Pictured is the Winterlights Exhibit at The Garden at Newfields.

By Darla McCammon and Darlene Romano 

On Nov. 7, 1883, an exhibition of 453 works by 137 artists opened at the English Hotel on the downtown Indianapolis circle. It was the first exhibition organized by the Art Association of Indianapolis, which well-known suffragette Mary Wright Seawell, her husband Theodore, and a small group of art-minded citizens had formed a few months earlier. This initial exhibition more than 130 years ago eventually lead to the acquisition and creation of the 152-acre Newfields campus which includes the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Lilly House, the Virginia B Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, the Garden, four performance spaces, the Miller House and Garden, the Elder Greenhouse, the Beer Garden at the Greenhouse and the Garden Terrace. This is a fantastic museum to visit in Indianapolis where you can spend all day enjoying the various offerings.

For the sixth year, the Winterlights Exhibition is presented for viewing. The Garden at Newfields is aglow with more than a million and a half lights. The landscape of Lights dances to the Nutcracker on Lilly Allee, while the wind whistles in the Ice Storm Walk. The Lilly House is enchanting, where the halls are decked with elegant hand-made holiday cheer. A new addition, the Astraeus by local artists Owen & Crawley, lights the way through the woods as guests wander from Lilly House to Winter Market. Guests will be amazed by a dazzling display of colorful blossoms in the new Glowing Garden. Whimsy welcomes young and old to experience the all-new sculpture by the art collective Happy Rebels near Garden Terrace. The exhibition runs through Jan. 8, 2023.

There are currently five limited exhibitions at the museum. They are:

• The LUME Indianapolis, featuring Monet & Friends Alive (extra charge)
• Stephen Sprouse: Rock, Art, Fashion
• We. The Culture: Works by The Eighteen Art Collective
• El Tendedero/The Clothesline Indiana
• The Clowes Pavilion Reimagined

The permanent collections at the Indianapolis Museum of Art include:

American Art, European Art, Decorative Arts, Glass Art, Native American Art, Embodied: Human Figures in Art, African Art, Asian Art, the Design Gallery and Ancient Art.

General Admission to the Newfields Campus, which includes the museum, is $20 for adults, $13 for youth 6-17, $18 for seniors 55 and up and free for children 5 and younger. If you want to see the Winterlights exhibit, an additional ticket is required. The price is $29 for adults, $25 for youth 6-17, $20 for seniors 55 and up and free for children 5 and younger. Tickets for the LUME Indianapolis include general admission and are $29 for adults, $25 for seniors 55 and up, $20 for youth 6-17 and free for children 5 and younger. The museum is located at 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis. Most of the features on the campus are open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, except for the Fairbanks Park, which is open sunrise to sunset. The Winterlights exhibit is open from 5–9 p.m. The campus is closed on Monday. The museum’s main number is (317) 923-1331, and the website is discovernewfields.org. If you are planning a trip to Indianapolis, it would be worthwhile to include a stop at the Newfields Campus.

Events

Honeywell Arts and Entertainment Call for Artists: The Honeywell competition is open to anyone living in one of the 92 counties in Indiana. Entries will be accepted from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5–7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3, at the Honeywell Center. The entries will be on display Jan. 5 – Feb. 12 at the Honeywell Centers Clark Gallery, Wabash. For more information, call (260) 274-1411 or visit www.honeywellarts.org/gallery-exhibits/92-county-art-show

Warsaw City Hall Art Gallery: Excellent artist Steve Creighton (Indiana’s Rembrandt) will be exhibiting from Oct. 10 through Dec. 30, 2022. You will want to make time to see this exhibit! To exhibit at Warsaw City Hall Art Gallery, contact Darla McCammon, curator, by leaving a message at (574) 527-4044 or by emailing [email protected].