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Getting to know Indianapolis Public Art
Danielle Look is a music correspondent for NUVO Newsweekly and IndyMojo.com, a marketing student at The Kelley School of Business, and a general supporter of the local art and music scene in Indianapolis. Below she takes a closer look at one of Indianapolis’ many public art installations.
Stout’s Shoe Store is privileged enough to be located at the heart of one of Indianapolis’ most frequently visited cultural districts, Mass Ave. The downtown street runs at a 45 degree angle and is known as the Arts and Theater District. Countless boutiques and specialty shops line the street, in addition to five performing arts theaters and countless art galleries. Sought-after quality dining establishments flourish and there are even multiple permanent and rotating outdoor public art installations. Perhaps one of the most striking is Brick Head 3, a permanent fixture in Davlan Park on the 400 block of Massachusetts Avenue in front of Elements Restaurant.
The piece of art, as lovely as it is, is often taken for granted by the thousands of locals who stroll past it every day, week, and year without giving it a second thought. Read on to learn some fun facts about one of Indianapolis’ coolest public art installations.
THE ARTIST: The piece’s creator is James Tyler, an Indianapolis native who studied at Shortridge High School and Herron School of Art before moving to Boston, then Manhattan, and finally Nyack, New York. He is a sculpture artist whose mediums include ceramic brick, bronze, stone, and more.
BRICK HEAD 3: The head itself is made of 550 ceramic bricks, each one shaped and laid individually. The installation is motion activated; when the sensor is triggered, three strategically selected tracks of sound (writing on a chalkboard, hammering, and car horns) begins to play. The sounds are designed to conjure the thoughts and feelings associated with the mind’s construction of ideas- an aural picture of the brain’s information processing mechanism.
BRICK HEAD 1 & 2: If The City of Indianapolis owns Brick Head 3, then where are 1 and 2? The short answer is New York. But the long answer is that there are actually a total of eight Brick Head installations across the country.
BRICKHEAD Come and Gone (2003, Gallery at GAGA, Garnerville, NY)
BRICKHEAD 2 (2003, Rockland Center for the Arts, West Nyack, NY)
BRICKHEAD 3 (2004, Davlan Park, Indianapolis, IN)
Underground Brickhead (2004, Paterson Museum, Paterson, NJ)
No photo.
BRICKHEAD EVOLUTION (2004, Garnerville Arts Complex, Garnerville, NY)
BRICKHEAD: Please Stop (2005, R. Duane Reed Gallery, New York, NY)
BRICKHEAD Truth (2005, Blue Hills Center, Pearl River, NY)
BLUE HILLS BRICKHEAD (2006, Blue Hills Center for the Arts, Pearl River, NY)
No photo.
All images from the James Tyler website, except Brick Head 2 (from the Lurie Galleries website).
