For the month of January, Lift Gallery will feature drawings of Martindale-Brightwood neighbors from Indianapolis-based artists, including Cierra Johnson, Steven Tanaka, Janet Fry, Jesus Sanchez Jr., Angelita Hampton, Johnny McKee, Lori Lee Andrews, and Julia Wickes. This will be the second Drawn to Neighbors installation, first exhibited in January of 2023.

Everyone has a story to tell. This core belief has inspired the Harrison Center to create a weekly space for listening to the stories of long-term residents of the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood and draw our neighbors as a part of the Storytelling Drawing Sessions program.

“This is an opportunity to show off our neighbors,” says Cierra Johnson, Creative Placemaking Fellow and artist at the Harrison Center. Johnson has led the Storytelling Drawing Sessions this year and has interviewed more than 50 local residents about their lives and led others in getting to know the history of the Martindale-Brightwood area and the city of Indianapolis better. The show will feature six of Johnson’s drawings, which are portraits of the neighbors and include notes she has taken from listening to their stories.

The show can be viewed anytime during the months of January in the Lift Gallery during Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. The works can also be viewed and purchased on our online gallery through February.

Drawn to Neighbors II