History happening
by Rita Kohn
Exhibit Review | Thru Jan. 4
The now-familiar building at Ohio and West streets has a new name - The Indiana History Center - to more adequately reflect its broad-based connections with our past, present and future, according to Salvatore G. Cilella Jr., president and CEO of the Indiana Historical Society.
William Clark played a significant role in the development of the Indiana Territory and the western portion of the United States. With government support, Clark, along with Meriwether Lewis, carved out the first path across the country to the Pacific Ocean. See "5 Unsettling Stories" through Jan. 4.
As the performance home for over a dozen arts organizations and the venue for its own roster of public arts-related programs, the IHS theater/concert hall and canal-side space are destinations for audiences of all ages and interests. Among the city"s understated gems are the Cole Porter Room, where every Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. brown baggers can enjoy the eclectic free film series, and the exhibition hall, where 10-5 Tuesday-Saturday and noon-5 Sunday visitors can amble through 5 Unsettling Stories: Exploration, Discovery, Migration, Settlement and Change. Faith Revell, the society"s director of exhibitions, and her staff, including exhibits fabricator Jeff Mills, have developed an exhibit worthy of accolades. When you go, plan to spend ample time because there is much to engage you. It"s interactive along with presenting facts, figures and functional items, usually referred to as artifacts from a different era. Opening with "The Adventures of Lewis and Clark" you can join "the Corps of Discovery" on its expedition into the interior of the vast, hither-to-fore unknown territory beyond the Mississippi. Following an elliptical path, the exhibit visitor next comes upon "Frontier Indiana" with its probing questions about the struggle for dominion. Concurrently a tale of two adventuring Euro-American and two indigenous-Indian brothers, this is perhaps the showstopper section, with a unique video narrated by two young students. "Traveling the National Road" takes us along old U.S. 40 and its ups and downs, after which the exhibit moves us to still another level of displacement in the examination of "Lockefield Gardens." Beginning as a federal public-housing project, the original rich-tapestry community becomes frayed and though eventually re-made, much of its color and style is lost in the process. Finally, "Building Bridges, Crossing Boundaries" showcases the photographs made by Latino schoolchildren to document their everyday lives. Collectively, the exhibit affords the visitor an overview of what it was, is and will be to come into or be thrust from a place. To extend the exhibit"s experience, you can attend the 82nd annual Indiana History Conference Nov. 2 at the Indiana History Center. "Exploration and Discovery" kicks off the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The day begins with Patrick Lee presenting a first person interpretation of President Thomas Jefferson and ends with his "Visit with Captain William Clark." In between, author Gary E. Moulton delivers the keynote address, "The Seven Habits of Some Highly Effective Explorers," and a half-dozen other scholars offer their take on the meaning and matter of the opening of the continent to settlement by Euro-Americans and the subsequent displacement of the original inhabitants. For more information and to register call 233-5659.
