INDIANAPOLIS – The House Life Project (HLP), a local creative place-making collaborative, will hold a public open house September 19 of the project’s first property on the Near Eastside. The project is funded by a grant from the Efroymson Family Fund and works in partnership with the City of Indianapolis, Renew Indianapolis and the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA). The collaborative brings together artists, architects, and designers to discover the creative, civic, and social capital of individual vacant properties.
The opening of the first property at 804 Eastern Ave. in the St. Clair Place neighborhood aims to attract residents, community stakeholders and members of the public to offer new ways of seeing and experiencing vacant properties as community assets, rather than evidence of decay. The foursquare house includes art-based projects exploring the material potential of the house, historical narratives of the area, and future land use or rehabilitation of the property.
The HLP team, including Meredith Brickell, Brent Aldrich, Shelley Given, Katie Hudnall, Wes Janz, and Wil Marquez, invites the public to the Open House on Sept. 19 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors may come by from 10 a.m.-noon to interact with the artists and their projects and enjoy coffee and donuts. From noon-3 p.m., visitors may view the exhibits and join the artists for refreshments. For updated information about the opening, visit houselifeproject.org.
The House Life Project’s opening weekend kicks off with a free talk at 7 p.m. on Sept. 17 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art with a creative engagement with Mike Blockstein and Reanne Estrada of Public Matters, a social enterprise that uses public art to stimulate social and cultural conversations with diverse communities. More information about this event can be found at the IMA’s website, www.imamuseum.org
Meredith Brickell is the Project Leader for the House Life team. For her, the House Life Project is an opportunity to use art to engage in a dialogue about “collective memory, ownership and responsibility, and perceived value.” Her recent project, the Cloud Observatory, is located on a vacant lot in the St. Clair Place neighborhood and partners with a local elementary school to provide learning opportunities.
Brent Aldrich has personal ties to the Near Eastside, where he currently lives and has connections going a few generations back. He recalls, “The HLP house was built by the Southern Lumber Company, the same suburban builders who built my sister’s house in the early 1900s. The floorplan is identical to her house, just mirrored. Walking into it for the first time, I already knew it.” Through engagement with neighbors, Aldrich will investigate how similar homes in the area have been physically altered and socially and culturally shaped by their inhabitants.
Shelley Given moved to Indianapolis two years ago. Her involvement in the House Life Project is linked to her desire to learn more about the city and her community. She says, “The House Life Project has been an opportunity to meet people in my community and become better acquainted with the city and its history, while making art.”
Katie Hudnall teaches Furniture Design at the Herron School of Art & Design at IUPUI. As a woodworker, she describes her work as “somewhere between furniture and sculpture.” Hudnall’s involvement in the House Life Project is an extension of her previous work using old and worn materials. She explains, “I am interested in using some reclaimed materials to try and show the public the beauty and potential in old materials — I think it will be a nice metaphor for the house itself.”
For Wes Janz, the House Life Project is an extension of his architectural work, which often transforms found or abandoned items into materials with architectural value. Janz has also been involved in land banking for over ten years, starting with his work as a consultant for the Genesee County Lank Bank in Flint, Michigan. For the House Life Project, Janz will work with the forgotten remains of a garage and a vacant lot behind the house. Instead of an absence, he imagines the vacant lot to be a valued backyard space for 804 Eastern Avenue.
Wil Marquez’s work uses innovative design principles to probe ideas of public space and equity. He is particularly enthusiastic about enacting conversations about the problems caused by vacancy, creating a momentum of work around ideas for change. Marquez’s project at 804 Eastern Avenue will involve salvaging and collecting home keys from neighbors and the public to invoke the experience of owning a first home.
