About our Artists

Sure the Harrison Center for the Arts is a great place to see an exhibition or attend a show. But it's also a great place to for working artists to connect and create. Our studios are always in high demand--partly because they're great spaces. Also because working here allows artists to get up-close and personal with some of the area's most interesting and accomplished talents.

Casey Jo Ailes

Casey completed her B.F.A at Herron School of Art, where she studied Photography, Painting and Art History. She has worked as a local gallery curator for the last four years and recently walked away from life as a curator to pursue her own work full time. Casey currently writes for the Broad Ripple Gazette reviewing and reporting on art exhibits in the Indianapolis area. She has been working as an art teacher for the last three years, teaching painting and photography to both adults and children. Her own work has been shown locally and nationally for over ten years and she has been published in Indianapolis Monthly and the New York Times.

Casey’s work is abstract in nature with a pure love for color. Her work starts out with a hint of realism and then she attacks the painting with paint as she layers and builds up the canvas. Her favorite tool to work with in the studio is the palette knife.

caseyjoailes@hotmail.com | www.figarosstudio.com | slideshow

Jeannine Allen

Jeannine Allen gave up Maine’s ocean views for Indiana in 1996. Yet the ocean, and nature in general, remain her inspiration, and she strives to express the resulting emotion in her paintings.

Her style is somewhere between abstract and non-objective. She achieves this style by removing the precise boundaries of her subject and uses color, form, and texture to evoke its essential nature. She also aims to create an element of spontaneity and directness with the paint.

Allen earned her BFA in graphic design from the Maine College of Art in 1988 and her MA in painting from the University of Indianapolis in 2010. She is an award-winning designer and art director at the University of Indianapolis.

Although her career has been in the field of visual communications, she made a long-term commitment after art school to pursue her love of fine art, and today she is finally realizing that goal.

jeannine@jeannineallenart.com | jeannineallenart.com | slideshow

Teri Barnett

Born in Southeastern Michigan, Teri takes inspiration from the lakes and landscapes of her home state and from quilt makers, both in her family and beyond. This is reflected in her art as she explores the elements of the world broken down to their most basic expressions – shape, color, and texture.
Her paintings have been exhibited in the Indiana State Museum and collected nationally. They reside in the permanent collections of Eli Lilly, Franklin College, Wellpoint, Rush Shelby Energy, NPCA, Community Hospital, and others. Recent achievements include being awarded the Jury Prize of Distinction for Contemporary Art at the 85th Annual Hoosier Salon Exhibition at the Indiana State Museum, having her work featured in the Arts Council of Indianapolis’ BeIndypendent campaign kick-off and being juried into the Indiana Artisan Program.
Teri is co-owner of Broad Ripple Art & Design and owner of Esprit Design. Her works can be viewed by appointment. She is also available for commissions and public art projects.

teri@teribarnett.com | www.teribarnett.com | slideshow

Katie Basbagill

Katie is photographer and fine artist based most of the time in Indianapolis, Indiana. A photographer for over 10 years, her main focus is on creating provocative imagery out of photographs, paint, and typography that explores and raises awareness for social issues and promotes peace and justice. Her photography has taken her to Thailand, India, Nepal, Burma, Costa Rica, Haiti, Peru, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Egypt, Jordan, and soon to Swaziland. She also has an affinity for pumpkin spice lattes and Thai cuisine.

katie@bohemianredimages.com | www.bohemianredimages.com | slideshow

Jason Dorsey

Dorsey comes from a family of artists. He discovered his gift of painting watercolors when he was 16 and placed in the top seven in a statewide high school art contest. By the age of 24, he had been accepted in many national watercolor exhibits. In 1993, Dorsey put away his brushes and moved to Chicago to complete his seminary training. Since that time, Dorsey's art has been woven into his ministry as a Presbyterian pastor. He is currently working on a children's picture book with his father titled, “I Remember Fishing with Dad...Derby Day."

