Theodor Groll, "Washington Street, Indianapolis at Dusk," 1892-5.

This work from the IMA’s permanent collection by Theodor Groll showcases late 19^th century Indianapolis, the State Capitol Building and Washington Street. Groll himself was not an Indianapolis resident, but instead a prominent German artist passing through Indianapolis after judging the German entries for the World’s Exposition in Chicago.

Illuminated by gaslight electricity, the painting exhibits horse-drawn trolleys rattling down the metal tracks in Indianapolis streets. A year after this painting was completed, 1896, the first electric streetcars were introduced in Indianapolis. They were an effective mode of transportation, but were soon phased out by the even more convenient automobile.  The last Indianapolis electric streetcar line closed in January of 1953.

The view also includes the brilliantly lit Park Theater directly to the east of the Capitol building. It was once called, “The most elegant theater in the west” but burned in March 1897, just two short years after this painting was complete. On the right side of the painting, the street is lined with market stalls and a dimly lit saloon, one of many in the area. The 1892 Indianapolis Business Directory listed Washington Street alone as having 74 people in the saloon trade.  In the 1920′s, Prohibition put many of these locally renowned establishments out of business.

If you view historical photos like those from the Indiana Historical Society archives, you will see that Groll’s representation of Indianapolis was somewhat idealized. In fact he finished his painting in Germany using memory, photographs and sketches he had taken while in the city. The painting is fairly accurate except for the sunset appearing to the Northeast, and the distortion of the Capitol building resting on the edge of the street. As you can see in this contemporary photo, it actually sits back much farther.

The Capitol building in 2011

Instead of streetcars we now have IndyGo buses. There are no longer horse-drawn carts and daily markets, but cars and franchise businesses. If you look closely at the painting you can see men and women talking, citizens engaged in commerce, and those headed home in their wagons after a long day in the city. A boy walking his dog, a woman and child walking hand in hand and the formidable State Capitol aren’t much different than what you would see today.

Groll’s painting is a refreshing snapshot of nostalgia and is currently on view on the second floor in American Art. Come take a look!

Spring has sprung…..finally.  Well, the weather isn’t cooperating, but the produce is finally starting to arrive.  I have been looking forward to the arrival of our first local asparagus in the next couple of days.  This is really MY first indication that we are finally over the cold and dark.  Next week we will feature the local asparagus on at least three items on the menu and also our produce supplier is bringing us a new local spring mix.  I really enjoy this time of the year after trying to be creative with beets, turnips, carrots, potatoes and the occasional box of kale through the winter months.

Today is Earth Day.  Nourish has committed to featuring a new sustainable shrimp from a company called Laughing Bird.  The great thing about it is that no habitat or environmental damage is part of the raising or harvesting of these shrimp.  This company is also going to offer scallops in the future as well, so keep checking in.  Today we’re featuring shrimp po’boys with remoulade sauce on the menu and a salad featuring the shrimp as well.

Another big announcement for the day is that voting begins for a contest that I entered to support our commitment to sustainability.  I have been selected as one of twelve chefs from across the U.S. & Canada to compete for a chance to cook my recipe for the James Beard House (like the Grammys, but for chefs) in May.  I chose to feature cider braised pork shanks from Fischer Farms and oyster mushrooms from Hawthorne Farms, paired with creamy smoked tomato grits, in a comforting dish perfect for this time of the year as the cool evenings are hanging on.  This dish utilizes several local offerings from some of our suppliers and is part of how we at Nourish try to keep our guests connected to the farmers that are our life blood.  The voting will happen on YouTube and the top 5 get to go to the James Beard House in New York City to show their stuff.  How about a little support for Nourish?

Just around the corner, we will have Indiana strawberries, heirloom early tomatoes, spring greens, as well as great products from our partners from Fischer Farms, Capriole Farms Goat Cheese, Viking Lamb, Fair Oaks Farm Cheese and many others.  Stop in and see what we have every week…..the menu is always changing.

Be patient….Think SPRING.

Fast forward four years, (five? I can’t keep track,) and a legitimate scene has developed in Indianapolis. Maybe it’s the hubbub surrounding the Big Game (you know the one), but things are abuzz.

First, there were a few blogs I started to see references to everywhere. I can’t decide if they were simply made more visible to me by social media, but all of a sudden, stylists, photographers, make up artists, dealers, and aficionados started coming out of the woodwork.

