Downtown inspires student artists

Growing up in a small college town in Illinois, graduate student Kristin Carlson lacked a lively downtown similar to Bloomington, and after returning from a summer abroad in Venice, she was inspired by the “city of many squares.”

This inspiration became a collaborative art display titled Interpreting the Square: Thirty Artists Explore Downtown Bloomington. The display opens with a reception  6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at the Bloomington City Hall Atrium. The exhibit can be viewed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday until Sept. 30

Carlson said she wanted to give people an opportunity to have a successful downtown and see that it can be a vibrant city center.

Carlson is co-administrator of the project with graduate student Sara Brooks. The two received the Fran Snygg Grant for Artistic Collaboration from the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculties in January to present the event.

“A lot of people do not have busy downtowns,” Brooks said. “We want to bring awareness to the uniqueness of our square and help draw attention to the local businesses struggling.”

Brooks and Carlson counted the 30 buildings along the square that they would use to inspire the 30 artists who submitted their names via list serves, word of month, venue flyers or referrals. Artists began brainstorming in June and had until Sept. 3 to finish their work.

“Not a lot of artists interacted with their building, but some did and it turned out really well,” Brooks said.

One of the artists who used a building for inspiration was Elizabeth Hoover, a creative writer, who was a student in Brooks’ photography class.

Hoover researched her building and discovered it was once a grocery store.
“I found my friend’s grocery lists, picked out one item and wrote a five-prose poem about it,” Hoover said.

Several of these poems are suspended along a wood panel on long pieces of paper Hoover described as telephone exchange cables.

“I think people love food, not just because it tastes good, but we gather around food,” Hoover said.

She said she hopes when people see her art piece, they are reminded of good meals.
The artists are a mixture of local residents, IU faculty, graduate students and high school students.

The mediums include photography, creative writing, print-making, painting, drawing, architecture and sculpting.

Carlson and Brooks said they not only share an artistic interest in history and architecture, but an interest in community.

“As artists who think about places and how other people think of them, we are interested to invite other artists in who have a different outlook on them,” Carlson said.