James Solomon Benn
theatre
James Solomon Benn ventured to San Francisco to expand his knowledge of all things cabaret. A friend recommended several cabaret venues worth exploring, such as the Society Cabaret room in the Rex Hotel and Feinstein’s at Hotel Nikko. Benn also secured tickets to one of the most prestigious cabaret rooms in the city: The Venetian Room in the Fairmont Hotel. There he witnessed the stunning performance “Ella Fitzgerald: A Centennial Celebration,” presented by Bay Area
Cabaret. The show starred his beloved friend and cabaret singer Amanda King, along with famed R&B singer Freda Payne, Tonyaward winning artist Lillias White, jazz chanteuse Sony Holland, and Janis Siegel of the Manhattan Transfer. One of his most thrilling experiences was singing at Martuni’s show bar. “To sing live at Martuni's in front of a discriminating San Francisco audience was a thrill,” he said. “The trip reminded me who I am—a talented artist who has achieved success, is worthy of recognition, and still has much to share with the community.”
From acquiring new sound equipment to scoping out the Golden Gate City’s cabaret scene, Benn’s fellowship allowed him to “keep moving forward” as an artist: “The fellowship has kicked off my ‘second act’ in life. It has been a self-esteem builder and has given me the fire to continue my career as a performing artist into my senior years. I feel I am now able to create my own opportunities.” One such opportunity is currently in the works: his own cabaret act that will pay tribute to the singers who have inspired him most— Jennifer Holliday, Eartha Kitt, and Ethel Waters, just to name a few. He expects to present this act in early 2019.
Achievements
• Actor, Indiana Repertory Theatre: To Kill a Mockingbird, A Christmas Carol, A Midsummer Night's Dream.
• Producer, Director, & Actor, Little Butchie Sings!: A Cockamamie Colored Cabaret, IndyFringe Theatre Festival, 2016.
• Choir Director Emeritus, Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, New York City. james.benn22@yahoo.com
“The fellowship has kicked off my 'second act' in life. It has been a self-esteem builder and has given me the fire to continue my career as a performing artist into my senior years.”
For her fellowship, flutist Leela Breithaupt travelled across Europe to research the birth of the flute and its connection to singing. Across Hamburg, Geneva, Berlin, and several other destinations, Breithaupt visited flute collections and museums, Baroque palaces, churches, and castles. Sans Souci in Potsdam, Doge's Palace in Venice, St. Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent, and the Berlin Musical Instrument Museum were just a few of the marvellous attractions. She also met top European Baroque flutists and experts such as Barthold Kuijken and Jan de Winne. The entire journey served as inspiration for her album with Naxos Records,
appropriately titled The Birth of the Flute, which focused on the music of Michel Pignolet de Montéclair. Interacting with experts, as well as the success of the album, led to Breithaupt receiving multiple invitations to perform and teach in the U.S. and Europe. One such offer was to teach a masterclass and perform at the prestigious Hamburg Hochschule für Theater und Musik in July 2018.
While her talents have led her to far off places, Breithaupt still feels connected to Indy. “In Indianapolis, I am delighted to be actively building a strong network of individual, government, foundation, and corporate supporters. The sense of place and belonging that I now experience is more than I could have dreamed of at the start of this journey.” Her next adventure is in the classroom: she enrolled in an MBA program at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. “Having the opportunity to explore and utilize my quantitative analytical capacities along side brilliant fellow MBA students and professors has been extremely rewarding and has expanded my sense of what I can accomplish.”
Achievements
• Founder & Director, Les Ordinaires Baroque trio
• President & CEO, IndyBaroque Music.
• Writer & Consulting Editor, Flute Talk magazine. www.leelabreithaupt.com leela.breithaupt@gmail.com
Leela Breithaupt music
“The creative renewal process validated my role as a leading Baroque flutist and helped me to feel embraced by the Indianapolis, national, and international arts communities."
maurice broaddus
literature
Author Maurice Broaddus used his fellowship to study under Andras Visky, a university professor and esteemed playwright in Romania. With his own play in his mind, Broaddus took valuable notes from Visky. “Andras taught me so much about structure and the nature of conflict that it has helped me rethink my approach to prose writing,” Broaddus said. After Romania, his next destination was Pennsylvania. There he connected with horror writer Brian Keene and appeared in his podcast The Horror Show, which
became the most downloaded episode in the show’s history. After business came fun: he joined local writers in celebrating Keene’s 50th birthday. The party became a great opportunity to reconnect with old friends.
The fellowship also awarded Broaddus the resources to engage his Indy community in learning and the arts. He participated in Sawubona Lab 46208, which he describes as “a project designed to create a front porch school where neighbors can teach the youth, in leadership, entrepreneurship, and art.” During the program, he worked alongside artist Jamahl Crouch and poet Januarie York, and ended up writing two stories based on each of them. Broaddus also gave a talk at the Kheprw Institute about African Americans in speculative fiction. Eventually, the momentum from these art-meets-community functions led him to launch a series of community workshops, or “Afrofuturism Fridays.” His work with the Kheprw Institute eventually inspired his novelette, El is a Spaceship.
Due to the increased visibility the fellowship granted him, Broaddus was approached by DC Comics to pitch a novella and by a Hollywood studio to write a novella with the potential of becoming a TV series. He will also teach at this year’s Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop at UC San Diego.
Achievements
• Author (novel), The Knights of Breton Court series and The Usual Suspects series (upcoming).
• Co-author (play), Finding Home: Indiana at 200, Indiana Repertory Theatre.
• Author (novella), Buffalo Soldier, I Can Transform You, Orgy of Souls, Bleed with Me, and Devil's Marionette. www.mauricebroaddus.com mauricebroaddus@gmail.com
“There are few things that can renew a person like 1.) being surrounded by people who love you and 2.) being around and challenged by other creative types.”
Nineteen performances, 14 museums, 22 galleries, and 36 public spaces (plus an impromptu street performance here and there). This is Judy Byron’s creative renewal by the numbers. Byron surveyed a wide variety of cities in the U.S. and abroad to learn how these cities used the arts to create great neighborhoods. Her U.S. destinations, from Madison, IN to NYC, Pittsburg to Winter Park, CO, and even sites on the island of Hawai’i showed Byron where and how the arts still mattered. “As I traveled and saw new and innovative works that transformed communities, I became inspired again for my own vision for the
Lawrence community,” she said. The fellowship granted her access to museums, theater shows, and other arts related activities, such as the Spoletto Festival in her husband’s hometown of Charleston, SC, and the Walt Disney Museum in San Francisco. “Organically, I started to think about how the arts impact the town or city I am visiting. What does it offer as a platform for creativity and inspiration? And I would go find out, never disappointed.”