jason@redeemindy.org | slideshow

Kristin Elizabeth Fuller

Through my photography I am exploring my own spiritual journey. Both my ideas and the process of my art-making itself is a way for me to converse artistically about my spiritual identity. Through my work I intend to connect my journey with the spiritual journey of others and engage the viewer of my art in a way that speaks deeply to their core self. In many ways I like to think of my work as beginning a dialogue about the landscape of the human spirit. I ask questions about human suffering, death and resurrection, attaining peace and wholeness and processing through pain. I wonder out loud through my images about the environment that humans thrive in or struggle to survive.

kristin@kristinfuller.com | www.kristinfuller.com | slideshow

Elizabeth A. Guipe Hall

Indianapolis-based artist Elizabeth Guipe Hall explores a medium she calls encaustic collage, which incorporates the centuries-old technique of applying molten beeswax and pigment to a surface and fusing successive layers together with flame. Using encaustic as both paint and adhesive, Hall composes in three dimensions, applying and juxtaposing collage elements that include original digital photographs, found images, graphite, charcoal, etched lines and imported handmade papers. To a viewer, the rich layering seems to extend the content in both space and time. Hall's work explores themes of personal growth, the passages of life, the drive for self-determination, the illusion of self-control and the tenuous balance between containment and release. Phone: (317) 797-1113.

byrdlandstudios@comcast.net | elizabethguipehall.com | slideshow

Shannon Hinkle

Hinkle has been designing jewelry for the past 15 years and working glass with a torch for the past seven. Mostly self taught, Hinkle has spent the past few years growing her in her art while raising her four children. She has recently expanded her vision to creating beautiful spaces for events with all areas combining many different colors and textures. This brings great joy as she seeks to express her heart to those around her. The joy and movement she sees every day inspires Hinkle — as well as the discarded vintage jewelry that comes back to life when combined with freshly blown glass beads, offering them a new purpose. Phone: (317) 965-4011.

ishinelite@gmail.com | planonit.blogspot.com | slideshow

Susan Hodgin

Susan Hodgin was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, but moved to Missoula, Montana to study creative writing, fiction, at the University of Montana in 1996. She realized 3 years into her writing program that her characters never spoke, and never moved, but simply existed in gorgeous settings. Hodgin immediately switched her studies to painting, and received her BFA in painting from the University of Montana, Missoula. After living and exhibiting in Montana for a few years, Hodgin returned to Indianapolis, where she has been working and exhibiting since 2003. In September 2009, she will be starting a Low-Residency MFA program through the Massachusetts College of Art and Design held at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA. Her primary medium is oil on canvas.

shodgin@mac.com | www.susanhodgin.com | slideshow

Carl B. Leck

Leck is a Ball State graduate who majored in graphic design/fine art specializing in drawing, painting and printmaking. He's currently a self-employed freelance artist specializing in large scale murals. His biggest project to date is a 16' x 30' 3-D illusion mural in the Baker & Daniels Club at Lucas Oil Stadium. Between mural gigs, Leck works on personal artwork in his studio at the Harrison Center. While his commissioned work is primarily realistic or trompe l'oeil, his personal work is mostly surreal. Leck also enjoys a good laugh.

carl_leck@yahoo.com | CarlLeck.net | slideshow

Kim Lohr

mosstudio: decorative painted furniture and terra cotta pots.
Lohr draws inspiration for her work from varied and diverse sources: the colors and textures of nature, a passion for Italy, the patterns of antique kilim rugs, art pottery from Ohio, the classic architectural details in the furniture she paints. The very heart and soul of mosstudio is recycling. Lohr finds it important to create an heirloom to be cherished. The furniture emerges with a new appearance and sometimes a new purpose, a complete rejuvenation. Phone: (317) 439-0900.

klohr@lohrdesign.com | slideshow

Candice Hartsough McDonald

Candice Hartsough McDonald started her career as a small child making friendship bracelets that she sold from her handmade catalog, and tracing the drawings out of her children's books trying to pass them off as her own. Today she is a freelance illustrator who has actually drawn the pictures in a few published children's books (she swears she did them all by herself), and sells prints, personalized portraits, jewelry, and stuffed animals at shows and through her online shop. She works primarily in watercolor and graphite, but has a special love for colored pencil and embroidery.

