BLOOMINGTON – After a successful re-opening of the Waldron Arts Center under Constellation Stage & Screen’s management this fall, Constellation is excited to announce its first visual art exhibit of the new year. This new exhibit, Illuminate: Emerging Bloomington Artists, is the first exhibition curated by Huner Emin, Constellation’s Gallery Manager.
This exhibit features recipients of the Bloomington Arts Commission’s Emerging Artist Grant Award.
Illuminate: Emerging Bloomington Artists opens at the First Friday Gallery Walk of 2023 on January 6 and will be on display at the Waldron Art Center’s Rosemary P. Miller Galley through February 24.
The gallery is open to the public Thursdays through Saturdays from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.
Illuminate: Emerging Bloomington Artists brings together Emerging Artist Grant recipients to highlight their work and encourage the Bloomington community to engage and continue to support the next generation of artists. These emerging local artists work and exhibit in various mediums and styles, including photographs, paintings, ceramics, and installations. Participating artists include Nikota Brault, Justin A Carney, Kathryn Coers Rossman, Sarah Ericson, Juliet Frey, Bethany Habegger, Casey Muyskens-Toth, Caleb Poer, Sarah Slover, Ellen Star Lyon, Emily Wilson Gillespie, Rebecca Woodward, Emily Zarse. Brief biographies of each artist can be found below.
The city of Bloomington supports new and exciting artists with various grants throughout the year, including the Bloomington Arts Commission (BAC) Emerging Artist Grant. These grants help to cultivate not only the work of the individuals who receive them but also the city’s growing arts community. The BAC’s grants support artists financially and logistically and aim to provide a platform for diverse, innovative, and energizing art.
“After the first year of our revamped granting program targeting the evolving needs of artists and arts organizations, I can think of no better celebration than an exhibition of artists who have been supported by the BAC’s emerging artists grants. We are grateful to the Waldron Art Center and curator Huner Emin for organizing this program,” said Elliot Josephine Leila Reichert, the BAC’s grants committee chair.
Gallery Manager Huner Emin is thrilled to have taken on his role with Constellation Stage & Screen in September 2022 and plans “to continue the long legacy of visual arts education and opportunities at the Waldron.” He is enthusiastic about curating exhibitions, providing space for local artists, and organizing art talks, activities, and events that engage the local Bloomington community with a wide variety of visual art.
For more details on the John Waldron Arts Center’s galleries and Constellation’s visual arts program, please visit our new auxiliary website: waldronartscenter.org.
Don’t miss the work of over a dozen talented local artists in Illuminate: Emerging Bloomington Artists, on display from January 6 – February 24 at the Waldron Arts Center.
Details
Location: Waldron Arts Center (122 S Walnut St)
Exhibition Dates: January 6 – February 24 (Opening First Friday: January 6, 2023)
Gallery Hours: Thursday-Saturday 5-8 pm
Artist Biographies
Nikota Brault, a local photographer, has called Bloomington, Indiana her home for the past eight years but grew up in neighboring Owen County. She earned an Associate of Applied Science degree in Visual Communications with a concentration in Photography in 2012.
Justin A. Carney uses autobiographical photography to question how death and grief affect familial connections—the bonds that keep a family together and cause them to separate, and how those bonds shape an individual. He is originally from Baltimore, Maryland, and is currently pursuing his MFA in Photography at Indiana University, Bloomington.
Sarah Ericson is a local artist who works on multi-media and collage works. She enjoys forging mushrooms and collaborative community work.
Juliet Frey has taught beginning digital photography, landscape and urban photography, Photoshop, and black-and-white photography evening courses for Ivy Tech’s Lifelong Learning Program for several years. She is a longtime member of the Bloomington Photography Club and currently serves on its Board and the Executive Council.
Emily Wilson Gillespie is a Bloomington visual artist, who received her BA in Studio Art from DePauw University and her MA in Arts Administration from Indiana University. Her current work explores the relationship between landscape and environmentalism through the use of dried native plants and dyes.
Bethany Habegger recently completed their BFA in painting at Indiana University, Bloomington. Born in Indianapolis, they were raised by two painters and have been creating work from a very young age.
Ellen Starr Lyon: Born in Columbus, Indiana, Ellen Starr Lyon, an Indiana University BFA graduate, is a figurative painter focusing on modern portraiture that revolves around feminism, motherhood, and coming of age. Her painting style incorporates a colorful palette and multiple thin, luminous layers with a nod to realism.
Casey Muyskens-Toth attended Earlham College, where she studied ceramics with Judy Wojcik and Scott Shafer. After graduating, she spent the next five years between Indiana and California working and exploring, before returning to Bloomington and starting her ceramics business, CMT Pottery.
Caleb Poer is a local, self-taught multimedia artist focusing on digital art and studio art. He takes a bold approach to art, often pushing boundaries and bringing together concepts to create periods of related works.
Kathryn Coers Rossman is a conceptual photographer and creative director in Bloomington, IN. She studied modernism, literature, and urbanism in graduate school at New York University and design and the visual arts via the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) academic program.
Sarah J. Slover is a Bloomington, IN, photographer specializing in portraiture and brand photography. A lifelong musician and creator, she has studied art, music, theater, and literature both in the U.S. and abroad and holds master’s degrees in music and arts administration from Indiana University.
Rebecca Woodward, a local artist, and arts educator teaching classes in classical art drawing and painting techniques, is currently an MA candidate at the Florence Academy of Art. Her work applies these classically derived approaches with a contemporary focus on themes of seasonal nourishment by closely observing the beauties and bounties provided by our local environment.
Emily Zarse is a Bloomington-based artist, teacher, and curator who’s her studio practice and curatorial research explore representations of the body, gender, and caregiving in order to center topics of reproductive justice. From large-scale installations to intimate artist books, Zarse delights in combining unexpected materials and uses tactility to evoke embodied experiences. She received a BA from Cornell University as well as an MFA from Indiana University in 2022 and has stayed on at IU as a Curatorship MA candidate.
About Constellation Stage & Screen
Constellation Stage & Screen is Bloomington’s newest arts organization, a visionary blend of theater and film production, arts education, and new work development! Established in 2022 as a result of a three-way merger between Bloomington Playwright’s Project, Cardinal Stage, and Pigasus Institute, Constellation connects audiences through world-class theater and film. Each theatrical season features an exciting mix of original plays and musicals, established works, family and holiday classics, and theater for young audiences shows. Throughout the year, Constellation will produce multiple film projects (all shot in Indiana) including a feature-length film developed from one of its theatrical productions, bringing the stage to the screen! Learn more at SeeConstellation.org.