Byron’s trips to Amsterdam and Berlin occurred just weeks after learning that the Arts for Lawrence’s Cultural Campus concept submitted to the Lilly Endowment was invited to the final application process. “The timing was perfect for research of innovative art forms to incorporate into the final application,” she said. While in Amsterdam, she engaged in an augmented reality application at a museum. From this experience, she was inspired to build a partnership with Schneider GIS to propose another augmented reality project: an interactive video projection for the Fort Ben Cultural Campus (FBCC). “Personally, I feel invigorated. The fellowship pushed me to see the arts as I have in the past, as a patron, enjoying, learning, getting awed and inspired. The experience has renewed and imbedded a way of life that includes enjoying the arts as much as producing and administrating the arts.”
Achievements
• Executive Director, Arts for Lawrence.
• Architectural Illustrator for 30 years.
judybyron@gmail.com
arts administration
“Personally, I feel invigorated. The fellowship pushed me to see the arts as I have in the past, as a patron, enjoying, learning, getting awed and inspired. The experience has renewed and imbedded a way of life that includes enjoying the arts as much as producing and administrating the arts.”
literature dianna davis
Dianna Davis traveled to Italy to study the challenging practice of accordion repair at the Accordion Academy in smalltown Castelfidardo, Italy. “The challenge of learning accordion repair was very difficult at first, and it really took me out of my comfort zone. Attending classes for two weeks gave me the time to adapt.” Another challenge was the sudden change of pace. “In Europe many people live a more laid back life, stopping for a leisurely lunch and taking multiple coffee breaks
together. At first, this was really hard to get used to! I wanted to work, work, work. By the second week however, I had started to adjust — my renewal process had begun.”
Her passion for Eastern European music stems from her family history. Her father’s side migrated from Croatia. On her travels, Davis was able to take letters from her grandfather and finally have them translated. This was also a chance for her to meet distant relatives for the first time. Davis met these relatives over wonderful dinners, savoring their homemade wines. “Meeting family on the other side of the ocean was a very emotional experience for all,” she said. “They sent me home with gifts for my family and a renewed hope to continue to be connected in the future.”
Since returning from Europe, Davis has had a steady stream of accordion repair work. She has been eager to share what she’s learned by running workshops for instrument building and lecturing about instrument design. Davis’ fellowship was as much about repairing as it was renewal: from repairing instruments to mending generations of silence between her U.S. and Croatian families.
Achievements
• 5-time Grantee, Indiana Arts Commission.
• Adjunct Faculty, Ivy Tech Community College.
• Multi-instrumental performer, multiple ensembles. dianna.davis@gmail.com www.diannadavis.com
“I have felt a sense of validation about my work as a musician since awarded the fellowship and therefore I have been exploring my artistry even more widely and expansively.”
Visual artist D. Del Reverda-Jennings’ fellowship was her chance to seek “creative freedom, inspiration, and new artistic vistas,” all on her own terms. She took textile hand-dyeing-printing workshops as well as participated in an artist residency at Gibraltar Point island in Ontario, Canada that focused on social justice issues. There, she worked with feminists hailing from diverse nations and backgrounds. Del Reverda-Jennings saw firsthand how these creatives interpreted the roles and impact of the arts. From that experience she created 6 new pieces of art and a notebook filled with observations of her peers.
Later, she ventured to Cuba, where she visited sites such as the nature reserve/artist community Las Terrezas
and the Taller Experimental de Gráfica printmaking workshop. “I was thrown headlong into historic sights, witnessed distinct post-revolution Cuban social stratification, was inspired by vibrant art and artists, delicious food, beautiful imagery, and toured museums, artists studios, and galleries.” Cuba also exposed Del Reverda-Jennings to traces of the transatlantic slave trade: “shackles and harnesses which were used to constrain individuals that worked on the sugarcane and coffee plantations where the spirits of captives still linger in vast areas where coffee is spread to dry in the sun and the huge grinders where the ripe beans are processed.”
Del Reverda-Jennings credits the fellowship for connecting her with professionals across Canada and Cuba. Her goals refreshed and far-reaching, she looks forward to the artistic expressions that will come from these experiences.
Achievements
• Recipient, Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship, 2003-2004.
• Creator, FLAVA FRESH! exhibition series.
• Recipient, Golden Laurel Award for Excellence in the Arts, Indiana Minority Business Magazine. UrbaneDArt@aol.com www.indyartsguide.org/artist/d-del-reverda-jennings
visual art
“I believe that the effects of my Creative Renewal journey have definitely enhanced and brought considerable accountability to my expertise, work, artistic presence, and voice in Indiana.”
JAMES WILLE FAUST
VISUAL ART
James Wille Faust wanted to see the night sky as it was meant to be seen: devoid of light pollution and manmade skylines. With the help of the Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship, he could do just that. His first Dark Sky Destination was Sedona, Arizona, where he gazed up at the night sky until evening transformed into early morning. “It felt timeless to witness millions of stars, constellations, planets, meteors, satellites in orbit, the space station, and the Milky Way Galaxy, all visible with the naked eye.”
Sedona in the daytime was equally stunning, with its cobalt blue sky contrasting the blazing red rock formations. He also attended star-gazing tours and events in Bell Rock and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, and Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory, one of the oldest in the country. For Faust, the expansive West was more than inspiring; it was art in itself. “My dark sky journey brought me back to the night skies I remembered as a child growing up in the 1950's on an Indiana farm, long before light pollution existed. At night, the stars magically shimmered with points of different colored radiating lights; like the brilliant starlit sky Van Gogh captured in his painting Starry Night.”
Faust’s journey granted him a much-needed perspective. When he returned to Indy, he realized his studio space was too small. “I needed more room for artistic expression, both painting and sculpture.” So, he began building a new studio on his home property in Indianapolis. He recently began a series of scratch-like black and white drawings in his digital sketchbook. These drawings were inspired by “the energy, movement, and magnitude of the deep space” he observed on his travels. The experience was both renewing and sobering. “Stepping away from the solitude of creating art in my studio, allowed me time to re-center within nature,” Faust said. “I am reminded that without conservation and preservation, the beauty of nature is tenuous, and rapidly disappearing.”
Achievements
• Recipient, Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship, 2007-2008.