Fountain Square and beyond flowered with new, fantastic vintage/local shops like IndySwank, Homespun and Harloh’s. Indy’s own beauty blog, PrettyIndy started – another facet of  a good general style scene.

Then, this past year, the Indianapolis Fashion Collective was founded, to “unite, empower, showcase, and grow the Indianapolis area fashion industry through collaboration, education, and awareness.” I saw recently that they have started a discussion about shared studio space for local designers, a great resource when trying to get a small business off the ground and your basement isn’t cutting it.

Then, at a recent Indy fashion meetup, I heard about Midwest Fashion Week (how have I missed this?) and learned an international style maven moved to Bloomington. We even have a brand new street style blog. It was fun to meet local enthusiasts, designers, stylists and editors all working towards the same passion: advancing Indianapolis’s position on the fashion map.

Now, with intrepid curators Niloo Imami-Paydar and Petra Slinkard at the helm, the IMA has joined the chorus with the Fashion Arts Society, a group for true lovers of Fashion as high art.

Everyone came out for one of the falls most exciting events, the Project IMA Fashion Unbound Runway Show, and stayed to people watch at the Behind the Seams after party, sponsored by FAS.

If you love fashion as I do, consider finding a way to get involved. Join FAS, or the Fashion Collective, or submit to the Midwest Fashion week. It’s the involvement of many individuals that make it something we all want to be a part of. I’ll see you all for the opening of Material World!

As artists, we rely on our senses to create our forms of expression.  Many might consider sight the most important. For John Bramblitt, it’s the least.

image courtesy of bramblitt.net

Before John lost his sight, he didn’t spend much time thinking about painting.  He said, “I had thought about painting before, and it might be horrible to say, but I didn’t think I’d be good at it. When I lost my sight, I thought, if I’m not good at it, I’m not going to be able to look at it anyway, so why not give it a try.”

Painting was calming for John.  He lost his sight to epilepsy, which left him angry and frustrated.  John said, “Had I not lost my sight, I might never have picked up a paintbrush.”

John has developed a process that allows him to paint by touch.  The only difference is that instead of using his eyes to differentiate colors, he uses his fingertips.

image courtesy of bramblitt.net

John will be in Indianapolis on July 29^th to speak at the 2010 Statewide Assistive Technology Conference.  He will conduct a hands-on workshop, where he will instruct people on what it is like to paint from his perspective.

For more information on the event, go here. To learn more about John and his process of painting, visit John’s site.

At my house, there is no such plan. We plant randomly, but with fervor. There are few successes, and more than a few bare spots where things refuse to survive. I don’t take it personally, I just plant something else in its place. Garden books are voraciously read through the winter months, but when spring comes, all knowledge and carefully made plans are obliterated at the first sight of a perennial sale.

We are going to have a real garden in the new rental house, no matter what. Enlisting the frenetic planting skills of a seven-year old boy, we got started at the first sight of a seed sale. My son doesn’t think that the planting directions are really important. He just wants to put the seeds in the ground and see what happens next. The single soybean that came home from school in a tiny bit of dirt is proudly growing in a beautiful blue pot next to the front door. We just want to see what happens next.

Along with the ever-extending line of terracotta pots filled with tomato plants, basil, pepper plants and cantaloupes, is the row of egg cartons filled hopefully with watermelon seeds, more cantaloupes, chives, carrots and purple basil. Only my son knows which one is which. He just wants to see them grow. I hesitate to tell him that the carrots might not make it – they are all carefully clustered into a very small pot. Small seeds, small pot. He has it figured out. Each afternoon, he tours his domain and shouts at anything new that is sprouting. The line of morning glory seeds along the front of the house is a bit disheveled, but the pride he takes in knowing that he planted something that is growing, is outstanding.

My daughter approaches planting methodically. Plant only a few things, but make sure that they are in the right sunlight, the right amount of shade. She actually reads the directions on the seed packages to decide where to grow her crop. This year, we are determined to attract butterflies and ladybugs. The hand-painted ladybug house is now surrounded by sweet pea seedlings and a row of sunflowers. Plants are carefully selected, based on their butterfly appeal. Someone in the neighborhood might object to the fact that they are growing in the small space between the sidewalk and the street, but our theory is that it looks better now than it did before. My daughter’s planting program is all about making things look beautiful. The strawberry pots that hang from the front porch are hers too. As the berries ripen one at a time, the hope still exists that there will be a big enough crop to share for breakfast.

