June 2020: When Strangers Meet
Virtual First Friday Gallery Opening
Friday, June 5th, 2020, 6 pm
FREE VIRTUAL EVENT
The Extended Family, Willard Johnson, Oil on Canvas, 70 x 61 inches.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (May 22, 2020)
First Friday Blood Drive. On First Friday, the Harrison Center is teaming up with Versiti to hold a gallery blood drive. There is a blood shortage and you can help. The First Friday Blood Drive will take place from 6-9 pm in the Harrison Center galleries. Donors will safely register and give blood, practicing social distancing, by spreading out over the Harrison Gallery, Speck Gallery and City Gallery. All donors are required to wear masks and register in advance. Spots are limited. Reserve your spot today at https://donate.indiana.versiti.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/141583.
Harrison Gallery. “When Strangers Meet,” paintings by Indianapolis-based artist Willard Johnson will be shown in the Harrison Gallery. This exhibit draws inspiration from Johnson’s own experiences living in Korea, Egypt, Lebanon, Germany, Gaum, and Japan. His paintings explore the language of abstraction, reassembling fragments in an attempt “to map and tell stories about the tensions I have witnessed in the collisions of a shrinking and paradoxical world.” “When Strangers Meet” sets the stage for the collision and intersection of time, culture, place, and identity. The work functions as part celebration and part homage to the often bittersweet experience of straddling worlds.
Safely watch a virtual gallery tour, brought to you by WFYI, by tuning into WFYI or the Harrison Center’s Facebook pages on Friday, June 5th at 6 pm. View the images on our new online gallery.
Other exhibits being shown:
Lucy Burton’s, “Hearth,” will open in the City Gallery. Burton asks the viewers to focus on the subtle parts of life— “life between the monuments.” After prompting family and friends to send her writings and images describing their unique definition of home, those memories were masterfully transformed into mixed media fiber pieces. “Hearth” examines our ideas of place revealing the quiet, routine parts of life that make Indianapolis our home.
“Hearth” will be on view on First Friday in our online gallery. Look out for more interviews and content from this show, produced by WFYI, throughout the month of June.
“Everglow,” a new body of work by Benaiah Cusack, remains on display in the Underground Gallery and available for sale on the Harrison Center’s website.
The Harrison Center continues to invite local residents when out exercising or walking to enjoy the “Social Distance Window Walk,” a series of unique installations by local artists located in the windows on the perimeter of our building. This outdoor installation is currently open 24/7 for walkers & bikers to enjoy. Please observe all social distancing guidelines when viewing the exhibit.
With support from: the Arts Council of Indianapolis, the Indiana Arts Commission, Christel DeHaan Family Foundation, and Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation.
After First Friday, gallery viewings will be by appointment only. Contact Sarah Peacock at speacock@harrisoncenter.org to set up a time.
About the Harrison Center
The Harrison Center is a community-based, nonprofit arts organization that seeks to be a catalyst for renewal in the city of Indianapolis. Founded in 2001, the organization’s work is two-fold. The Harrison Center for the Arts is home to 36 artist studios and five galleries with programming that is designed to foster the creation of new art, build community among artists and emerging patrons, create new partnerships, and provide a forum for public conversations between artists and the community. The Harrison Center for the City seeks to connect people to culture, community, and place to strengthen Indianapolis’s core urban neighborhoods. For more information on the Harrison Center, call 317.396.3886 or visit www.harrisoncenter.org. Connect with the Harrison Center on social media at Facebook/HarrisonCenterArts, Instagram/harrisoncenterarts or Twitter/@HarrisonCtrArts