Community Spotlight: Indianapolis Art Center

Founded in 1934 as a Works Progress Administration program during the Great Depression, the Indianapolis Art Center has been a place for both artists and patrons to sustain their passions and support the local communities of Indianapolis, Lawrence, and Speedway, IN. The current Art Center inhabits a 9.5-acre plot along the White River and offers countless art classes and over 50 exhibitions a year.

Read below to learn about the thriving art community supported by the Indianapolis Art Center and its patrons.

ArtReach

The center has offered community-based art education for over 20 years to children aged 5 to 18 who live in underprivileged areas of Indianapolis. ArtReach is a free after-school studio art program that has around 1,000 participants across 26 sites annually.

The class lasts an entire semester and teaches everything from art history and criticism to aesthetics and art making. At the end of the program, student artwork is displayed professionally in the Indianapolis Art Center’s Hurt and Clowes galleries.

A Few of Their Many Art Classes

Make it Take it

Its name is exactly as it sounds; come down to the art center for a two-hour long class that is fully guided by professional instructors and take your work home with you. These one-time classes each cover a different medium, including acrylic painting, glass forging, and woodworking.

Ceramics

Offered for any skill level, the Indianapolis Art Center invites you to take one of their summer clay studio art classes. They’re one week in duration and great for those who don’t have the time to commit to the center’s 7-week or 15-week classes that also start in the summer and continue through the fall.

Get your hands dirty while you learn a new skill or restart an old passion for clay throwing and sculpting.

Jewelry & Metalsmithing

The Indianapolis Art Center hosts jewelry and metalsmithing classes year-round for any experience and skill level. During the summer, the center offers weeklong staycations where you can dive into the art of crafting everything from recycled or carved metal jewelry to fused glass jewelry.

Textile Arts

Have you wanted to learn how to make your own clothes or spin yarn to knit your own blanket? Well, you can do all of that and just about any form of textile making that you could think of at the Indianapolis Art Center.

Work on your floor loom weaving, yarn making, or basic sewing skills in one of their 7-week long classes offered throughout the year.

Glass

You don’t need to have any knowledge of glass blowing or shaping to take one of these 7-week sessions. Professionally taught courses are offered at the most basic level, introduction to glass, all the way to specific work with sheet or hot glass.

Visit the Indianapolis Art Center Today

As you can see, this art center is almost overflowing into the river with the number of programs and exhibitions it provides every year. Make a day—or two—out of the Indianapolis Art Center the next time you’re around Indianapolis, Lawrence, or Speedway, IN.

Take a minute to scroll through their Facebook page to learn more, including event updates, directions, and hours.