A peek into Michael Wimmer's "Transformation" exhibit, which opened tonight at the Arts Council of Southern Indiana.

Like I said, it's nice to live just a short walk from an exhibit opening.

Michael Wimmer's "Transformation" exhibit opens this Friday (Nov. 17) at the Arts Council of Southern Indiana in New Albany.

The exhibit runs through December 15.

As an added bonus, I stumbled across the final resting place of Bob Caesar's dynamic Bicentennial pavers coffee-table books.

Not quite, but maybe some sweet day.

Michael Wimmer's "Transformation" exhibit opens this Friday (Nov. 17) at the Arts Council of Southern Indiana in New Albany.

It's delightful to have an exhibit opening just four blocks from the house, and even better when it's Michael, who remains an esteemed lad of the village.

Fb event page
WE Studio / R. Michael Wimmer
Arts Council of Southern Indiana

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OPENING FOR MICHAEL WIMMER’S TRANSFORMATION EXHIBIT – November 17

Opening Reception, Friday 11/17, 6pm-8pm

The Arts Council of Southern Indiana will open a new exhibition this Friday, featuring mixed media artist Michael Wimmer, known for sculptural public art and his art gallery. The Transformation exhibit focuses on Wimmer’s evolution as an artist focused on using wood as a primary medium, to now using metal.

WHAT: Opening Reception/Meet & Greet with the Artist Michael Wimmer

WHO: Open to the public

WHEN: Friday, November 17, 2017, 6pm-8pm

WHERE: The Arts Council of Southern Indiana, 820 E. Market Street, New Albany

PHOTO OPP: Michael Wimmer will be there for interviews and photos

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The Arts Council of Southern Indiana engages our community in the arts, playing a role in ensuring the arts enrich our lives, and offers collaboration, encouragement and support to our cultural and artistic community.

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Contact: Robin Miller, Community Relations Consultant, 502-445-4585

Arts and Cultural District: Team Gahan lapped again by Jeffersonville.

Sadly, among the artists set to populate Jeffersonville's cultural district is Michael Wimmer, formerly doing good work in New Albany.

Last summer, his departure was explained.

Gahan now open to covert art discussions, but still no public comment on two-way streets.

This was around the same time that Warren Naps was fighting to keep pianos off New Albany's pristine, monster-truck-ridden streets, at least until the piano's backers politely recalled that there is a proper order for art installations in New Gahania: One pitches the idea of campaign donations first, and only then speaks to the actual project itself.

Think of it as the gentle art of the kickback. That's real Nawbany culture, son.

Yep. One headline, multiple uses: Team Gahan, lapped again. 

A CULTURED CORRIDOR: Jeffersonville to create arts and cultural district downtown, by Elizabeth Beilman (Jeffersonville Evening News)

JEFFERSONVILLE — There's not much on Michigan Avenue. The two-and-a-half blocks in downtown Jeffersonville are mostly home to concrete and empty buildings.

" ... Right now, we have people that come off the [Big Four] bridge and they go around Spring Street and they make a loop to the river and they come back, and they don’t go much further," Jeffersonville Public Arts Administrator Dawn Spyker said.

City officials are trying to change that.

The goal is to transform the corridor into an arts and cultural district, a walkable connection between booming Spring Street and the soon-to-be-developed Gateway property at 10th Street.

Broken Sidewalk dissects City Hall's tone deafness in the "Street Piano Debacle of 2015."

Broken Sidewalk collates the facts from multiple sources and presents an excellent overview of the Street Piano Debacle of 2015.

Please don’t injure yourself playing this artistic piano on New Albany’s downtown sidewalks, by Branden Klayko (Broken Sidewalk)

 ... New Albany’s off-tune reception of Roseberry’s street piano highlights a critical part of urban life today—that we must embrace experimentation in our public realm. As cities and urban areas continue to draw more residents and visitors, the community is eager to explore new ways of interacting with the city—and with each other. Whether it’s through tactical urbanism, public art, or simply just hanging out on the sidewalk, cities like New Albany would do well to encourage such citizen-led initiatives and reap the benefits of a revitalized urban society.

Part One of "Free the Street Piano," in which there is a subtle public protest outside.

With Hannegan Rosebarry's street piano returning yet again to the Board of Public Works and Safety agenda on Tuesday morning, artist Michael Wimmer conceived a public art protest of the public art captivity, and created his own street piano out of scrap materials.

As you can see from the photo above, when I arrived on the scene at 9:30 a.m., Michael's piano was in place on the plaza in front of the City-County building's front entrance. The News and Tribune's photographer was snapping shots.

David Duggins emerged from the front entrance. The city's corporate welfare bursar walked toward us, said hello to everyone except me, continued walking on the sidewalk, and made a loop to the building's Spring Street entrance.

Moments later, out came the building authority's head supervisor, who informed Michael that if he wanted the piano to remain on the public plaza, as opposed to the public sidewalk ten feet away, he'd have to obtain -- wait for it -- the Board of Public Works and Safety's approval.

