“Brown County Courthouse,” by Charles Dahlgreen, was displayed at the 1928 Hoosier Salon, and was awarded the prize for “Picture by Man or Woman over 60 Years of Age”.
Every year the Brown County Art Gallery presents a Collector’s Showcase put together by gallery President Lyn Letsinger-Miller and the art gallery’s foundation who choose a theme, research and seek out the art.
This year’s theme is the Hoosier Salon Centennial, celebrating 100 years of art history in Indiana. The Hoosier Salon debuted in 1924 after a group of women from Indiana who were living in Chicago decided to create a life-changing venue, Letsinger-Miller said in a letter from the Brown County Art Gallery Foundation.
“They reached out to the artistic elite in the city of Chicago and helped these early artists by getting their work in important places. For the artists of Brown County, it was a lifeline,” Letsinger-Miller wrote.
The gallery’s Hoosier Salon Centennial showcase consists of 80 paintings, some of which have never been seen before in a public setting.
“These are paintings that have only been in museums and private collections … we borrow them for the exhibit, these paintings are 100 years of Hoosier Salon paintings,” gallery manager Jeanne Bennett said.
“This has been a popular exhibit, people really love it,” Bennett said.
Five different museums around Indiana have lent pieces to the Brown County Art Gallery for this exhibit, she said, “then the rest are private collectors that have purchased these and allowed us to use them.”
“What makes it so special is we target these artists (the original art colony),” Bennett said. “They are the artists that started this art colony and Brown County is the art colony in the Midwest and we highlight and give praise to what they’ve done for us. That’s why we’re so excited about this exhibit because it was the older artists.”
Attendees have visited from Chicago, Kentucky and other states to see this year’s collection.
The exhibit opened on Oct. 5 with a reception of around 100 people, including Gov. Eric Holcomb’s wife, Janet Holcomb. Between the $20 admission cost and private donations, the gallery made around $12,000 at that event alone.
The reception was the only time the gallery will charge to see the showcase. The exhibit is free to enter and nothing is for sale.
“It’s for the community to come in and enjoy because they wouldn’t have access to these,” assistant project manager Kimoy Bennett said.
The gallery is open every day, Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.
The showcase runs until Nov. 10, when it will be cycled out and the pieces will be returned to their original locations.
“We depend mostly on fundraisers and private donations, we’ve gotten very fortunate,” Jeanne Bennett said. “Kimoy is our grant writer and she primarily applies for grants that in the winter we do with senior art and in the summer we do a kids art program, so that’s how we’re funded.”
Additionally, the art gallery will be hosting the Uplands Winter Wine Market on Dec. 7 from noon to 5 p.m.
Tickets for the wine market cost $30 and include admission, all wine tastings, a souvenir wine glass and tote bag. They can be found on the Indiana Uplands Wine Trail website at indianauplands.com.
