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Last updated on Monday, February 1, 2016
(MITCHELL) - Six recipients of Indiana Arts Commission grants will bring their artistic talents and expertise to Spring Mill State Park this year as part of Indiana’s bicentennial celebration.
Julie Lyn Barber will present her new musical, "Indiana Squirrel Stampede: a New Musical." The grant is for $3,000 and will be used to hire actors, build costumes, design and build scenery and props, rent rehearsal space, pay for transportation and travel costs, and print music, scripts and marketing materials.
Craig Brenner received a $3,000 grant and, during his visits to state properties, will perform music and invite the young, and young at heart, to join him in exploring the jazzy side of blues, boogie woogie and other piano styles, focusing on Indiana composers and musicians. Grant funds will be spent on musician stipends.
Tamara Dubin Brown, an artist and writer who, in her quest to paint all 25 state parks in Indiana, will visit six locations this year that showcase the diverse landscapes of the park system. The grant is for $2,200. As a visiting plein air painter for a day, Brown plans to capture the unique features of each park and engage visitors with outdoor painting demonstrations inspired by art found in nature.
Selene Carter, with a grant of $3,000, will bring her "Singing Around Me" program to the park, revealing the unique history and distinct qualities of Spring Mill through a concert of live music and dance. The songs, composed by Malcolm Dalglish to the poetry of Wendell Berry, surround the viewers as the dancers lead them through the site.
Lisa Dodson received $2,712 for a project related to quilts. Dodson will celebrate the history of the park by creating an art quilt that captures the park's essence, which is the grist mill.
Barbara Ann Zech received a grant for $3,000. The park will be the setting for a hands-on clay tile making workshop titled "Nature Impressions." The workshop will be open to the public. Grant funds will cover the artist's research and planning, materials and workshop fees. The final outcome of the project will be a fired ceramic tile assemblage depicting the leaves and plants native to the park, created by the community.
The Indiana Arts Commission, in December, announced the approval of grants funding 139 projects associated with the bicentennial. Coupled with Arts Project Support grants approved at the arts commission's June meeting, a total of 197 Bicentennial Legacy Projects were approved by the Indiana Bicentennial Commission.
76 of the projects will be for the Arts in the Parks program, a partnership between the arts commission and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. An IAC news release reports the projects are "enabling the creation of arts activities for the public to enjoy at parks and forests across the state." Forty-seven of the projects will be led by individual artists working directly with the DNR properties and 29 projects will be conducted by arts organizations or cultural program providers.
Perry Hammock, the bicentennial commission's executive director says the activities will enhance the public's opportunity to celebrate our state's history through the arts in the park and public spaces and throughout Indiana.
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