Betsy Melchers: A Week at the HC

Although she grew up just northeast of Chicago, Betsy had never ventured far into Indianapolis to explore the city. Her week-long residency at the Harrison Center gave her the opportunity to connect with the place in a new way— hearing the stories of long term neighbors, contemplating the concept of cultural gentrification, and experiencing intentional creative community.

Betsy’s artistic practice typically takes shape as sculptures and installations. Her stay in the Harrison Center’s studio allowed her to apply her usual process of creation, layering deconstructed cardboard, to the recycled material of an old Harrison Center billboard. Through sewing layered strips of the billboard vinyl, she created the large scale piece “Infinity Loop,” which was installed on a wall during the October First Friday show opening. The piece “represents the movement of our stories, and how pieces of history are wound together as we grow and become something new.”

For Betsy, it is as much about the end product as it is about the meditative process of deconstructing and shaping the material. The process is a space for her mind to contemplate and settle in. Slowing down while being deliberate about creating has become increasingly important in Betsy’s life in recent years. In a conversation, she discussed the way that her perspective on mental health and care of self has evolved. Part of caring for her mental and emotional well-being has been recognizing the responsibility of answering her creative impulses, as she described it. The energy, the sense of purpose, and the inspiration that comes from giving her attention to the creative process, from producing some type of work, even if it is something small and imperfect, has become central to Betsy’s life as an artist.

Betsy describes her art as complete but never finished and speaks of her own evolution as a person and an artist in the same way. Using recycled materials, whether cardboard or vinyl, allows her to play with this process of reimagined reuse.

She has been creating in a similar style for years, occasionally in residencies in the U.S., but mainly from Budapest, Hungary, where she lives, while working at an art café and gallery space. Besides giving her strong feelings on paprika, living in Budapest has given Betsy the space and community for her artistic practice to flourish.

See more of her work on her website and Instagram @_drawingtheline_