I love the fact that my children understand the importance of growing things – sometimes, just for the sake of growing them. It is a rare year that our garden’s bounty is ample enough to keep us sustained through the summer, but we keep trying. The kids understand that the Saturday morning trips to the farmer’s markets are more than just an opportunity to say hello to every single dog at the market. They are starting to notice that there are always different fruits and vegetables for sale. They are inclined to take a risk and try vegetables that they would have otherwise rejected, simply because the farmer took the time to explain their wares to two curious minds. Beets have been offered, prepared and consumed. The farmer told them that they were sweet and delicious and he knows FAR more than mom or dad does. We had a small setback when the sweet peppers must have gotten crossed with the spicy ones. That particular booth is now given a wide berth, but they will be trusted again, especially when strawberry season starts. One night at dinner, one of my beloved offspring announced that he only likes apples from the farm market, because they taste better than the ones from the grocery store. Outstanding. A small victory for local produce.

It is never easy to get my children to eat different vegetables, but I find that they need to have some input about what should be served. For St. Patrick’s Day, I took them to the store and offered to make a dinner that was completely green – whatever they wanted, but it had to be naturally green, no food coloring. Thirteen green vegetables and herbs were gathered for the feast. And the feast was prepared by the enthusiastic guests. And devoured. The best meal, ever.

image via Flickr

When asked about planting, and what it means to them, I was surprised and optimistic about the responses from the kids. It is fun to watch things grow. I feel as if I am doing something important for the environment. We love to compost all year round so that we can make great soil for the gardens. Knowing how to grow things will help farmers stay in business. We like to make the gardens look beautiful and love to eat what we have grown in the garden. We like to go outdoors and pick herbs to use for dinner. The food that we grow tastes better – how can we grow more? What else can we grow?

Local foods taste better. The opportunity to work with local growers, local producers and farmers at Nourish at the IMA has opened up a whole new world for me, personally and professionally. There are so many wonderful and unexpected ingredients that are being produced within a 150 mile radius. Our menus change often, so that we can offer the freshest and best ingredients at their absolute peak. I have been stalking the vendors at the weekend farmers’ markets to see which products we can showcase at Nourish. It has certainly been a learning experience, but one that I enjoy sharing with my children.

They are listening, and they are hearing what I am trying to explain to them, but more importantly, they are discovering it for themselves. And the lesson that they discover is more powerful than the one I try to enforce.

Mo’Joe Coffeehouse on Michigan Street displays works of art for sale by local self-taught artists with advance permission from the shop’s owner. Currently, Angelina Fielding’s art is featured along with her bio and artist statement. According to the barista, “the art adds to the atmosphere” but doesn’t necessarily sell. My Starbucks on Massachusetts Avenue is in the process of establishing a program for local artists. In the meantime, the store encourages partners (employees) to display their work, along with other individuals connected to the store’s management. Nathan Wohlt and Jenny Elikins are a few of the artists with work on view. “A lot of artists work in coffeeshops so it’s a good place to sell your work,” said the barista. But where did the connection between art and coffeehouses originate?

Coffeehouses inspired the origin of countless noteworthy institutions and ideas. In the late 1700s, the auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s began in rooms attached to coffeehouses where sales of art took place. Coffeehouses aided in the business of buying and selling art and were essential to the success of an artist who could promote their work at little or no cost. It makes perfect sense that today’s coffeehouses continue to sell art from their walls.

A bit more history — coffeehouses originated in Middle Eastern countries in the 1400s as places where men gathered to drink Arabic coffee or tea and listen to music, read and play games. Discussions of war and politics also became common. In the 1600s, coffee arrived in Europe and coffeehouses quickly gained popularity. Venice, Oxford, London, Paris and Boston all boasted the first coffeehouses in their regions. They were places of “great social levell[ing], open to all men and indifferent to social status, and as a result associated with equality and republicanism,” according to a Wikipedia article. Business could be conducted and new ideas could spread unobserved by government. It is interesting to know that women were not allowed in coffeehouses in Europe, yet were in Germany.

The coffeehouse was an alternative to the “pub” and precursor to the more elite “club”. In the United States, coffeehouses first popped up in immigrant communities and attracted the free thinking Beat generation, the youth counterculture, solo musicians and today, wireless internet seekers. Coffee anyone?