Indy Airport Art Exhibit to Showcase Excellence in Craftsmanship

INDIANAPOLIS (Nov. 21, 2018) – The Indianapolis International Airport (IND) is showcasing the work of three talented Hoosier artists this fall and winter, spotlighting their artistic visions as expressed in wood, paint and fabric. The exhibition will be on display at the Indy airport through March 10, 2019.

The Indianapolis Airport Authority and the Arts Council of Indianapolis have selected Indianapolis-based artists Phil Tennant, Bruce Armstrong and Philip Campbell to exhibit their works as part of the airport’s fall/winter rotating art exhibition. The IAA and Arts Council work collaboratively to review and select artwork reflective of Hoosier creativity and perspective.

“We welcome these artists’ work to the Indy airport, and the opportunity it brings to travelers -- giving them a new and diverse way to look at the world through materials and colors, just as travel gives people a view of the world through place and people,” said Mario Rodriguez, executive director of the Indianapolis Airport Authority

Phil Tennant’s work, titled “Thrones,” elevates wooden chairs into small sculptures that have been elaborated with visual elements that reflect centeredness, change and conflict. Each “throne” is infused with the human characteristics its users may possess. Tennant, a retired Herron School of Art & Design professor and former Arts Council Creative Renewal Arts Fellow (2007-8), has been a practicing sculptor and furniture maker for four decades, with his worked exhibited nationally in art galleries, universities, and museums. His work has also been featured in Fine Woodworking, American Craftsman Magazine, and Studio Furniture. In describing his process, Tennant said “making my work is a lot like a dog chasing its tail; what I’m after is that ‘perfect form,’ but it is tantalizingly just out of reach.” Tennant’s work is on display in the Ticketing Hall.

Bruce Armstrong uses paint and the free-form artistic process to create the large, bold paintings titled “Abstraction Plus.” He layers colorful paint on his canvases to varying degrees – representing freedom from restraint, and the unpredictable nature of where art can take someone. He describes his process as “a ship on the sea being blown by an artistic wind.” Armstrong’s love of art began when he was a student at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, and flourished across the years to create imaginative pieces that have been shown at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, the Indiana Landmarks state headquarters in Indianapolis, and the Indianapolis/Marion County Public Library. Armstrong’s paintings also are on display in the Ticketing Hall.

Security Blankets, created by Philip Campbell, presents a series of contemporary quilts that incorporate 21^st-century materials that he feels help protect us from hazards both real and imagined. Like traditional quilts, they are beautiful to look at and soft to touch, yet they possess invisible high technology. The quilt, What’s Your Password?, incorporates military-grade fabric that blocks out all radio frequencies, WIFI, and cell-phone signals, to suggest insulating ourselves against societal fears like identity theft. The quilt entitled $2 integrates spendable paper currency into its design, speaking to society’s financial instability. Campbell, recently named a DeHaan Artist of Distinction by the Arts Council of Indianapolis, has exhibited work at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, the Harrison Center, and at the Adventureland Gallery in Chicago. His artwork is on display at the Indy airport in Concourse B.

“All three of these artists are consummate craftsmen,” said Julia Moore, the Arts Council’s Director of Public Art. “From Armstrong’s graduated triptych to Tennant’s miniature chair-sculptures, to Campbell’s quilts, meticulous execution is integral to both the concept and the enjoyment of their works."

In addition, Lafayette-based artist Toby Kaufmann-Buhler’s video creation, 2 Fragments of Motion, remains on display through Dec. 31, showcasing his work using Super-8 film to capture and convert brief quotations of published text from generations of his family members into a video masterpiece. The video can be viewed several times each hour on the screen above the main escalator/stair between Civic Plaza and Baggage Claim.

To learn more about these artists and their work, visit www.ind.com/community/arts-program.