Page 31 - ALLISON'S MAGAZINE ~ ISSUE #104
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your art. Just work on getting good at   I could paint them. It got to the point   Will you talk about the youth   Art has been such a positive influence in   toward my interests. My first exhibit was   project started at the Experimental
 it,” he told me. I decided to start with   where people were buying ideas of   organization you founded?  my life. Through Kindred Spirits, I am   with Simmie Knox, which was a great   Printmaking Institute on the Lafayette
 landscapes. I studied paintings from the   paintings in advance. We raised prices   After I moved to Indianapolis, I created   able to share my experiences with young   honor for me.   College campus in Easton, Pennsylvania.
 Hudson River School (a collective of   twice a year by 10-15 percent for six   Kindred Spirits in the office complex   people. Art education and exposure is
 landscape artists in the mid-nineteenth   years straight. In less than two years,   across the street from our day care. I set   not as available or intentional in the   In 2014, I was chosen to contribute   What do you want to leave as
 century). Knox told me, “Until your   the gallery was selling my work across   up a studio, a gallery space, a picture-  public-school system as it was when I   a piece of art to the Eskenazi Health   your legacy?
 work can hang in the same room as   the country. And I started getting   framing workshop, and commercial   was an adolescent.  facilities as part of a collection with   I want to be a major influence in
 theirs, don’t show it.” I practiced for   calls from people like Spike Lee and   sign equipment. This was all free for   seventeen other artists, designed to   assisting art education and opportunity,
 a year and a half and then started   Alonzo Mourning.  the kids. They could learn computer   What projects have excited you the   support the environment of health    and I hope to be considered one of the
 researching galleries.   graphics, Adobe software, fine art, etc.   most over your career?    and healing.  best painters of my time.
 Do you experience artist’s block?  My wife has a finance background, so   Indiana is home to some of the country’s   For more info, visit masonarchie.com
 What did your first gallery   I never experience artist’s block. There   she was doing financial literacy with   oldest art competitions. Competing   Currently, I am traveling the country
 experience look like?  are so many ideas running through my   the kids. Before we knew it, we had sixty   in them has been rewarding. The Arts   painting the Underground Railroad
 I went to a gallery in Louisville and   head that I know it may be impossible   students. Eli Lilly as well as the Fifth   Council of Indianapolis and the Lilly   historic sites. I am also working with
 showed them my art, and they bought   to get them all out. This may be due to a   Third Bank also began supporting   Endowment granted me a Creative   master printmakers Curlee Raven
 all of my paintings. They started selling   late start with my fine art career.  the organization.   Renewal Arts Fellowship that allowed   Holton and Jase Clark to produce
 them at $5,000. They sold faster than   me to work on specific paintings tailored   etchings and serigraphs. The ongoing




 28 | AMERICAN LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE                                                               americanlifestylemag.com | 29
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