Browse images of Lotus Visual Arts over the years on our Facebook page!
Current year (2020):
2019:
- A Light in the Dark: Luminaria and Lantern Traditions of the Southwest Border Regions and Beyond– click here for details
2018:
- Maracatu: Celebration from Brazil to Bloomington — click here for details
- Festival Exhibit — click here for details
- Lotus Festival Backdrop: “Convocation” — click here for details
2017:
- Thematic Focus: “Storytelling” — click here for details
2016:
- Thematic Focus: One Million Stars to End Violence: Lotus International Star-Weaving Project (year-long)
- Exhibit: “Around the Body, Around the World,” Waldron Arts Center
- Lotus Backdrop: Redisplay of “Piece/Full Impression” (2001) by Gail Hale, Susan Sammis, and Alec Slinde, the first-ever commissioned Lotus backdrop; featured in 2016 with updates from “One Million Stars”
- Arts Village
- (Visual Arts Outreach Project) One Million Stars to End Violence, with visit by founding Australian artist Maryann Talia Pau
- Planetary Spheres sculpture, created by Ivy Tech 3D Sculpture Class students
- IU / Lotus inflatables
- Chalk art
2015
- Exhibit: “Seeing Red: World Textiles,” Waldron Arts Center
- Arts Village
- (Visual Arts Outreach Project) Pahyias Festa Houses: Celebrating the Harvest in the Philippines
- IU / Lotus inflatables
- Lotus flower nail art
- Star weaving
- Venue sculpture: “Caravan” (IU School of Fine Arts Students, Textiles/Natural dyes workshops)
2014
- Exhibit: “Color + Movement: The Making of Lotus Visual Art”, Waldron Arts Center
- “Carving the Power of Pattern” – window display of carved blocks, Darn Good Soup
- Arts Village
- Masks Around the World
- IU / Lotus inflatables (IU School of Fine Arts Students, Textiles)
- Chalk art, including demo of Indian Kolam chalk art by Radha Lakshmi
- Lotus word art
- Lotus artists on the map
- The Lotus Brain (Jill Bolte-Taylor, Merridee LaMantia)
- Chinese story theater
- Venue sculpture: “Ode to Lotus” (3D sculpture students of Amy Brier, Ivy Tech)
2013:
- Lotus Backdrop #5: Power of Pattern
- 7 black canvas panels prepared with acryclic gesso
- Designs solicited from community members, hand-carved and block-printed
- Power of Pattern small banners (downtown stores, Arts Village)
- Exhibit: “World Blues: Shades of Indigo,” Waldron gallery
- Arts Village
- Art-making project stations
- Audio-visual Lotus retrospective
- Chalk art
- Bicycle dome sculpture
- New Arts Village flags (with Discardia)
- Lotus in the Park: Art Camp (hands-on arts and crafts)
2012
- Exhibit: “Woven and Constructed: Traditional African Textiles and Baskets,” Waldron gallery
- Lotus Arts Village
- Community Labyrinth panels – inspired by African textile designs
Festival Featured Exhibit: Woven and Constructed: Traditional African Textiles and Baskets - Community Labyrinth
- Lotus Brain (Jill Bolte-Taylor, Merridee LaMantia)
- Hear/Hear Performance stage
- Trashion/Refashion exhibit
- Community Labyrinth panels – inspired by African textile designs
2011
- Arts Village
- Visual Arts Outreach Project: Community Labyrinth panels
- Tiny Houses
- Hear/Here spoken performance stage
- Chalk art
- Exhibit: “Woven Treasures,” Waldron gallery
- Lotus in the Park: Art Camp (hands-on arts and crafts)
2010
- Arts Village
- Nomadic structures
- Translucent lifelike figures (Amy Brier’s 3-D Ivy Tech class)
- Chalk art “rugs”
- Large-scale textile weaving
- Hear/Here spoken-word stage
- Exhibits: Lotus Mobiles (created for Edible Lotus), Trashion/Re-fashion costumes, Lotus Retrospective, Lodge/Space 1010
- Lotus in the Park: Art Camp (hands-on arts and crafts)
2009
- Arts Village
- Community Pathway (chalk art)
- IU Arts students textile installation
- Parade masks (summer outreach)
- Exhibit:
- “World of Morton C. Bradley,” geometric sculptures (collaboration with IU Art Museum), Space 101
- “community,” photos by William L. Snyder celebrating diversity of experiences of Asian Pacific Americans living in the Midwest, Monroe County Public Library