candice@cordialkitten.com | www.cordialkitten.com | slideshow

Vince Norkus

"I have been surrounded by and exposed to art all of my life. I thank my Father Michael and my Uncle Stan for sharing their love of art. Photography has always been a strong passion. Most of my photography training is informal. I received my darkroom training from Mike Bowman at the Indianapolis Art Center. I studied drawing, painting, and sculpture while attending Marion High School, and later while attending Indiana University. I practice traditional film and digital photography. I believe that exploring both adds to the development of my eye and the way I see the world. Many subjects attract my eye, but I continue to explore line and light through topics such as nature, the human figure, and street scenes. I enjoy the moment in time that gets lost in the processing of it all."

vnork@aol.com | slideshow

Kipp Normand

Normand has no formal training in art. His grandfather taught him to paint, and his father taught him to build things. Normand is a scavenger and an obsessive collector, searching streets and alleys, junk stores and abandoned buildings looking for clues to explain the mystery of our world. He finds stories in discarded things: stories about himself and stories about all of us; our cities and our shared history. He first began making assemblage, shadow boxes and collage images as a way to justify his relentless collecting. They soon became much more. They are Normand's way to dig deep into the vast museum of this world and share his finds with anyone who cares to look.

kipp@sendcdc.org | slideshow

Jude Odell

The unexpected oddness of our lives; the twists, turns, stumbles and rebirths — these occur by chance and circumstance, the subtle marks and scars of experience influencing expression, outlook and presence. The intrigue of this process is reflected in roughened clay surfaces, faces not quite real, and glazes painted in layers and rubbed off, alluding to life that is layered and seasoned, rather than glossy, perfect, or predictable.

Jude Odell is a professional clay artist, showing and selling her work in juried exhibitions across the country. She holds a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Crafts and Art Education, received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Indiana Arts Commission and a Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Indianapolis Arts Council.

judeclayworks@yahoo.com | slideshow

Quincy Owens

As a professional artist, Owens focuses his work on interaction and dialogue. Imagery and memories from his childhood, specific colors, symbolic shapes, and serigraphic images converge into a visual language able to create a dialogue. His popularity in the Indianapolis art market has risen very rapidly due to his passion for process. A strong portfolio, resume, and list of collectors (both public and private throughout the Midwest, Southern states and the East Coast including Indiana University, Purdue University, Butler University, WellPoint and Eli Lilly) has established Quincy as a respected artist.

quincyowens@gmail.com | quincyowens.com | slideshow

Kyle Ragsdale

Ragsdale grew up in Texas and New Mexico, witnessing from a young age a mix of vibrant cultures and large, wild spaces. For 15 years, since earning degrees at Baylor University (BFA) and Southern Methodist University (MFA), Ragsdale has been painting full time — working periodically as a decorative painter and stage set designer, and making fine art. He has served as curator for exhibits in Texas and Indiana and currently is curator for the Harrison Center for the Arts. Ragsdale's work has changed many times — the paint has been thick, thin, shiny, and flat. He often delves into decorative floral patterns, landscapes, and portraiture, but probably is best known for his mysterious elongated figures. Many times, people featured in his paintings are enjoying the beauty of community, sharing life at picnics or parties. Sometimes formal, sometimes casual, these signature figures and their often-ambiguous settings always leave room for interpretation; like an open-ended novel, relationships and meanings are found in the viewer's gaze. Phone: (317) 531-0474.

kyle@harrisoncenter.org | kyleragsdale.com | slideshow

William A. Rasdell

Over the past 25 years, Rasdell's primary interest as an artist has been the legacy of enriching influences of the African presence in daily life and custom throughout the Americas. To that end he has conducted cultural field studies in places such as Grenada, Barbados, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, South Africa and Trinidad with an extensive 10-year focus on the music, dance and folklore of Cuba. This work is important in that it records and celebrates the retention and integration of African traditions with other cultures in the Americas.