• Vigilant Shepherd (painting), Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
• Chrysalis, 2007 (wall mural) and Wings in Flight: Air, Water, Earth, 2014 (painting triptych), Indianapolis International Airport.
jameswillefaust@me.com www.jameswillefaust.com
“For
me, visiting dark sky destinations will continue to be a rewarding adventure and a lifelong journey, one that will always be part of my future travels. My respect for nature will continue to be a force in my work.”
Chad Franer’s eye for plants grew into a hunger to understand the design and function of the natural world, specifically foreign and domestic forests. The logical first step of his fellowship was to enroll in a drawing class at the Indianapolis Art Center, in which he focused on the subtle blending of colors in objects, as well as improving his sketching skills. Franer then took his sharpened creative eye overseas, to the national parks of Japan. A lifelong dream of his, this trip involved studying native plants that are often used in American garden designs. He also toured intricate gardens around imperial palaces that have protected 400-year-old trees (in comparison, the Garden at Newfields was
just a baby). “Through my travels, I developed a better understanding of how the Japanese culture is built around a respect for the natural world,” Franer said. “This opened my eyes to focus my work with a new expectation regarding fine details and longevity.” His colleagues even introduced him to world-renowned plantsman Seiju Yamaguchi and his nurseries. “Meeting him [Yamaguchi] gave me a respect for his lifelong legacy of visiting China 16 times to introduce unique plants from Japan and China.”
Witnessing the longevity behind Japanese garden design has inspired Franer to consider how he may replicate such a practice here in Indy. He is now reaching out to other garden and horticulture professionals to discover unique purposes for plants, such as populating urban spaces with uncommon plants that are actually more likely to survive. He is also planning a trip across the U.S. Midwest in search of sycamore trees to find dwarf varieties that would fit into urban environments.
Achievements
• Tom and Nora Hiatt Director of Horticulture, the Garden at Newfields.
• Bachelor Science in Horticulture, Ohio State University
• “40 Under 40” Finalist, Indy's Best and Brightest, 2010. cfraners@gmail.com
arts administration
“Having this experience made me recognize how lucky I am to do what I love for a living.”
furqueron
reagan
VISUAL ART
Reagan Furqueron’s original plan for renewal was to travel to Cuba to survey the estimated 60,000 classic automobiles isolated by the 1962 U.S. embargo. However, life intervened and prompted him to rethink his project. Furqueron’s fellowship ultimately led him on a 1,400-mile road trip across the Southwest and Western U.S. in search of inspiration. He explored contemporary art locations in Marfa, Texas, reveled in historic aircraft displays at an aircraft boneyard in Tucson, Arizona, enjoyed a performance at the Santa Fe
Opera House, and hiked the Colorado terrain. His trip was not without “spontaneous detours” and scenic routes. The fellowship gave him much needed time and space to travel, likening the experience to the graduate school research of his past. “My Creative Renewal idea was to put myself in the position of being a student again, to find new inspiration in the objects, material, and research methods within the field of metalworking specific to automobile and aircraft design and fabrication.”
Furqueron expects that the body of work that will result from his renewal journey will broaden his appeal to new clients and bring in gallery opportunities. Recently, he was granted his first large-scale sculpture commission in Indianapolis, and he credits the fellowship for giving him the energy to take on such an endeavor. “The impact on my studio practice and life has been great—I truly feel renewed. A fresh outlook at life and the ability to create new work in the studio and work through old problems in a new way.”
Achievements
• Museum of Art and Design in New York, permanent collection.
• Associate Professor, Herron School of Art + Design, IUPUI.
• Art featured in Fearless Furniture group exhibition, Indiana State Museum.
reaganf@iupui.edu reaganfurqueron.com
“This Fellowship has allowed me to become more adventurous and spontaneous in my everyday life and in my studio.”
The goal of Victoria Griswold’s fellowship was to explore the relationship between movement and the learning process in children. To tackle this topic, she took unpaid leave from the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and began researching the works of experts, such as Anne G. Gilbert (Teaching the Three R’s Through Movement Experiences, 2002) and children’s musician Harlan "Hap" Palmer. Then, Griswold witnessed her first children’s program by an orchestra other than her own: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s “Once Upon a Symphony.” Another source of inspiration became fellow Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship recipient Heidi Phillips’ live classroom movement programs.
When the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra asked her to turn one of her Teddy Bear programs into a children's book, the offer could not have come at a more perfect time. The fellowship gave her the time and space to attend writing conferences and join critique groups with other writers. “The opportunity to step away from my job energized my spirit by allowing me to explore the moving and writing elements of my Teddy Bear programs,” Griswold said. “It also connected me to new friends in my fields of interest outside of orchestra performance and left me with an exciting head start on works for the future.”
Topping off her jam-packed fellowship was an energizing yoga/spiritual retreat in Boone, North Carolina, where she participated in meditations, energy work, and other wellness activities. “It left me with many tools to keep my health at an optimal level.”
Achievements
• Violinist, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
• Creator, The Teddy Bear Concert Series (winner of the 2018 Indiana Library Federation Collaboration Award). vgriswold@comcast.net
victoria
“As a result of the renewal, I was able to add new movement ideas to my children's programming inspired by my research and I also found myself inspired to create a new program.”
liza hyatt
art administration
For expressive arts therapist Liza Hyatt, renewal meant addressing the compassion fatigue and secondary trauma that came with her work. She began by interviewing artists and art therapists around the U.S. about their experiences with compassion fatigue and how they still managed to cultivate vitality. Key figures in this process were art therapist pioneer and elder Maxine Junge and award-winning poet Rodger Kamenetz (The Jew in the Lotus,
1994) who took on mentor roles. Encouraged by these mentors, Hyatt made weekly contemplative art reflections and wrote a first draft of an unflinchingly honest compassion fatigue memoir.
“Through memoir writing, I described with raw honesty personal traumas and my struggles as one of the first art therapists in Indiana,” she said. “This writing helped me let go of limiting patterns within my personal and professional life.” Hyatt also immersed herself in art-based meditation retreats, attended Kenyon College's Beyond Walls Spiritual Writing Conference, created art and hiked mountain trails in New Mexico, and practiced yoga in Costa Rica. “Each journey outside my comfort zone led serendipitously to people and resources I didn't know I needed, which catalyzed my renewal.”
Hyatt plans to continue logging her art therapy self-care. While some of the products of her experience will remain private (like the memoir), she intends to use her log to develop self-care workshops for other art therapists and to craft essays about art, healing, and compassion.
Achievements
• Expressive Arts Therapist (Julian Center, IU Health Simon Cancer Center, IU Health Charis Center for Eating Disorders).
• Initiator & Program Manager, The Domestic Violence Awareness Mosaic Project & The Cancer Mosaic Workshops.