- Lotus in the Park: Art Camp (hands-on activities)
- Outreach workshops, summer: At the Mathers, Lotus Family Craft Days, mask-making
2008
- Exhibit: Aboriginal Art Exhibit, works by Yidumduma Bill Harney, elder and last Senior Male Aboriginal custodian of the Wardaman people of Australia
- Lotus Arts Village
- Lotus Labyrinth
- Inflatable sculptures
- Lotus art bikes
2007
- Lotus silks (for sale in Festival store), hand dyed and screen printed by LuAnne Holladay and Deborah Klein
- Lotus Art Bike Project – Donated by community members and “rehabilitated” by volunteers, project design and coordination by Joe LaMantia
- Lotus in the Park: Art Camp (hands-on arts activities)
- Lotus Arts Village
- Community Mandala
- Arts Village Canopy (by Jackson Creek Middle School students – fabric panels with designs based on cultural traditions from around the world)
2006
- First “official” Festival Arts Village
- Mongolian gers (yurts), housing Community Mandala, Roliquery (by Amy Brier), Peace Flags (Merridee LaMantia), Mandala paintings by Amy Roach
- At Fountain Square Mall: Tibetan sand mandalas and art exhibits, from the Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center
- Lotus in the Park: Art Camp (hands-on arts activities)
- Tibetan butter sculptures from TMBCC (storefront displays around the square)
- Kinetic sculptures – 3D hanging sculptures for large performance tent, by Gail Hale
2005
- Faces of Diversity – 25+ sculptural parade “masks” by Joe LaMantia; standards to be carried by parade goers, made from recycled materials with help from community members
- Festival banners and flags by Keith Romaine and Susan Sammis
- “Bringing the World to Our Neighborhood,” multimedia exhibit to accompany release of the book by the same name [not sure of site]
- 1,000 Cranes – installation at Buskirk-Chumley Theater by Daniel Comiskey
- “Arts Space” [Festival Arts Village] with altar tents and small installations
2004
- Lotus Backdrop #4
- Designed by textile artist Soonran Youn
- Exhibit: “Images of Lotus,” “Festival Retrospective,” Found Object installation, Waldron gallery
- Parade dragon puppet, Gail Hale
- Festival flags by Keith Romaine
- Art space on the street [first actual “arts village”?], “At the Edge of the Heart” – Five 10×10 tents with altar themes, with prayer flags by Susan Sammis and dimensional art by Merridee LaMantia
2003
NOTE: The large mesh banners for the tent stages date from 2003. Designed by Brian Garvey (funded by a grant)
The handmade metal venue kiosks were also funded by this grant. Designed (with staff input) and fabricated by Nick McGi
- Lotus Backdrop #3
- Designed by Joan Hershey and Daria Smith
- “An extravaganza of color and pattern”
- 55 yards of theater muslin, hand-dyed, cut and pieced in both traditional and contemporary patterns; 5 panels
- “A cacophy of colors, a mix of texture and pattern; we saw that as a reflection of what happens at Lotus”
- On Kirkwood and other streets, Festival weekend: Venue sculptures (14 feet tall, 5 feet high), designed by Joe LaMantia and decorated by community members; constructed with recycled materials
- On Kirkwood, Festival weekend: Lotus Gateway (metal, 14’ x 13’), designed by Nick McGill, Merridee LaMantia, Susan Sammis. Recycled metal; a parade starting point
- Banner exhibit in Fountain Square: MCCSC student art inspired by Lotus
- Exhibit: “Lotus Under Glass,” Lotus photographs by Levi Thomas
- At Bloomingfoods: “Lotus Turns 10,” Retrospective of posters, photographs, t-shirts
- Exhibit: [unknown gallery], Bloomington music posters from the 1970s, hand silk-screened, various artists
2002
- Lotus Backdrop #2
- By Amie Campbell and Lynne Gilliatt, made with recycled materials, with the help of “dozens of volunteers”
- Exhibit: At the Convention Center (near Festival stage), “Images of Lotus,” retrospective photographic exhibit of images taken at prior Festivals by Lotus volunteer photographers. With Lotus video from CATS.
