Admiring Indiana art

by Beth Eisinger, Art Buyer for the Indiana Store

I have felt very privileged to work in the Indiana Store for the past two years. I have learned so much about Indiana and have met so many interesting people. My position as the primary art buyer for our store, in particular, has led to interactions with numerous artists and craftsmen from around Indiana.

One of the most recent artists I have been working with is a delightful gentleman from Irvington, Indiana (just east of Indianapolis), named Wayne Kimmell. I was immediately attracted to his architectural paintings of local buildings, monuments and parks painted in his unique style reminiscent of art deco movie posters. Using  bold, black outlines, bright colors and deco fonts, he creates vintage-looking images that still have a modern and current appeal. Wayne has spent the majority of his career as an award-winning designer of commercial building exteriors and interiors, hence his architectural drawing style. Locally, he is perhaps most well known for his series of classic Irvington Halloween Festival posters that he has produced each year for the last six years. Prints of these, in addition to many of his other images are now for sale through our store.

We are most excited, though, about a special painting he has created for our store of the Indianapolis Monument Circle during Christmas time, which will be available in print-form as well as a lovely porcelain Christmas ornament in November. I will be giving a number of these ornaments as Christmas gifts this year and  I have a feeling that my walls will soon be covered in many of his other prints.