Masterpiece in a Day

Masterpiece in a Day

When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 27
Where: 1043 Virginia Ave. Suite 4
Info: (317) 450-6630; www.bigcar.org
Cost: Free for participants and visitors

For further information or to contact past participants or others for comment, call Shauta Marsh at (317) 450-6630

Masterpiece in a Day returns to Fountain Square on Sept. 27

The long-running free art and writing contest Masterpiece in a Day, supported by Southeast Neighborhood Development and operated by Big Car, returns to Fountain Square on Sept. 27. This year, the contest is again part of a big day in the neighborhood that includes the Fountain Square Art Fair presented by the Fountain Square Merchants Association.

The art and writing contests begin at 9 a.m. with day-of registration ending at 11 a.m. Completed artwork and typed copies of writing are due for judging at 3:30 p.m. Winners from both contests will be announced at about 4:30 p.m. All work must be completed in the Fountain Square neighborhood during contest hours.

This year’s art contest features new categories designed to encourage participation by artists working in a variety of styles and mediums. Artists will be able to choose from:

• Traditional/landscape (2D work in traditional styles)
• Street art (graffiti style, outsider art, etc.)
• Off the wall (sculpture, video, installation, all three-dimensional work)
• On the wall (contemporary two-dimensional work).

The overall Best in Show winner of the art contest takes home $1,000. The four category winners pick up $600 each. The overall winner can’t also be a category winner.

This year's art judges include Butler University art professors Guatam Rao and Elizabeth Mix and Paul LePree, owner of the Ultra-Pop, a street-art shop in Louisville.

The writing contest presented by The Second Story and Indy Reads features poetry and prose competitions with winners picking up $600 in each category and second-place writers taking $250 and third place taking $100.

This year's judges include poet, IUPUI professor and Second Story board member Mitchell Douglas and Travis DiNicola, writer and executive director of Indy Reads.

The Masterpiece in a Day music competition will not be happening this year, but musicians are encouraged to perform throughout the neighborhood.

The event also features fun for the whole family with activities for children throughout the day. The Fountain Square Arts Council will offer quilting, visual arts, storytelling, and music. Families can also take part in the group’s ongoing art projects throughout the day at Wheeler Arts Community Classroom. There, children will have opportunities to share their thoughts through a talking wall, and also be able to contribute to a mural.

Other activities for the family include:

10 a.m. – 12 p.m. quilting, outside of the Murphy Art Center.
Noon – 2 p.m. storytelling, Fountain Square Library
2 p.m. – 4 p.m. musical time, kids can build and play their own instruments, outside of Murphy art Center.

Masterpiece in a Day’s sponsors and supporters also include the Fountain Square Merchants Association, Farm Bureau, White Castle and the Fountain Square Arts Council.

About our art judges
Elizabeth K. Mix, Assistant Professor of Art History at Butler University, is the author of two books and many articles on aspects of nineteenth-, twentieth- and twenty-first century art and popular culture. Her prior jurying experience includes "Sky, Blue Heavens," "Digital Concentrate," and "Does Gender Still Matter?" at Purdue Galleries, Lafayette and CICF (Efroysom Fund), Project Excel (Farm Bureau Insurance), the Indianapolis Arts Foundation's Great Ideas competition in Indianapolis. Mix has been a board member of the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art since May of 2004. Her publications related specifically to exhibitions includes work for Purdue Galleries in West Lafayette, The Harrison Center and Herron School Project Space in Indianapolis, St. Louis Art Museum, I Space Gallery in Chicago, Tokyo Art Life Ltd., Japan, and the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Gautam Rao is Assistant Professor of Visual Studies at Butler University. He earned his MFA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002 and his BFA from Boston University in 1999. His work is widely exhibited and has received national and international attention with a solo show at the Federal Reserve in Washington D.C., and a group show in Seoul, South Korea. His numerous distinctions include a 2007 Individual Artist Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission, the Susan Coslett Cromwell Traveling Fellowship, and awards from the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation and the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. He is a founding Board member of Herron High School and is on the Advisory Board of the Garfield Park Arts Center.

Paul LePree is the owner of Ultra Pop! located in the Highlands neighborhood of Louisville. He has been supplying Louisville with a steady diet of art and design books, designer vinyl toys, and other merchandise for over a year. From Low Brow, Pop Surrealism, Street Art, or Graphic Design, be it vinyl, paper, or cloth, if your art interests stray from the mainstream, Ultra Pop! is for you. Paul LePree spent his formative years in the wilds of the Florida Everglades pursuing the elusive Florida Skunk Ape. After years of mosquito bites and disappointment, Paul packed up his bags and moved to Kentucky. Five years later he decided to settle down in the fair city of Louisville and pursue his lifelong dream of owning his own retail store combining his love of toys, design, and pop culture.
About our writing judges

M. Travis DiNicola is the Executive Director of Indy Reads, a non-profit which provides free tutoring programs for functionally illiterate adults in Central Indiana. He is also the co-host and producer of WFYI Public Radio's "The Art of the Matter" heard on 90.1 every Saturday at 4 p.m. Prior to joining Indy Reads, DiNicola was the Director of Public Relations for Young Audiences of Indiana. Originally from Pennsylvania, DiNicola received a B.A. in Theatre & Dance and a M.S. in Art Education from Penn State University. Before moving to Indiana, he worked as an actor and a performance artist, presenting his work at venues on the East Coast. Indianapolis audiences saw him perform occasionally for five seasons (1999-2003) as Rowdie, the mascot of the Indianapolis Indians. He is also a writer, of fiction and non-fiction, and has taught at IUPUI, Butler University, and Seoul National University. He is a graduate of the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series, and now represents his class to the LLA Board. Awards he has received include Best Graduate Research at Penn State, a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship, an Indiana Individual Artist Award, WFYI's Community Volunteer Award, Broad Ripple Art Fair Volunteer of the Year, and the IBJ's Forty Under 40. He is married to Elizabeth Garber, owner of The Best Chocolate in Town.

Mitchell L. H. Douglas is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). A cofounder of the Affrilachian Poets and a Cave Canem Fellow, his poetry appears or is forthcoming in Callaloo, the Gival Press anthology Poetic Voices Without Borders, The Louisville Review, and the Cave Canem anthology The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South (University of Georgia Press ). A Louisville , KY , native, he resides in Indianapolis.


Big Car is a non-profit arts collective with an exhibition space and performance venue in the Fountain Square neighborhood. We offer cultural experiences that are interdisciplinary, experimental, and independently produced. Through our group’s collaborative work and the exhibitions and events at the gallery, Big Car boosts Indianapolis' cultural and social landscapes by offering exposure to emerging artists, by connecting with other arts and community groups, and by helping audiences find easier access to art.

Jim Walker
Well Done Marketing
(317) 408-1366
www.welldonemarketing.com