mail@rasdell.com | rasdell.com | slideshow

William Denton Ray

William is a native of Indianapolis and attended the Columbus College of Art and Design as well as the Herron School of Art and Design. He currently works as a senior designer and as a professional artist. William is constantly doodling and drawing, creating whimsical worlds and characters for his viewers to be consumed by. William's work resembles Tim Burton meets Dr. Suess with a touch of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and Stanley Mouse, all of whom have had an influence on his work. William is also inspired by graffiti art, skateboarding culture, popular music, fashion and witty humor. William classifies his work in two words, "Whimsical Funk."

william@whimsicalfunk.com | www.whimsicalfunk.com | slideshow

Artur Silva

Silva is interested in how people experience capitalism within different classes and groups in America, now and at other periods in history. His work is the result of his pursuit to understand, as an artist, these experiences as well as his own capitalist experience in America. He grew up in Brazil, but has lived his entire adult life in the United States. His curiosity about this subject, viewed through his cultural background, is the primary drive of this exploration.

artur106@yahoo.com | artursilva.com | slideshow

Elizabeth Smith

Elizabeth Smith’s work focuses on color with bold strong color areas that are then overlapped with contrasting color overlays, textures and patterns. The use of tiny brushes at the end to add miniscule details is meant to draw the viewer in to see other little surprises throughout the work. The variety of color, shape, texture and line make each piece reflect a sense of fantasy and geometry at the same time.

Smith holds a degree in Education from Ball State University with an Art Teaching Minor, as well as an MA in Drawing and Painting and an MFA in Painting. She studied primarily with well-known Chicago artists/writers Joshua Kind, Gordon Dorn and Jack Olson. She taught for 29 years, returning to painting in 2010 after moving to Indianapolis.

lizsmith6087@gmail.com | www.elizabethsmithart.com |

slideshow

Carolyn Springer

Springer's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally since 1990 at sites ranging from Sushi Performance and Visual Art Gallery in San Diego, Yokohama — Japan's Citizen's Gallery and Tijuana's Cultural Center. She has won numerous awards including a research grant to study in Italy. Her work is in many private collections. She paints with the encaustic medium. Encaustic painting is the process of working with melted beeswax that has been pigmented with colors. Encaustic or "burning in" in Greek refers to the process of fusing the wax a second time in order for the wax to remain stable. This process is considered one of the oldest methods of painting in history, dating back to early Egypt. To Springer, creating artwork that captures a unique beauty and also translates a deeper spiritual meaning to the observer is her ultimate goal when making paintings. Art making is a creative process that involves many levels of intellect and emotion for her. When she paints, she opens herself up to the flow of passing thoughts and feelings in order to capture something truer and greater than herself, a universal feeling or experience that many people can relate to.

cmspringer@earthlink.net | studiocarolynspringer.com | slideshow

Crystal Vicars-Pugh

Crystal completed her MFA at ISU, where she studied painting. Her current body of work is an exploration of cartography and the ephemeral nature of the world we live in. With antiquated atlas pages and the idea that the world that once was is no longer, Crystal creates freehand translations of our world into a language all anew. She currently lives in Broad Ripple with her husband, Jeremy, and their daughter Amelia.

cvicarspugh@gmail.com | http://crystalvicarspugh.com

Heather Galloway Vickers

My paintings are representational but not with strict detail. I still love to see evidence of the paint on the canvas. I paint cityscapes, interiors, animals, and landscape. My landscapes are of distant vistas as one of my goals is pushing the distance and atmospheric perspective as far as I can from the viewer’s sight.

I am especially taken with the French Romantic painter Camille Corot. His work is so gentle and has a very high aesthetic quality. Other artists inspiring my work are Edward Hopper, John Singer Sargent, and James Whistler. All of these artists can be seen in my work by either color, values, brush stroke, or sometimes subject matter.

My newest series of paintings reference a landscape, but also include an origin of food. The simplest of elements in the paintings are water, light, darkness, and soil; others include animals and vegetation. These new works are inspired by the thought of food’s original source and the romantic landscape surrounding them.

hvickers9697@yahoo.com | heathervickers.com | slideshow