Bishop show celebrates local sculpture

Faceless, overstuffed white dolls laid upon crumpled silver Mylar while pink papier-mâché hearts spun overhead.

Vintage RCA and Admiral televisions were stacked at the edge of the stage, cornering a mummified figure in a khaki button-up.

The decorations were provided by the Sculpture Guild of the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts for the guild’s benefit concert Monday night at the Bishop Bar.

Bishop owner Stephen Westrich said the bar has supplied local groups with a venue for benefits in the past, but this concert was a little less hands-on.

Westrich said he didn’t personally book the three bands — The Rooks, Poor Islero and Busman’s Holiday — instead, the Sculpture Guild contacted him with a lineup in tow.

Devin Balara, IU graduate student and president of the guild, said finding bands to volunteer their time was fairly easy, due to word-of-mouth networking among the guild members.

“We are lucky to be in a city that’s so tight-knit,” she said. “There are all these good places to put information outside of our department itself. All of the events we have seem to always have the same people. We wanted to find different outlets for our fundraising this time.”

The funds raised at Monday’s show will help pay for the upcoming visit of Los Angeles artist Julian Hoeber, along with a free workshop for attendees. Hoeber’s visit is part of the guild’s Visiting Artist Series.

Ben Steele, guitarist and vocalist for The Rooks, said he easily agreed to play the show, because his girlfriend participates in the guild.

“I think most of the people here came for Busman’s Holiday,” Steele said. “They’re hometown heroes, for sure.”

Balara said the mix of attendees was something new for the guild to see.

“I don’t know most of the people in the room right now, which is an incredible thing,” she said.

Balara said the eclectic stage decor was a compilation of objects found in each guild artist’s studio.

“It’s sort of a quasi-Valentine’s Day ensemble,” she said. “We would really be at a loss if we didn’t activate the space a little bit.”