• Author (Under My Skin; The Mother Poems; Once, There Was a Canal; Stories Made of World; Art of the Earth: Ancient Art for a Green Future). lizahyatt@gmail.com www.lizahyatt.com
“Before
the fellowship, I felt weighed down by the trauma my work exposes me to. Now I feel gratitude for having followed my vocation for over 30 years.”
For Michael Johnson, dance is not a solitary artform. Throughout his career he has made meaningful connections with directors, teachers, and other artists also passionate about dance outreach. He used his fellowship to reconnect with some of these experts in New York and other major cities. Johnson and his colleagues traded their best strategies for engaging children in dance, envisioned multi-school performances, and discussed the importance of dance (and the arts in general) to the human condition. “Time spent in NYC advanced me as an expert in my field, kept my vision clearly defined, emphatically reinforced our social responsibility to do what we do, and ensure that we incorporate the
best possible practices,” he said. Johnson also explored art exhibitions and participated in various workshops.
This high-mobility part of the fellowship was followed by a slower pace: a retreat to a cabin along a Native American river in Virginia. He was devoid of electronics, and pouring rain created flooding that barred him from leaving—the isolation was unfamiliar, but so, so necessary. “I watched the river, the rain, the clouds, the wind, the sunset, and the moon,” Johnson said. “I observed the wildlife, fish jumping, soaring bald eagles, and a rabbit that wanted to see me as much as I enjoyed watching him.” He imagines that his renewal will spark fresh energy that will affect not just himself but his community as well.
Achievements
• Founding Director, Kids Dance Outreach.
• Former Visiting Professor of Dance, Butler University, 2011-2013.
• Dancer, The Boston Ballet, 1996-2005. mjohnson@kdoutreach.org
Dance michael johnson
“‘Burn out’ often occurs in any intense profession and we must take an intelligent approach to maintaining high quality standards by sustaining a crucial healthy life balance, both physically and mentally.”
lowe
VISUAL ART
Battling stage-3 cancer and Parkinson’s Disease, artist Wendell Lowe needed something to keep him calm and moving forward. The Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship became just that. Lowe’s fellowship allowed him to acquire a high-quality camera, which he needed to bring his work to a larger, more-detailed scale. Next, Lowe ventured to St. Joseph, MI, where he explored the Krasel Art Museum, the Box Factory artist studios, and various local galleries.
Lowe also bought admission to a Lois Main Templeton retrospective exhibition at the Indiana State Museum, where he got to meet the artist herself. “Her work is so alive and has taught me that my artwork needs to be more loose, magical, and alive.” Templeton suggested he try adding charcoal drawings into his paintings and encouraged him to not fear mistakes.
In the small town of Elgin, Illinois, which he described as “an up-andcoming arts community,” Lowe held an exhibition of his artwork. The exhibition doubled as a fundraiser for a local scholarship fund, for which more than $2,000 was raised. He also showed his therapeutic finger painting collection at the Indiana Landmarks Center, granting him recognition on local news TV channels and a feature story in NUVO Newsweekly. His next projects will be in the Stutz Building so that he may take his artwork to even grander scales.
Achievements
• Former Therapeutic Art Instructor, Indianapolis Public Schools.
• Former President & Show Chairman, Stutz Artists' Association, 2001 & 2002.
• Creator, kids in the red wagon logo, Riley Children’s Hospital. wloweart@comcast.net www.wendelllowe.com
“The fellowship was lifesaving for me when I was at my lowest. I was able to get out my camera and take new shots, experiment and create new pieces, and have some needed respite from treatments.”
Gregory Martin is an expert on Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. For his fellowship project, Martin decided to take his research even further. He immersed himself in the environment of his research subject by traveling to Bergen, Norway with his family. There, he had a private tour of Grieg’s home, strolled down the very paths once walked by the renowned composer, witnessed the nature that inspired Grieg, and read his letters and original manuscripts at the Bergen Public Library. “Grieg was very much inspired by the landscape of his country,” Martin said, “and would often go to the mountains to enter into a fairytale, as he said, and ‘bathe in the timelessness.’” Perhaps this fairytale-esque environment contributed to one of the
most surprising moments of Martin’s fellowship: when his second child, who was suspected to need therapy to learn to walk, took his first confident steps while in Bergen.
Martin’s adventures spanned out of Bergen, from Norway’s Osterfjord to locations around Copenhagen. “It was a wonderful experience all around, and being surrounded by that inspiring landscape, and walking the cobblestone walkways and pedestrian streets of two gorgeous cities that fit so perfectly with my personal aesthetic, afforded the same sort of rejuvenation that Grieg sought in these locations; it truly opened up that sense of childlike wonder that is at the heart of his music.”
The discoveries Martin made on his journey have greatly aided his research, which has been accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed periodical Music & Letters. He is currently working on a Grieg symposium that will invite internationally-known experts to perform and lecture at the University of Indianapolis, and in the summer he will give a lecture and recital on the great composer and his music.
Achievements
• Assistant Professor, Music, University of Indianapolis.
• Adjunct Professor, Music, Indiana University.
• Artistic Co-Director, Ronen Chamber Ensemble, Indianapolis.
gjmart@gmail.com
“I became utterly convinced of the importance of having a readily accessible place for creative renewal, somewhere that triggers a shift in mentality when you cross its threshold. It has encouraged me to look into building something similar in my own backyard.”
literature kevin mckelvey
Kevin McKelvey’s renewal project revolved around his various writing projects and engaging with gardening, farming, and rural life in Indiana. “I did not grow up on a farm, but in the places around farms, and that distinction and the physical locations propel much of my work,” he said. Because his creative practice is often researchbased, McKelvey ordered several books and market farming tools in order to become more familiar with his subject matter. He completed his own indoor seed germination
station, equipped with grow lights and heating pads, to grow plants for projects. The culmination of his hard work became Under Glass // Under Plastic, an installation at South Circle Farm in December 2018.
The fellowship also granted McKelvey the freedom to travel to places he otherwise could not go. He bicycled in mountains around Los Angeles and in the Blue Ridge Mountains, backpacked through Yosemite, and tabled at the Purdue Extension Small Farms Conference.
During the fellowship, McKelvey had the honor of working with students in the University of Indianapolis’ Masters program in Social Practice Art. Student projects centered around socially engaged art and creative placemaking. McKelvey will continue to grow the program using aspects of what he learned during his creative renewal experience.
Achievements
• First Artist-in-Residence, ACRES Land Trust, Wing Haven Preserve, 2017.
• Founder, Masters of Art in Social Practice Art, University of Indianapolis.
