Q & A with India Cruse-Griffin

We are pleased to feature the work of India Cruse-Griffin in Gallery No. 2 this month. We asked her to tell us a little bit about herself and her work.

1. Where you are from and how long have you been creating art.

I was born and raised in Richmond Indiana. I have been an artist since I was 2 but I created my first oil painting at age 9.

2. What were your early influences?

My mother was an artist so I get my talent from her. My family has always been very creative and that spirit was passed onto me. I was raised around a lot of creative people. My parents and grandfather were in business my entire life. This is where my business sense comes from.

3. Where did you study?

I attended and graduated from Ball State University with a Bachelor of Science degree.

4. How long have you been working with collage and what drew you to this medium?

I have been working with collage for 16 years , but I have been a professional artist for thirteen. I came to collage by accident . I was a realist painter for years, but when I had children I found it hard to spend that much time painting. One day my 3 year old daughter at the time tore up a pile of magazines. Instead of throwing it out, we created a picture and I finished it by painting over the collage. I entered that collage at the Richmond Art Museum here in Richmond at the urging of the Art Director at the Museum. I won the most original art category and the style of art became my own.

5. Talk about one of your favorite pieces from this exhibit.

 My favorite piece in the collection is "In the Breeze." It is about gossip and spreading your dirty laundry around. The women facing the laundry are an older mother and a child who gossip hurts the most. But being both young and wise, you may look at it but it doesn't really affect you. Where the women looking at you looks you right in the eye as well as the gossip as if "shame on you for spreading gossip," still she embraces it as she hold a garment in her hands.

6. Anything else you'd like to share - upcoming exhibits or projects you are excited about?

I am in the permanent collection at the Indiana State Museum and the New Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis. I will be exhibiting in Birmingham Alabama in June.

Cruse-Griffin's work hangs through March 25th.