Series of exhibits focuses on waterways, conservation

MUNCIE, IN—In October, Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites  will host the first in a series of art exhibits by five Hoosier painters who, along with three conservation essayists, have also produced a nearly 230-page hardcover book: “Indiana Waterways: The Art of Conservation.”

The book includes 100 paintings of Indiana Waterways, and three essays on waterways conservation. Ten presentations on conservation also are planned across the state. The art exhibit opens on Oct. 16.

A limited-edition book, selling for $50, accompanies the exhibitions and public discussion events. It is signed and numbered by all the artists and writers and is part of Library of Congress collection. Much of the funding has come from individual donations and grants. In addition, Wickliff Auctions will conduct a benefit to auction at 7 p.m. on Sept. 8 in their Carmel showroom of 25 donated paintings to help offset costs of printing of the book. Bidding is open now.

Sponsored by Art Nature Consortium, the project promotes conservation efforts to restore 65,000 miles of Indiana waterways. During COVID 19, the five Hoosier artists, brothers Dan and Tom Woodson of Muncie, Curt Stanfield of Rosedale, John Kelty of Fort Wayne, and Avon Waters of Converse, started work on the project while on pandemic-induced lockdown. In August 2020, around an outside BBQ grill, the artists committed to paint Indiana waterways for 20 months and then create a touring exhibition.

“Pretty early on, we discovered how interested others were in what we were doing,” said Avon Waters, lead artist for the project and Chief Executive Officer of the nonprofit, Art Nature Consortium.

The eclectic mix of artists and writers made this a unique project, Waters said. “We use various mediums, styles, and literary arts to communicate the need to clean up our waterways. Many of Indiana’s rivers and streams are unfit for human contact and are rated some of the worst in the nation.”

Since that 2020 BBQ gathering, the project added three conservation essayists, and a hard-cover coffee-table book to accompany the traveling exhibition, which starts Oct. 16 at the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, then moves to the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in January 2023, then to the Minnetrista Museums and Gardens Oakhurst House in Muncie in the summer of 2023, and  ends in December 2023 at the Hoosier Salon in New Harmony. During this time, writers and artists will give free public discussions around the state on art and conservation.

“Some of the artists like talking to public gatherings. This is a way to broaden the impact of the project,” Waters said. “We will be presenting at libraries in rural and urban areas and showing how anyone interested in the beauty of our rivers and streams can become involved.”

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