• Poet-in-Residence, NICHES Land Trust's Wildcat Creek Reflections, 2015.
kevinmckelvey@gmail.com
kevinmckelvey.org
“To be at this juncture in my career and to know I have at least 20 more years to make an impact across the state is exciting and rewarding and humbling for me.”
Jennifer Complo McNutt had a dream: to study under world-renowned dog trainer Sylvia Bishop at her retreat in England. The Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship helped make that dream a reality. After adopting a canine friend and attending a few seminars in the U.S., McNutt was ready to cross the pond and immerse herself in a world that may seem drastically different than the museum scene she’s used to. In truth, dog training and competing are two of her biggest passions: “With dog training your learning and experience build on itself to begin to understand dogs and the way they learn on a deeper level.” Bishop has been training, instructing, and exhibiting dog obedience for more than 38
years. Her seminars exposed Jennifer to the “magic” of the practice, such as how to direct a dog with just eye contact, or how simply using a taller toy would encourage her dog to retrieve it. “The seminars are an opportunity to be totally immersed in another world. You are among up to 30 dog trainers with at least 30 different ways of training. You all generally share the same philosophy but each dog and handler team has different challenges.”
Her dog-training experience has allowed her to return to the art museum and art worlds with a new perspective. She says she has more confidence and an enriched spirit, both things that will positively impact her leading the Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship. Not to mention she will surely give fellow dog show competitors a run for their money.
Achievements
• Curator of Contemporary Art, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.
• Recipient, Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship, 20032004.
• Collaborator, Native Art Now! documentary. jmcnutt@eiteljorg.com
arts administration
“My mind has been in such a different place that when I return to my working world of museums and art I have ‘new eyes’!”
jordan munson
music
For his creative renewal, Jordan Munson sought inspiration in the Icelandic countryside of Reykjavik. There, he drank in the beautiful landscapes and met with local musicians, such as cellist þórdís gerður jónsdóttir and sound designer/audio engineer Francesco Fabris. “During this trip, my ideas of musical space and arrangement began to move in a way that complimented the environment and enriched my understanding of the art,” Munson said. The creative process that grew from his views
of Reykjavik involved computer experimentation: “The ancient characteristics of the Icelandic landscape inspired me artistically to set up processes to generate continually evolving musical material. This often pushed me to experiment with allowing the computer to interpret and re-interpret my musical ideas. This kind of "xeroxing" produced many surprising results that I was able to capitalize on and emphasize while in Iceland.” Munson also accessed recording space at Greenhouse Studios, run by renowned producer Valgeir Sigurðsson. “Its open architecture and inviting nature of the workspaces are organized in a way that encourages flourishing creative exploration,” Munson said.
Results of his fellowship include more than 90 minutes of original music and his project Heartless Fools. In the summer of 2018 he was able to share work from the fellowship via chamber ensemble at the Nief-Norf Summer Festival in Knoxville, TN. Looking back, Munson considers his fellowship nothing short of fantastic. He was finally able to merge his backgrounds in free jazz, contemporary classical composition, popular music, and electronic music. “I wanted to use my trip and immersive time in the studio as a way to expand into new compositional directions that surpassed my work at the time. In this way, I feel wholly satisfied and renewed.”
Achievements
• Until My Last (album), 2018.
• Presidential Fellowship in Digital Arts and Human Values, Wabash College, 2017.
• Musical & video premieres/shows (University of Kentucky, University of California at San Diego, the Musicacoustica Festival in Beijing). jordantylermunson@gmail.com www.jordanmunson.com
“The largest and most lasting effect of my renewal experience was an enhanced sense of confidence in my voice as a composer. It is this confidence that will push me to achieve higher artistic goals in the near future.”
Phil O’Malley divided his renewal process between visiting museums and continuing his education in videography and video editing. “My intention with my renewal grant was to find my social conscience voice and to use video art as the vehicle to share my voice.”
Visiting Washington, D.C. became a lesson in the sobering aspects of U.S. history, evident in museums like the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and the Whitney Plantation museum in Louisiana. At the Holocaust Museum, he held the ID card and life story of a real person, Irmgard, who lived during the atrocity. “My creative renewal came
from these investigations at these museums in my hope to apply this new found awareness and knowledge about these horrors committed on other human beings,” O’Malley said. “I've learned more about my white privileged place in our society while incorporating my enhanced social conscience into my art.”
For the other half of his fellowship, O’Malley indulged in videography. One of his first projects was to create a video documentary of the Lois Main Templeton exhibition at the Indiana State Museum. “The new video equipment, editing software, and the corresponding tutorials have opened a new world of artistic methods for me to create new works,” O’Malley said. To further exercise his videography skills, he collaborated with Indianapolis artist Clayton Hamilton towards creating a social justice themed exhibition that will include several video narratives. “These will consist of many clipped statements from individuals from many videoed interviews of several individuals who work as artists, politicians, laborers, teachers, and in other corners of our community.” He has learned the key to making art with social justice narratives is to listen first.
Achievements
• Appropriated Voyeurism solo exhibition, Gallery 924, 2016.
• Artist-in-Residence, Clowes Memorial Hall, 2014-2015.
• B.F.A., Herron School of Art + Design, IUPUI. artistphilomalley@gmail.com www.artistphilomalley.com
Visual Art
“I learned as an artist and as an individual (perhaps it's more accurate to say that I have relearned) about an essential component necessary for making art with social justice narratives - I learned to learn by listening.”
Jayna park
music
Not unlike some of the fellows, Jayna Park’s plans for her fellowship period had to change due to unexpected circumstances. For her, it was the sudden fatal illness of her mother in Korea. Park transformed her project so as to allow herself to be near her mother. She went to Korea and visited places where she performed as a young violinist and met with renowned musicians with whom she made plans to collaborate in the future. “The experience of playing the concerts
in Korea were that of something comforting and a genuine giving of myself,” Park said, “not of the nerve-wrecking kind we often experience as performers.” She also arranged a concert that her mother watched from a TV in her hospital room, “knowing that that performance was for her.” Just a couple of weeks after the concert, her mother passed away. Park struggled to process her mother’s death, but can now look at the experience with gratitude.
“Even though my mother's passing was a very difficult event to process, it renewed my passion for performing music in general, and also in my home country. I feel like I have come back a more whole musician and a whole person.”
