Summer 2014 Newsletter

The Singing Winds
Summer
2014
Newsletter of the Friends of T. C. Steele State Historic Site
Friends of
T.C. Steele SHS
2014 Board
President
Stephanie Dean
FESTIVAL OF FLOWERS PAINT OUT
Over 90 artists participated in the Festival of Flowers Paint-Out at the T.C. Steele
State Historic Site on Saturday, May 17. Following in the footsteps of Impressionist
painter T. C. Steele, artists created plein air (outside in the open air) works of art on
site. Winners were chosen by a panel of judges in seven categories. Adult artists
were divided by media while children/teen artists were divided by age. First-place
winning artwork will be displayed in Steele’s Large Studio through June 15.
Teens Age 13 through 18
Vice-President
Mary Jo Benedict
Secretary
Yael Ksander
Treasurer
Charlie Matson
At-Large Members
Nan Brewer
Lowell Dawson
Susan Fernandez
Patti Pizzo
David Steele
_____________________
First: Leander Lerch, Bloomington
Second: Jacob Patenaude, Martinsville
Third (tie): Michelle Pokorny, Bedford; Ransom Patenaude, Martinsville
Honorable Mention: Meredith Metz, Bloomington; Meg Sperry, Indianapolis; Hannah Dewey, Martinsville
Children Age 12 and Under
First: Jud Dewey, Martinsville
Second: Lucas Dewey, Martinsville
Third: Isabel Frost, Nashville
Adult Oil
First: Mary Ann Davis, Indianapolis Second: Donna Shortt, Indianapolis
Third: Thomas Gridley, Indianapolis
Honorable Mention: Jackie Frey, Bloomington; Kathy Blankenheim, Brownsburg;
Steven Haigh, Carmel; Erin Brock, Morgantown; Troy Kilgore, Bloomington
Adult Acrylic
First: Dick Ferrer, Nashville Second: Steve Miller, Westfield Third: Dennis Barron, Nashville
Honorable Mention: Rick Ford, Columbus; Matthew Patenaude, Martinsville
Adult Watercolor
First: Marjory Burkholder, Plymouth Second: Libby Gruneninger, Indianapolis
Third: Robert Burris, Columbus
Honorable Mention: Nancy Metz; Cassidy Young, Rita Orchelletto; all from Bloomington
Adult Drawing Media
First: Keith Howard, Hebron, KY
T.C. Steele State
Historic Site Staff
Adult Mixed Media
First: Lydia Burris, Columbus
Second: Kevin Carlson, Madison
People’s Choice (selected through secret ballot by artists and visitors).
Historic Site Manager
Andrea deTarnowsky
Adult: Steven Haigh, Carmel
Youth: Michelle Pokorny, Bedford
Arts Program Developer
Megan Richards
Interpreters
Mary Ann Woerner
John Moore
Grounds & Maintenance
Supervisor
Anthony Joslin
Assistant
Eric Engleking
The Festival of Flowers Paint Out is
co-sponsored by the Friends of T. C. Steele State Historic Site.
To see more pictures of winners from the Paint-Out, visit us on Facebook.
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The Singing Winds
Summer, 2014
David E. Steele Joins Friends Board
David Eric Steele of Indianapolis has been elected to the Friends of T. C. Steele State Historic Site Board of
Directors. David, an Indianapolis business executive, has been on the faculty of Indiana University's Kelley
School of Business (Indianapolis) for the past 17 years. David’s grandfather Harry Steele and T. C. Steele
were second cousins (both were great grandsons of Ninian Steele).
David has been married to Lynne Tarlton Steele for 29
years. They have two children, Ben 26 and Emma 24.
David, Lynne, Ben and Emma are all Indiana University
graduates. David and Lynne are Lifetime members of
the Friends of T.C. Steele State Historic Site.
David and Lynne pose beside T.C. Steele’s painting in the
collection of Los Angeles Art Museum.
Summer Interns
Amanda Moore, a senior at Indiana University majoring in Outdoor
Recreation, Parks and Human Ecology, is serving as naturalist intern.
Her duties include researching and becoming familiar with indigenous
and historical plants on the site, developing one project pertaining to
interpretation of the gardens and grounds, assisting with site related
programs and events and updating the Interpreters Manual. From Peru,
Indiana, Amanda’s hobbies include hiking, camping and reading.