Not wanting to subject himself to a six-week rejection process, Michael rolled the piano to the sidewalk, then after a few minutes, he repositioned it on the south side of the plaza-sidewalk intersection. It was at this point that I  glanced toward the entrance to the sheriff's department and saw a hologram. ‬

The mayor spotted me leveling a camera in his direction, and by the time I squeezed the shutter, all I saw was his back.

Michael stayed streetside with his creation when the meeting started at 10:00 a.m., and he said that he'd be wheeling "Free the Street Piano" around during the next few days. It's intended to be inter-active, so you can sign it and leave comments. Here's a good one: "Regime Change Now."

Part two is here.

Gahan now open to covert art discussions, but still no public comment on two-way streets.

This quote moved me -- from the sofa to the fridge for another beer.

“I certainly don’t like to see not just Mr. Wimmer, but any artist, leave New Albany,” (Mayor Jeff Gahan) said. “We are certainly open to discussions on how we can bring quality art projects here.”

Now, in a world exclusive NAC SPY CAM VIDEO, follow the top-secret, down-low City Hall route artists must take to find the meeting room where these "open" discussions typically take place.

Communication. Rinse and repeat.

Yo, Michael: I'll come visit in Jeffersonville. Cheers!

Artistic differences: Wimmer leaving New Albany after disagreement over artwork, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

Michael Wimmer paints a dreary picture of New Albany’s appreciation for public arts.

There’s a desire within the community to see more works, the artist and owner of WE Studio said Friday, but city officials have made the task of installing public art cumbersome, Wimmer said.

“I’m an artist. Of course I love art. I love to see it. But it also brings tourism in, especially to a downtown area like this,” he said.

Wimmer plans to soon close his East Main Street studio in New Albany and move it to an undisclosed location in Jeffersonville, where he is already taking part in multiple public art projects.

His reasons for leaving stem from a series of guessing games he said the New Albany administration played with him about two sizable art projects.

Carnegie Center announces 2012 New Albany Public Art Project: Bicentennial Series Artists.

(submitted)

The Carnegie Center announces the 2012 New Albany Public Art Project: Bicentennial Series Artists

Nathan Smith
Jacob Stanley
R. Michael Wimmer

Art Walk Saturday June 23, 2012 (Rain date June 30)

Artist Nathan Smith of Louisville, KY, will create an art installation on the historic theme of Parks and Recreation on a section of brick sidewalk next to MainSource Bank, located at the corner of State and Market Streets in downtown New Albany.

Jacob Stanley, an artist living and working in Greencastle, IN, will install his artwork on the theme of Neighborhoods and Architecture in the garden at St Marks Church, located at the corner of Spring and Bank Streets, directly across the street from the Carnegie Center.

New Albany artist R. Michael Wimmer’s art installation will interpret the theme of Education in front of the City-County Building, located at 311 Hauss Square, also in downtown New Albany.

Nathan Smith's wooden “MicroPark” will take its form from the Ohio River and will provide a gathering space for the community with seating and plants. Smith writes, “The MicroPark proposal is conceived as an interactive work that applies aspects of sculpture and landscape urbanism in an attempt to create new social interactions on the sidewalk site. Reclaimed lumber will be sourced locally to recreate the form of the Ohio River at the pedestrian scale. Islands and shores, at this scale, become places to sit or grow plants while the river itself is translated into a wood ‘boardwalk’ that ramps slightly upward to make a new space on the sidewalk… Ultimately, the goal is to create a beautiful representation of New Albany’s link to the natural world while prompting a productive interaction on the sidewalk.”

Jacob Stanley's sculpture will begin with a grid on the ground, representing city streets and neighborhoods. This grid then metaphorically and literally turns upward to become posts that support a sculpture of a house, which will incorporate architectural details from well-known local homes. The artist writes, “The supports represent the many hardworking people, contractors and institutions that have fought to save historic and architecturally significant homes in New Albany. The built environment profoundly influences our lives and requires a critical understanding of this influence and its history. In particular, I am excited by the site-specific nature of the project. It allows for an in-depth investigation into the history of New Albany. ”

R. Michael Wimmer's metal sculpture will grow out of the earth as a plant form, flowering into objects that symbolize education in our city. About his artwork, Wimmer writes, “The education system in New Albany has a rich history in this country. In 1853 New Albany High School was the first public school in Indiana. NAHS also started WNAS-FM in 1949, which is the oldest continuously operating high school radio station in the nation… Growth of Education represents not only what is learned in books and the classroom but what is learned outside the school in nature and life experiences.”

The New Albany Public Art Project: Bicentennial Series is a 4-year program featuring a rotating schedule of outdoor artworks that will be installed each year in the downtown area, beginning in 2010 and leading up to New Albany's bicentennial commemoration in 2013. Each work interprets a different theme from New Albany's history. The jurors for the 2012 Public Art Project were Jim Clark of LexArts in Lexington, KY; Martha Slaughter of Bernheim Arboretum in Clermont, KY; and Alice Stites, of 21C Museum in Louisville, KY. The New Albany Public Art Project: Bicentennial Series originated from a partnership between the Carnegie Center for Art and History and the New Albany Urban Enterprise Association.

For additional information visit the Public Art Project website and Facebook page.

Thank you,
Laura Wilkins, Director of Marketing and Outreach