ceramics studio is part of the High School art studio and is still used today.