Nickel Plate Arts to Feature Architect-Artist Craig Mullins in the Stephenson House During the Month of August
Nickel Plate Arts is welcoming artist Craig Mullins among its four artists of the month in August. Details on Mullins as well as information on the August artist exhibit dates and receptions are available below.
***
STEPHENSON HOUSE: Craig Mullins
Craig Mullins discovered his natural talent for drawing at an early age. Encouraged by his friends, teachers, and family to pursue his talent in some way, Mullins attended and later taught at the College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University. For most of his career, he worked as a professional architect in Indianapolis. Now retired, Mullins is drawing on those same architectural skills that were inherent in his profession as an artist, thus identifying as an Architect-Artist.
“One of the goals in my work is to capture the memory of a place, then creatively enhance it to inspire the viewer to see more than the original experience,” Mullins says. “My paintings are not a literal or impressionistic translation of what I see, but more of a composition that explores and enhances an image through my personal artistic style and color.”
Mullins’s artistic attention to detail and precision shines through his work in the landscapes, barnscapes, floral, and wildlife images that he paints with acrylic and pastel mediums on canvas.
“Many of the elements in my paintings become architecture, literally and figuratively,” Mullins says. “My landscape paintings become spaces that direct your eyes through the composition of the space. Colors in the paintings are bold and complementary; buildings, barns, canoes, and animals are focal points that draw your attention.”
Mullins’s exhibit for this year, Favorite Subjects and Special Places, features current works that are predominantly landscape paintings. Many of the paintings are large pieces that can serve as a strong focal point in a room, and he encourages anyone who loves to hike and travel or has a strong affinity for striking landscapes to check out the exhibit.
“Even if there is not a particular landscape painting in the show that you are drawn to, maybe you have a special place that you are drawn to or that you remember in recent travels that you would like to have painted as a commissioned work,” Mullins says. You can reference Mullins’s website, cwmullinsart.com, to see examples of his commissioned paintings.
The full Favorite Subjects and Special Places exhibit can be seen in the Stephenson House Wednesday through Friday from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. You can meet Mullins during his free public reception at the August First Friday event from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the Stephenson House on Nickel Plate Arts campus.
Exhibit Dates: August 4 to 26, 2023
Reception Date: August 4 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Nickel Plate Arts campus)
***
MEYER NAJEM: John Dierdorf
See Dierdorf’s full exhibit, Floral Celebration, in the Meyer Najem 2nd floor gallery, located at 11787 Lantern Road in Fishers, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Exhibit Dates: July 7 to September 29, 2023
***
FOUR DAY RAY: Chris & Amie Knuckles
The Knuckles’ full exhibit, The Artwork of Vintage Adventures, can be seen at Four Day Ray Brewing, located at 11671 Lantern Road in Fishers, Sunday and Monday from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and Friday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Exhibit Dates: July 16 to September 29, 2023