With her original plan to record a CD still in mind, Park connected with a pianist friend and planned to rehearse with her in Strasbourg, France. Her friend’s sudden case of tendonitis forced Park to reconsider, and so she explored the beautiful cityscape of Paris instead. “The sense of history you get when you are in a city like that is unforgettable,” she said. “It was amazing to see firsthand the environment and backdrop that inspired so many incredible artists, writers, and musicians.” Of her overall fellowship experience, she writes, “I feel like I have come back a more whole musician and a whole person.”
Achievements
• Violinist, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
• Violinist, Grant Park Symphony Orchestra.
• Finalist, Assistant Principal 2nd, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, 2017.
jaynapark@sbcglobal.net
“My renewal experience of getting to play concerts in Korea reconnected me to my passions—performing music and reconnecting me to my home country.”
Orlando Peláez’s first Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship in 2001 led him to central Mexico to explore his Native American background. Six years later, his 2017 fellowship was an opportunity to further explore questions of cultural heritage, this time in the American Southwest. From Utah’s Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks to New Mexico’s Acoma Pueblo, from Mesa Verde in Colorado to “the spectacle” of the Grand Canyon, the landscapes struck Peláez with awe. When he wasn’t totally speechless, he spoke with other artists and gallery owners. “I had the opportunity to chat and visit with gallery owners and artists during the entire length of the my journey. I was pleasantly surprised
when I brought a portfolio with samples of my Western works and people were very impressed!”
The fellowship was largely an opportunity for Peláez to develop his project: a mixed-media commentary on childhood memories and the American Western aesthetic through the lense of 1950s and 1960s comic book traditions. Peláez collected vintage comic books that “capture the visual inspiration, pop art reverence and romanticism of the west, its people and its landscapes.” He then used these visuals as inspiration for a body of work that pays tribute to the Native Americans romanticized in his childhood memories. Growing up in Medellin, Colombia, Peláez lived in a time when a child’s typical day could begin with a western film in the morning and end with a game of “Cowboys and Indians” in the evening. “I wanted to make a statement in the name of art and Western accouterment,” he said. “The lasting effects of this entire experience are very emotional and spiritual. As I walked on the Native American homeland, especially the pueblos, reservations, and rock dwellings, I felt blessed. One can feel the presence of the creator in every handful of red sand; every touch of the rock.” Today, he hopes that the art scene in Indianapolis will welcome his “new direction into the Southwest culture.”
Achievements
• Recipient, Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship, 2001-2002.
• Competition Winner, Fight Aids stamp design, U.N. Postal Administration, 1990.
• Poster design commissions, Pan-American Games, Indianapolis, 1986.
pelaezart@yahoo.com orlandopelaez.com
Visual Art
Orlando PelÁEz
“This fellowship is allowing me to fully realize a brand new awakening! A new day where the indigenous part of me wants to follow the sun that rises over the mesas and the vastness of the desert!”
heidi phillips
dance
For her fellowship, Heidi Phillips supplemented her lifelong passion and knowledge of dance with an understanding of how movement affects the brain and how to use those lessons in the classroom. “Learning about the brain, how it functions and why, how we process thought and how we respond to our emotions can help students overcome obstacles to educational success,” Phillips said. Conducting research on neuroscience and social/emotional learning initiatives led her to identify
essential principles of learning, one of which was that movement is key to brain development. She then shared her findings with a self-selected committee of educators, mentors, and experts. Additionally, Phillips immersed herself in classrooms spanning grades 2 to 5, collaborating with teachers to lead students in exercises of rhythm, breathing, choreography, and more. “My goal is to empower teachers with self care tools, brain interval practices and movement techniques that create connection, and can transform our schools one classroom at a time.”
Phillips did not expect to get an offer to facilitate a Creative Movement in Education workshop at the Butler Arts Center. The experience became another opportunity to share her research with grade-school teachers. At the end of the day, she continues to apply what she learned to her relationship with her 10-year-old and 14-year-old children. “Learning about the specific changes and needs of the pre-pubescent and adolescent brains has had an awesome impact on my understanding and appreciation of my children, their capabilities, their limitations, their thoughts, emotions, and general genius. They are an inspiration to my work and continue to be a central and grounding force for my life.”
Achievements
• Former Dancer (Boston Ballet, Nicola Hawkins Dance Company, Project In Motion, Theater of Inclusion).
• Founder & Director, Motus Dance (now Indianapolis Movement Arts Collective).
heidi@motusdance.com moveyourbrain.us
“The Creative Renewal process has been an incredibly positive exercise in building confidence for me. I've made connections with colleagues that I'm not sure I would have pursued if I hadn't had the kind of backing the Creative Renewal program
"The Creative Renewal process has been an incredibly positive exercise in building confidence for me. I've made connections with colleagues that I'm not sure I would have pursued if I hadn't had the kind of backing the Creative Renewal program provided me."
Tad Robinson took his passion for the blues to Memphis, TN, widely considered as the birthplace of Southern soul music. While there, he recorded an album with the renowned Hi Rhythm Section band. For Robinson, the experience was a dream realized: “The Hi guys are some of my musical heroes, having been the architects of the Southern soul sound on records by artists such as Al Green, Ann Peebles, and Otis Clay. Those records have been a huge influence on my own career in the style.” Robinson also booked a recording session at Electraphonic Recording, a studio founded by musician/producer Scott Bomar. Robinson recorded some original music the “old-school” way, with few overdubs and only a couple of takes per song.
“It was a surreal experience for me,” he said, “singing in the vocal booth, looking through the glass, and listening through my headphones, as the Hodges brothers and Howard Grimes conjured up the grooves, as we recorded my new batch of songs.”
Another highlight of Robinson’s fellowship was touring the archives of Ernest C. Withers. Withers was a photojournalist who captured iconic photos of the Civil Rights Movement and the African American music scene. He even met Withers’ daughter, Rosalind, who showed him hundreds of photos that had yet to be digitized. Tad called the experience “thrilling and moving.”
Now back in Indianapolis, Robinson plans to perform concerts of his new collection of songs regionally and beyond.
Achievements
• 8-time Blues Music Award Nominee, The Blues Foundation.
• Recording Artist, Severn Records. tadrobinsonband@gmail.com www.tadrobinson.com
tad robinson music
“As a singer, I feel more free and focused in my delivery, and more confident in carrying on the traditions of the music.”
music
After attending a concert in Poland in 2016 and seeing the bayan (a style of accordion) for the first time, Miho Sasaki was inspired to combine the classical bayan with traditionally Western classical instruments to create avant-garde/ experimental compositions. Her fellowship included purchasing her very own bayan, weekly private lessons, 3 to 6 hours of practice, and extensive research on the classical instrument. Sasaki received her first accordion commission for the jazz bar
Chatterbox to be performed during its themed night Accordion Day. She also composed 3 major pieces that married the bayan with Western classical instruments, such as the violin and cello: Spectra Despina, Operation IRONWOOD, and Tracing the Footprints: could’ve been somebody else.
