Artistic Exhibit Embraces Indiana's Past & Present

A picture paints a thousand words. The beauty of artAdams and T.C. Steele.
is that an artist can provoke emotion with severalThe exhibit raised awareness of the restoration
brush strokes. For each person who views theneeds to preserve these timeless pieces of art.
painting the feelings and memories will be unique.Patrons who visit the History Market gift shop in the
Indiana is home to many extraordinary artists like T.C.Indiana History Center continue to support the
Steele. At the Indiana Historical Society we exploredproject. Each tax-deductible donation or purchase of
one of the many wonderful exhibits called The Art ofcalendar's, note cards, magnets, and screensavers
Healing.related to the exhibit at the gift shop helps the
The Art of Healing took us back to explore the workcontinuing efforts to restore and preserve these
of sixteen prominent Indiana artists including T.C.cherished paintings. Once restored, the murals and
Steele, Carl Graf, Otto Starke. These artistspaintings will return to the public areas of Wishard
contributed to a mammoth project 1914 resulting inMemorial Hospital, Indiana's leading public hospital.
an estimated quarter mile of artwork. Hidden withinArt comes in many forms. Visitors to the Indiana
the confines of one of the nation's oldest countyHistory Center have discovered the story of Hoosier
hospitals in Indiana were a series of historic andartist Robert Wood and his students at Buffalo State
unprecedented of mural paintings.College. The Common Clay: Creating Old and New
A painting can take you back to happier days. TheCeramics exhibit included historical examples of
Wishard art collection of murals originally celebratedpottery created in Indiana in the early twentieth
the opening of the new wings for patients within thecentury. Among those early works are Overbeck,
hospital. Artists who worked on this extensiveMuncie and Brown County pottery, and clay works
creative project also slept and ate at the hospital.by Karl and Gordon Martz and Richard Peeler who
What they created were priceless pieces of art thatworked in Indiana during the second half of the
helped lift the spirits of patients. Project supervisorcentury. Featured works of art created by Robert
and famous Hoosier artist William Forsyth regardedWood and his former students who include college
this work as "the most ambitious and monumentalprofessors, public school art teachers and full-time
work yet undertaken by Indianapolis artists." Artistsceramic artists with national reputations. Exhibits
represented in the collection include William Forsyth,display many historical works by other Hoosier artist
Wayman Adams, William Edouard Scott, J. Ottisthroughout the year for patrons to enjoy.