- Exhibit: “La Carina Latina de Bloomington” – the Latino experience and identity in Bloomington, through pictures and stories. Photos by Tyagan Miller; interview with local Latino immigrants coordinated by Lillian Casillas; Waldron galleries
- Lotus Banner Project – More orange-and-white banners, made with help from the Bloomington Quilters Guild and other artists and volunteers
- On Kirkwood, Festival weekend: Lotus Shrine, designed by Barb Stutz and Nick McGill
2001
NOTE: This year marked a conscious shift out of galleries and into streets, because attendees weren’t visiting galleries during the Festival.
- Lotus Backdrop #1
- “Piece/Full Impression,” by Gail Gayer Hale, Susan Sammis, Alec Slinde
- Inspired by the traditional pieced quilt, shared by many cultures
- 22 x 36 feet
- More than 2 months to create
- Silk and cotton fabrics, dyed and sewn by hand
- “Dedicated to peace on earth”
- Exhibit: “Art from Orange County: Lotus Dickey’s Home” – Telling the story of Lotus Dickey in paintings, baskets, woodburned gourds, wood carvings, crib quilt, video “Water from Another Time”
- Lotus Banner Project
- 12-foot orange-and-white flags, constructed by 8 volunteers in over 60 hours, to be used along Kirkwood on Friday and Saturday and in Dunn Meadow on Saturday
- Outside 2nd Story, on 4th Street
- “Lotus Flower Reflective,” 400 crushed aluminum cans from Monroe County Waste; designed by Liz Izzo and constructed with help from participants at the Endwright Center in Ellettsville
2000
- Exhibits at the Waldron galleries:
- Sweater Exhibition
- Ceramics by Cheri Platter
- Paintings and mixed media by Tim Close
- Paintings with a Brazilian Flair, by Wayne Manns
- Paintings from China, by Zhi-Zhong Ma
- Drawings from Japan, by Rikuo Ueda
- At the Bellevue Gallery: “In Performance,” works by the Bloomington Photography Club
- NOTE – First use of a backdrop at the Festival: Chico Cesar’s backdrop. This was the inspiration for the first of the Lotus-commissioned backdrops
1999
Thematic focus: Object of Sound
- Exhibit: “Objects of Sound,” handmade instruments; Waldron gallery
1998
Thematic focus: Objects of Ritual
- Exhibits, at the Waldron galleries:
- “Objects of Ritual”: Original art inspired by various sacred traditions
- “Mexican Images,” photos by Pat Glushko
- Lotus Labyrinth: Installation on the McCalla School grounds by the “Lotus Labyrinth Group” (this included Susan Sammis and Gail Hale)
1997
Thematic focus: Honoring Ancestors
- Exhibits at the Waldron galleries:
- Contemporary Australian Art on loan from the Austral Gallery in St. Louis
- Black-and-white photographs from Guatemala, Piet van Lier (taken while serving with Peace Bridgades International)
- Student art on aboriginal themes; works from Green County schools, coordinated by art teacher Charlotte Paul
- Altar installation by Keith Romaine
- Exhibit at the Uptown Café: “In the Spirit of the Dead
1996
Thematic focus: Honoring Ancestors
- Exhibits at Waldron galleries:
- African Ancestors shrine by Philip Neimark (a priest of Yoruba ancestry) and Vassa. Egungun (ancestor) workshop in Yoruba culture
- “The Altar of Eyes of Ancestors Watching,” installation by Amber Faith and Susan Sammis
- Chilean textiles (arpilleras) from the Chicago Peace Museum; burlap patchwork, creations by anonymous Chilean women incorporating message related to exile, protest, refuge, struggle, hope, from wives and mothers protesting the Disappeared.
- Photographs of Cuba, by Kay Westhues
- Art by rural Mexican children
1995
- Exhibit: Lotus Dickey, curated by Nan McEntire; Mathers Museum
- Exhibits at the Waldron galleries:
- Art focusing on Latin America, at the Waldron galleries; on loan from Aldo Castillo Gallery, Chicago. Wroks by Luis Fernando Uribe (Colombia), Rodolfo Abularach (Guatemala), Conceicão Pilo (Brazil), Antonio Bou (Puerto Rico)
- Day of the Dead Altars (by Susan Sammis et al.)
- Contemporary artifacts from a group of Mayans living in the Mexican rainforest (contemporary Lacandon fireworks; barkcloth, photos of Lacandon Mayasn in Chiapas); collected by Ursina Hastings-Heinz
- Exhibit at the Monroe County Courthouse: Drawings by children from Mexico + Drawings and paintings by MCCSC students
1994
—-