Alexandria Price from Pittsboro, Indiana, is a 2014 graduate of
Indiana University with a major in Human Development and Family
Studies. As the arts program developer intern, her goal is to find ways
to improve and integrate family and community needs with site programming. She enjoys camping, gardening, making crafts and playing
music. Currently, Alexandria is learning to play the banjo.
Eric Engleking (far left) has been
hired as a seasonal staff person. A
Brown County native, Eric has been
assisting Supervisor Anthony Joslin
with grounds and maintenance.
Eric helped with the renovation of
the office space (at right) in the
small studio. The reorganized area
provides a bright welcome to our
visitors and guests.
Summer, 2014
3
Artist-in-Residence
July 11, 12, 18 and 19
Joshua Mark Phillippe, a photographer, painter and printmaker, lives
in Indianapolis. He studied studio art and art history at Indiana University
Bloomington and has an MFA from City College of New York/CUNY.
During his residency, Josh will be creating a “Photographic Journey Along
#Indiana46″. While he is documenting people and places along Indiana
State Road 46 between Bloomington and Columbus, he invites the public to
do the same. Hashtag all your great discoveries along this historic cultural
district with #Indiana46 on Instagram. Joshua will have a special exhibit at
the Great Outdoor Art Contest and Local Tastings event September 13.
Sunday at Home Series
$7 per person, free tour admission included.
July 20 1-4 pm
Recycled Art Program
Join Anne Fairchild, from the Lanier Mansion, as we tame chaos into creation with items
we use in our daily lives. Guests will have a wide selection of typical and unusual art
materials to choose from to create their own work of art. Appropriate for all ages.
August 17 1-4pm Liar’s Bench
This lively program engages audiences of all ages as they are confronted by a variety of
objects representing the museum’s collection. The audience will hear three stories about
each object, and then must decide which is true. Appropriate for all ages.
Great Outdoor Art Contest and Local Tastings
September 13 - 7 am to 4 pm
Pre-registered artists create artwork while visitors have the opportunity to
observe the plein air process. All work submitted for judging must be started
and finished on site the day of the contest. While awaiting the results of the
judging, listen to an outdoor music concert and enjoy a taste from a variety
of local food artisans. Check our website for more details.
Creative Corner
Program staff will be setting up new and fun art activities for our daily
visitors this summer. Check our website for more information.
Site Admission Fees Increasing
Effective July 1, admission fees at T.C. Steele State Historic Site, Lanier Mansion State
Historic Site, and Culbertson Mansion State Historic Site will increase to $7 for adults and $5
for seniors age 60 and over. Admission for children will remain at $2. One new family-friendly
feature has been added however; a cap of $20 per family regardless of the number of children.
Admission for current members of Friends of T.C. Steele is still free at the site as well as the
Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis and most state historic sites.
Friends of T.C. Steele Newsletter
Summer, 2014
4
Arts Outreach Program
Site staff and volunteers just completed the first year of the Arts Outreach
Program. The project goal was to increase awareness of the famous Hoosier
artist T.C. Steele, provide quality art educational program to rural communities
and to create new community partnerships throughout our region. We reached
out to public libraries, schools and art and history organizations throughout our
region to help us coordinate and market these programs to the community.
We gratefully acknowledge the sponsors of this program: National Endowment
of the Arts, Indiana Arts Commission, Community Foundation of Bloomington
and Monroe County, IVY Tech Bloomington, the Friends of T.C. Steele and the
Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites.
Last October, three short training sessions were conducted for our volunteers
and then two test runs were made at the BETA Club in Nashville in November.
In January, another round of volunteer training was held, then the programs began. From January to June,
the program implemented 17 art educational workshops in 7 different counties for 302 participants
and with over 150 hours of volunteer time. From adult workshops with working artist, to children
painting murals, to informative presentations for adult clubs,
these programs took various shapes and sizes. The organizations
that we visited in 2014 were Brown County Public Library, Brown
County Historical Society, Village of Nashville Art Walk, Bloomfield
Public Library, Hatfield and Burris Elementary Schools in Mitchell,
Lawrence County Historical Society, Monroe County Public Library
-Ellettsville Branch, Hinkle-Garton Farmstead (in partnership with
the Creative Aging Festival), Morgan County Public LibraryMonrovia Branch, Mooresville Public Library, Melton Public Library
and the Owen County Art Guild.
The real stars are the volunteers and artists: Debbie Bartels, Laura Bulla, Ellen Cramer, Brenda Jackson,
Tina Jernigan, Wyatt LeGrand, Kesha Minns, Amanda Moore, Alex Price, Betty Wagoner and Rick Wilson.
