The sixth annual Artists-in-Residence program will take place on the grounds of the General Lew Wallace Study and Museum on Sunday, October 4, 2009 from 1:00-4:30pm. The event coincides with the last day of the Downtown Art Show as a community-wide celebration of art.
Featured Artists
Visitors will have the opportunity to interact with four local artists and watch as they complete works in progress. Don Black, a wood carver from Crawfordsville, will work here. Karen Patton, a plein-air painter and co-president of the Art League of Montgomery County, will work on a painting of the Study. Peggy Boyd of Crawfordsville’s “A Tisket, A Tasket” basket shop weave a garden gathering basket. Finally, Michael Phelps, a self-taught watercolorist, will paint.
Art Education Stations
This year, six art education stations will allow visitors to create their own works of art to take home. Terry Lawrence, a veteran of the Artist-in-Residence program, will encourage visitors to look at some of the architectural features of the building and then use their imaginations to create their own original buildings. 
Mary Dawald will assist young artists in making their own tin-punch ornament. Jaroslaw Petruniw will instruct visitors how to create their own comic strip. In addition, June Gourley will guide students in a string art activity.
For the first time, the program will feature youth artists. Riley Edie, a student from Pleasant Hill Elementary, will teach basic origami techniques. The Crawfordsville High School National Art Honor Society will help visitors create sand paintings.
The Museum will also have two local luthiers, or violin makers, participate in the program this year. Archie Krout and Alan Frodge will be on hand to demonstrate the art of violin-making. This is an activity that General Wallace taught himself later in his life. Also they will play finished pieces.
Study Tours
Visitors can also go on free guided tours of the Study to see examples of Wallace’s sculpting, drawing, and painting. In addition, visitors can see the violin that he played as well as a violin that he was making. With preparations underway for the Study Restoration Project to replace the leaking dome, this will be visitors’ last opportunity to tour the building before the artifacts are packed for temporary storage.
Come visit the Study October 4 to see local artists at work and create your own masterpieces.
The Artists-In-Residence Program is made possible, in part, with support from the Tippecanoe Arts Federation, the Indiana Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. For information on this or other exciting programs at the General Lew Wallace Study and Museum, visit our website at https://www.ben-hur.com/ or phone 765-362-5769.