Even though she faced the passing of her father and her husband’s surgery, Sasaki received positive energy from the musicians she met during her fellowship. She is confident that her studies of the bayan will help her expose the instrument to other musicians and new learners. “Contemporary classical music is becoming ‘borderless’ as composers mix traditional instruments from all over the world with classical music ensembles,” she said. “My mission is to continue to compose and perform in concert to attract audiences. Eventually, I would like to see many more students studying the accordions and bayan to play contemporary music.”
Achievements
• Pianist and Composer.
• Guest Concert Pianist/Composer/Translator, Nagoya University and Aichi University of the Fine Arts, Japan 2011 & 2013.
• Compositions performed in Germany, Japan, Argentina, and U.S. sasakismiho55@aol.com www.sasakimusic.com
“Creative Renewal gave me a chance to live as musician again and I felt new hope, encouragement and spiritual revitalization.”
Meredith Setser’s artistic eye was drawn to the extreme contrasts of Iceland. Her husband and 7-year-old son joined her on a trip along the entire coast of the island nation, known for both its piercing ice and searing lava. “The majority of my current works focus on an exploration of landscape and ecological systems, so the trip to Iceland served primarily as a reference gathering opportunity,”
Setser said. Physically engaging with her artistic subject was a departure from her usual means of finding inspiration (i.e., through periodicals and online).
Setser took hundreds of photos of rock formations, from detailed basalt surfaces to lava flows, though
the process was far from easy. “The winds are typically close to gale force at all times,” she said, estimating 70mph wind speeds on average. “I went through 2 camera lenses while I was there due to scratches from lava sand being propelled at high speeds.”
Now, back in Indianapolis, Setser is still creating based on her fellowship. Some of her work is already circulating around the U.S. in printmaking exhibitions, such as the Austin Contemporary Printmaking Exhibition in Austin, TX and Indy’s own faculty exhibition at the Herron School of Art + Design. “I find myself using a more subdued palette in cooler colors than I normally use in my 2D pieces,” she said. “The textile works have become thicker, heavier, and more dimensional for some reason and much more monochromatic,” reminiscent of the silvers and grays often found in Iceland’s woollen textile art. She can easily imagine herself producing work inspired by her creative renewal journey for the next several years.
Achievements
• Printmaker & Textile Artist (2019 Contemporary Print Exhibition, Austin, TX; Pacific States Biennial North American Print Exhibition, Hilo, Hawaii; Agricultural Aesthetics exhibition, Anne Wright Wilson Gallery, Georgetown, KY).
• Associate Professor of Printmaking, Herron School of Art + Design, IUPUI.
• Recipient, Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship, 2011.
mlsetser@yahoo.com www.meredithsetser.com
Visual Art
“I feel like this experience has really energized me. Visiting a completely different environment like Iceland was inspiring on so many different levels.”
barbara stahl
VISUAL ART
Just like her brushes and canvases, an artist’s creative space can be an important tool for making quality work. That is why Barbara Stahl’s project was to create her dream work space inside two dilapidated structures located on her property. The process included clearing out weeds and invasive plants, removing debris, installing windows and doors, painting and moulding the interior and exterior, and hiring a construction company to help for the rest such
as insulation and running electrical and heat. The reward for building this space was immediate; Stahl was finally able to work on her piece for the Indianapolis International Airport. “Because I had the space I was able to create a very large piece that was custom built to fit perfectly in the installation case. I could never have created this piece had I been still working out of my home.” The work was displayed from July to November 2018.
One result Stahl said she would have never envisioned was being able to create an 8’ x 20’ mural for Jiffy Lube using her new studio space. “I thought of the studio primarily as a studio painting space for my fine art. So to be able to create public art in it as well was a bonus I had not anticipated...This was an incredible moment for me. I clearly saw how versatile the space is and just how important it is to have.”
Currently, Stahl is working on a large-scale body of work. “I just get a certain satisfaction from working large. It's very challenging and time consuming. I envision large art on large walls.”
Achievements
• Consciousness Rising (painting), permanent collection, Indiana State Library, 2017.
• Dancing Strings installation, Indianapolis International Airport.
• Owner & Artist, Stahl Studios Inc. bbindygirl@yahoo.com www.stahlstudios.com
“This project is a continual renewal for me. The studio is very versatile and allows me to work at scales that were not possible before. Every time I enter the space I get this overwhelming sense of accomplishment and gratitude.”
When Don Steffy became the director of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir (ICC), it was like entering a “whole new world” compared to his ballet background. Therefore, his creative renewal project was to learn more about the art of choral singing: “My journey placed me on the other side of the baton as choral student and a student of the educational component of the art,” Steffy said. That journey included being taken under the wing of experts to learn pedagogy, kodaly (the language of vocal music), and vocal technique. One of his instructors was former Creative Renewal Arts Fellow Steven Rickards (class of 2015-16). Other experiences were group lessons and a performance with the beginners’
vocal class at the University of Indianapolis. “The collective process of participating in everyone's maturation,” Steffy said, “along with witnessing first hand the expert care of our instructor, Steven Rickards, fully nurturing some of the beginning students in confidence, execution, and understanding of vocal technique was remarkable.” Steffy stretched his vocal skills even further by performing on stage (for the first time) with the ICC’s teenaged youth ensemble, the Indianapolis Youth Chorale.
Even though his fellowship term has come to an end, Steffy is still taking vocal lessons. He believes the fellowship made him a “more fulfilled and rounded-out lover of the performing arts.” He looks forward to the benefits his renewal will have on the children of the ICC and its future partners.
Achievements
• Executive Director, Indianapolis Children’s Choir.
• Recipient, Cultural Vision Award, NUVO.
• Member, Screen Actors Guild & Actors Equity Association.
dsteffy@icchoir.org www.icchoir.org
arts administration don steffy
Chad Franer
“Professionally I gained just about everything I had hoped for: a deeper and fully invigorated understanding of the art for which I support and promote.”
karen thickstun
Arts administration
Karen Thickstun recalls her fellowship in five simple words, “to become a student again.” Her subject of choice: photography.
“Through photography, I wanted to experience the arts through a visual lens instead of the aural approach of music,” she said. “I hoped to experience the joy and wonder that children do when learning something new.” First, she gathered the essentials: a Nikon D7200 DSLR camera and Adobe Photoshop software. Next were photography lessons with a
Butler Art + Design major. “Taking lessons with a Butler student has rejuvenated me by providing the perspective that our BCAS students experience every week. As the study of music taught me to listen more deeply, so the study of photography is teaching me to observe more keenly.”
