First Friday's Circle City Industrial Complex
by Dan Grossman
It's just before 5:00 p.m., on Friday May 6, and Wug Laku is precariously perched on top of a ladder, affixing a
spotlight to the ceiling to light a sculpture below. The sculpture is that of a
life-sized "zonkey" -- a combination donkey and zebra --
by Stacey Holloway. The venue is dubbed the Back Hall Gallery and it's one of
the many common areas of the Circle City Industrial Complex located at 10th
Street and Brookside Avenue on Indy's Near Eastside.
But it's Wug Laku's own gallery (called Wug Laku's Studio & Garage) that's the biggest First Friday
draw in this vast 13 and a half acre complex in which a small, hardy group of artists
and craftspeople have found a foothold.
In the corridors of the central section of the complex, off Brookside Avenue,
you'll find galleries displaying hand-crafted jewelry, painting, sculpture and
furniture -- as well as the studios where these items are made -- not to
mention a bakery and a fashion boutique.
On this particular First Friday opening, the abstract paintings of Doug Arnholter are on display in Laku's
space. By the time Arnholter arrives at 5:30 p.m., Laku has come down off the ladder and is ready to play host
to the First Friday guests who are beginning to wander in. It's not so unusual
these days for Laku -- a photographer, painter, furniture
maker and Creative Renewal Grant recipient -- to manage multiple exhibits at
once.
But Laku's role goes beyond coordinating First Fridays. He's also an informal gatekeeper.
"He doesn't have control over who gets a lease," says jewelry maker and
sculptor Nancy Lee. "But he's the first person
an artist talks to when they think they might want to locate here. He makes
sure it's a cohesive group of people doing a really good job in what they've
chosen to do."
One of the people she cites as an example is the astoundingly talented sculptor
and painter Matthew Davey who has his studio located in the center. (Come July
1 new studio spaces will become available in the center for artists and
craftspeople).
Lee herself has both a studio and gallery space near the Brookside Avenue
entrance, Nancy Lee Designs, where she displays her handcrafted jewelry and
sculptural work.
"I came here because a tree fell on my studio at home," she says. "And I was
getting ready for a show out here that I was coordinating with Wug Laku and several other people
from Smaller Indiana and the show was called 'Elegant
Funk.' I was working on a piece at the time and I needed another place to
go."
"Most of us career artists," Lee says, regarding those who locate in the complex.
"We do this full time to make a living."
Nahrwold the pioneer artist
The first artist to locate her studio in the complex was Martha Nahrwold, whose Five Seasons Studio is just down the hall
from Wug Laku's
space. Nahrwold, a practitioner of an impressionistic
painting technique she calls "objective marbling," came to the Circle City
Industrial Complex back in 1991.
She had previously been running a floral arrangement business out of her home
and found herself running out of space. At about
the same time, the company from which she bought art supplies, Dolphin Papers,
moved to the Circle City Industrial Complex from their old Walnut Street
location.
"I had to track them to this building when they moved," says Nahrwold. "And at the same time I had been looking for
available space but what I found on the north side was more finished office
space. I wanted a space where I could spill paint or water."
So she moved in, and found herself benefiting from referrals from her art
supply store neighbor.
"There were two different printing businesses here," says Nahrwold. "One
was a silkscreen business and the other was a commercial printer... There had
been a book bindery in this building between the diesel testing lab moving out
and it being open to these others and I got a ten foot long work table that had
been left over from there."
The history of the Circle City Industrial Complex, however, stretches back much
further back than 1991. Back in the late 1920s, when it was built, it was known
as the Schwitzer Building. Since then it has
served in a wide variety of manufacturing purposes including as a Cummins
Engine testing facility during World War II.
Wug Laku arrives
"We're definitely the most industrial [arts space] in town," says Laku. "Because there's an auto parts store here, there's a couple of metal fabricating place here, there's a billboard shop here..."Laku came to the Circle City Industrial Complex in 2007.
"I needed multi-use space because of all the things I do -- the painting, the drawing... at the time I wasn't really doing that much photography but also the woodworking and the lightboxes," says Laku. "So I was looking for decent-sized studio space at a really affordable price. I thought about the Stutz, thought about the Murphy [City for the Arts], all the usual suspects. A, the price wasn't right. B, I knew people in both of those buildings and other places in town and I knew that if I moved in there I'd have knocks on the door all the time and I wouldn't get anything done."
A friend told him about the complex, and Laku felt at home because, like Nahrwold, Laku also used to buy his art supplies from Dolphin Papers. "I came in, walked down the hallway and in fact the old Dolphin paper logo was still in the window where it used to be located," he recalls.
He immediately fell in love with the space that would become his studio. It turned out that this space, which had previously been a biomedical manufacturing facility, was perfect for showing art. So he began showing artists he admired in his space. He got involved with the Indianapolis Art Dealers Association (IDADA) gallery walks.
At first it the response was lacking,
but over time, word of mouth spread and the complex has seen upwards of 300
visitors show up on the First Friday art walks.
While 300 visitors didn't walk through the corridors of the complex on that May
First Friday, it was still a respectable showing. And IDADA is taking notice in
the increasing popularity of this venue. It so happens that the 2011 IDADA Annual
Member's Exhibition will be held in Wug Laku's Studio and Garage.
"We've got the awards, the
grants to back it up. So it's a really strong mix of people," says Laku of the artists in the complex. "It's got a
little different vibe than every other place in town on First Friday. I
don't know how to explain it or describe it. I just know that it
is."
For more: Circle City Industrial Complex visit: http://www.halakar.com/view_property/384
Plus, you can find CCIC on Facebook.
SIDEBAR: CCIC artists:
Nancy Lee: 317-937-1652
http://www.ndesignsmetal.com/
Nikki Blaine Couture
www.NikkiBlaine.com
317-501-4913
Wug Laku
www.wlsandg.com
317-270-8258
Martha Nahrwold
FiveSeasonsStudio@yahoo.com
317-523-7777
The Pastry Station
www.pastrystation.com
317-632-4880
Matt Davey
www.matthewdavey.com
Mike Lyons
winwinstudio@yahoo.com
317-340-7276
Jari Sheese
Lisa Atchison
Samma Parcels
Sallie Gurth
www.indyflameart.com
Nick Allman
www.nickallman.com
405-812-9977
Robin Long-Jordan
riongjordan@yahoo.com
Ted Ross
www.tedross.com
Guest Artist
Indianapolis Fashion Collective
www.IndianapolisFashion.Org
Related Locations
-
Circle City Industrial Complex
- 1125 Brookside Avenue, Indianapolis East (general) IN 46201
- Be the first to review this location!
-
Wug Laku's Studio & Garage
- 1125 Brookside Avenue C7, Indianapolis Mass Ave Indiana 46202
-
317-270-8258
- www.wlsandg.com
- Be the first to review this location!
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