(Visit us on Facebook to see more photos of our outreach project.)
Book on Hoosier Group Artist William Forsyth
Author and Indiana art expert Rachel Berenson Perry discussed her latest
book, William Forsyth: The Life and Work of an Indiana Artist, June 15 at a
“Sunday at Home” program at the T.C. Steele State Historic Site. The work
describes this early Indiana artist and explores his art. It offers insights into
Forsyth’s sometimes mercurial personality, his relationships with his students,
and his devotion to educating the public about the importance of art. Forsyth
and Steele were colleagues. The book is on sale in the Friends of Art
Museum Shop at T.C. Steele State Historic Site.
Ms. Perry is the former fine arts curator of the Indiana State Museum, where she organized and curated all
of the art exhibitions from 2003 to 2011. She has written numerous articles for American Art Review and
Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History (Indiana Historical Society). Her books include Painting Indiana
III: Heritage of Place (Indiana University Press, 2013); Barry Gealt: Embracing Nature (Indiana University
Press, 2012); Paint and Canvas: A Biography of T. C. Steele (Indiana Historical Society, 2012); T. C. Steele
and the Society of Western Artists 1896-1914 (Indiana University Press, 2009); and Children from the Hills:
The Life and Work of Ada Walter Shulz (Artist Colony Press, 2001).
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Summer, 2014
Improvements Continue at Steele’s Boyhood Home
The Palladium window, a central feature of the Colonial Revival house, has
been rebuilt and installed. This window faces due east so it provides for a great
sunrise. Upstairs renovation, including electrical and fixtures, is fully completed.
The second floor will be a dormitory for visiting artists. The original railing
around the stairwell (seen in foreground of the picture below) has remained in
place all these years and is absolutely beautiful, albeit it very simple; no new
wood or patch work was needed. The wood plank floor has been restored to
the best condition possible with the red paint left on the floor.
John Moore, interpreter/guide at the T. C.
Steele State Historic Site, recently visited
the Boyhood Home in effort to gain a better
understanding of Steele, his life and work.
Steele’s Boyhood Home Hosts Painters
On June 14, Tim and Meg Shelly welcomed the Indiana Plein Air Painters Association (IPAPA) to the
recently restored Boyhood Home of T.C. Steele. The fine weather encouraged 26 painters, including the
Treasurer of the Friends, Charlie Matson, to make the trip to Waveland and put their impressions on
canvas. Local residents inspected the works and shared refreshments with the artists. The President of
the Friends of T.C. Steele State Historic Site, Stephanie Dean,
attended the wrap up activities and presented the Shellys with
a framed print of T.C. Steele recently recovered painting as a
gift of appreciation from the Friends.
Tim and Meg are also showing their support of Indiana artists
by rotating an impressive collection of paintings in the restored
home which has already been visited by several school groups.
To learn more about the Home and related activities, go to
“T.C. Steele Boyhood Home” on Facebook.
If you come to Waveland, be sure to visit the Waveland-Brown Township
Library, it boasts a large T.C. Steele oil that was a gift of the artist. The scene is
local, although no one is sure exactly where. The library is a short three minute/
two block walk from Steele’s boyhood home and is an outstanding architectural
example of the typical small town Indiana Andrew Carnegie Library design.
The Steele boyhood home is located at 110 South Cross Street in Waveland, IN. Tim and Meg Shelly of
Elkhart, IN have purchased the home where the artist lived from age five through attending college
prep school at the Waveland Collegiate Institute. The Shelly's are distant relatives of T.C. Steele.
Steele Painting in California
Board Member David Steele and his wife Lynne visited the
Los Angeles Country Museum of Art in April, 2014 and were
given a private viewing of T.C. Steele's "Sunlight, Late
Summer" (1913), currently in storage at the museum (detail
of painting shown below).
SITE HOURS
Tuesday-Saturday: 9 am to 5 pm
Sunday: 1 to 5 pm
Closed Mondays and some holidays
Guided tours of home and studio
available on quarter hour
beginning at 9:15 am.
(1:15 pm on Sundays)
Admission to House and Studio
Adults: $7 Seniors: $5 Children: $2
Free to Friends of TC Steele
Contact Information
(812) 988-2785
[email protected]
www.tcsteele.org
Friends of T.C. Steele State Historic Site, Inc.
4220 T. C. Steele Road
Nashville, IN 47448-9586