Next, Thickstun sought out a proper muse, and what better views could one capture than in beautiful Hawaii. The destination was a first for both Thickstun and her travel partner, her 87-yearold mother. Together, they explored iconic sites, such as the Diamond Head volcanic cone and Pearl Harbor. “I noticed that some of the best photos happened when I was still and listened, watched, and waited for the right moment,” she said. “Being still and listening more deeply or observing more keenly is something I am striving to incorporate more in my professional life, as well as in my personal life and spiritual journey.” Thickstun found another unexpected muse closer to home: the southern Indiana of her husband’s childhood.
Like a couple other fellows, Thickstun enjoyed her project so much so that she continued her photography lessons after her fellowship term expired.
Achievements
• Founder & Director, Butler Community Arts School (BCAS).
• “100 Heroes” Recognition, United Way of Central Indiana, 2018.
• Teacher of the Year, Indiana Music Teachers Association, 2008. kthickst@butler.edu
“As an arts administrator for an arts education organization, the renewal experience has given me deeper insights into the teaching/learning relationship that is essential for student engagement.”
For his fellowship, Samuel E Vázquez found himself at the collision of art and history. His creative renewal process was to conduct research for a historical project on Style Writing. While his process did involve digging into historical books, much of his learning happened off the page: from building detailed, fullsized replicas of 1970s New York City subway cars; to painting a subway car in front of a live audience at the opening reception of an exhibition at Newfields titled “City as Canvas: New York City Graffiti from the 70s & 80s”; to attending events related to style writing and hip-hop culture, including a Doug E. Fresh concert and a screening of the movie Wild Style (1983).
“Through this process I deeply connected with the
cultural movement that is the foundation of my visual art,” Vázquez said. “My work is reflecting a deeper authenticity and speaking more directly to my upbringing and life experiences.”
To get even more proximate to his subject of interest, Vázquez traveled to New York City, where he met with style writers who pioneered the artform. Immersing himself in the world of style writing broadened his perspective about his artistic passions and reminded him of the meaningful lessons that come from style writing: confidence, problem solving, community-building, and more.
Through this fellowship, Vázquez cultivated a cleared artistic path and voice. Fans of Vázquez’s art can expect to see greater references to his New York City upbringing, including period-specific colors, typography, and other visual identifiers of the era.
Achievements
• Featured Artist, City as Canvas: New York City Graffiti from the 70s & 80s exhibition, Newfields, 2017.
• Scholar In Residence, IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute.
theserarefaces@gmail.com
visual art
samuel vÁzquez
“Lasting effects include a clear artistic path and voice; being open to new experiences; and finding meaning in every experience.”
wendy vergoz
literature
Wendy Vergoz’s project was to explore her identity through researching her genealogical roots. Those roots were in Brest, a city in the Brittany region of France. “I was surprised by how at home I felt in France, how much I loved the French language and culture, how much I feel in love with the French people.” She took a bus to Plougastel-Daoulas and found a cemetery with some Vergoz graves. On the trip back to Brest, she got off at a remote stop named Ty Armor and walked
to the area called Le Vergoz. “I cannot describe what it was like to see the sign 'Le Vergoz'—to see a route which dead-ends at the beach leading out of the harbor and to the Atlantic Ocean,” she said. Next, Vergoz met with an archivist in Quimper, France. There, she discovered her 6x great-grandparents' marriage document circa 1720, and the 1722 birth/baptism document of her 5x great-grandfather. She also recalled having dinner in Limoges with a man her brother met on social media and who bore a strong resemblance to her own father. Eventually she learned he was, in fact, her cousin. “These experiences fundamentally changed how I view myself and the world,” Vergoz said. “I feel profoundly connected to France and moved to write about my life-changing experience.”
3,000 photos, 13 mini-journals, and a slew of maps and bus schedules later, Vergoz returned to Indianapolis. She called the experience “energizing,” and it was clear to see why. She has already written 8 poems based on her French journey, and has completed a full-length poetry manuscript. This “vivid, dark, and yet ultimately hopeful” piece, titled The Unbinding, has been accepted for publication by Wipf and Stock Publishing, and will detail a woman’s journey of “finding her way through and out of a twenty-year marriage of domestic violence, as well as her continued unbinding from trauma.” The creative renewal experience has also inspired Wendy to return to graduate school to gain the skills and credentials needed to build a stronger Creative Writing Program at Marian University.
Achievements
• The Unbinding (Fall 2019)
• Assistant Professor of English, Marian University in Indianapolis
• Recipient, Individual Artist Grant, Indiana Arts Commission wmvergoz@gmail.com
“These experiences fundamentally changed how I view myself and the world.”
For her creative renewal, Lisa Whitaker indulged in her three loves: travel, writing, and photography. She attended the Jane Austen Festival in Louisville, KY, joined a gathering of J.R.R. Tolkien fans in Harrodsburg, KY, spent a weekend in Monterey, CA (including a stop at John Steinbeck's Cannery Row), and embarked on a two-week walking/literary tour through four cities of the United Kingdom: Bath, Devon, Oxford, and Edinburgh, Scotland. “While my initial decision in visiting all these destinations was not particularly tied to any literary purpose, I found I could not help but be drawn to places famed for some of my favorite authors.” Austen, Burns, Rowling, Steinbeck, and Lewis were just a few of the writers
that came to mind during her journey. “Being in the places they lived and wrote, I was inspired to consider their work and to write my own,” she said. Along with ample writing inspiration, Whitaker gained an insightful perspective about how U.S. society regards the arts compared to nations like the U.K. “Reflecting on all the places I visited helped me to realize that we are still a young country in so many ways, and sometimes quick to dispose of our arts and our resources when they don't suit the current fashion.” This realization helped cement her sense of responsibility to Indianapolis’ arts history.
Even though travelling always comes with its share of highs and lows, Whitaker is confident that she will never tire of it. Ultimately, taking time away from the stress of work and her personal life was the most renewing part of her fellowship.
Achievements
• Business Manager, Clowes Memorial Hall
• Contributing Writer, Clowes Hall 50th Anniversary publications, 2013-2014 lisa@spunkyheroine.net
arts administration lisa whitaker
“One
thing that is more affirming than surprising is that the majority of my co-workers and colleagues were so supportive of my fellowship, encouraging me and offering assistance in my absence. I work with a great group of arts professionals!”