The Herron School or Art and Design is an important educational institution for the state of Indiana as the only accredited, professional art and design school in the state.

Indiana Minority Business Magazine caught up with Dean Valerie Eickmeier to talk about the school’s history, role in developing arts and artists and more.

IMBM: Tell us a little bit about the history of Herron and what the school offers.

Eickmeier: Throughout our 115-year history, Herron has been Indiana’s only professional school of art and design. That means we’re training students to be professional-level thinkers, creators and innovators. Our curriculum prepares graduates to be leaders in a world that requires a unique combination of creativity, conceptual skills and technical abilities. The school’s origin began with a $200,000 bequest to the Art Association of Indianapolis by Indianapolis businessman John Herron, who recognized the value of arts for the city.

As a result, the John Herron Art Institute was established in 1902 housing both a museum and professional art school. The museum’s art collection formed the nucleus of what would become the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The educational side became known as the Herron School of Art, but we added “Design” to the name in 2004 to better represent our focus. In 2005, we moved from our original location at 16th and Pennsylvania streets to Eskenazi Hall on the main IUPUI campus. This move — in addition to opening the Eskenazi Fine Arts Center in 2000 — allowed us to invest in incredible facilities, equipment and technologies to meet the needs of our students and faculty. We’re also equipped to better serve the community. 

Another important part of our history is that Herron became a school within Indiana University in the late 1960s. Herron was part of the original collection of professional schools that comprised IUPUI. The benefit is that our students get the quality education and personal attention they could expect at a private school, but with the extensive resources and tuition affordability of one of the finest public universities on the planet. This structure presents unique opportunities for cross-disciplinary investigations within Herron and with other IUPUI schools and departments.

IMBM: How does Herron serve the community?

Today, Herron has refined its emphasis on thinking and making and recognizes the importance of collaboration and an entrepreneurial spirit in the 21st century. Our commitment to collaborative learning and community engagement helps prepare students for many professional pathways and enhances our state’s reputation as a place where innovation and creative thinking are valued.

For example, the Basile Center for Art Design and Public Life is a transformational learning initiative that provides students with professional practice experiences. Students have opportunities to collaborate on projects with local businesses, nonprofit organizations, health care facilities, communities and government agencies that provide professional-level engagement and enhanced experiential learning.

We also offer a wide variety of community learning programs that help shape the imaginations and develop the skills of central Indiana’s aspiring artists, from young children to lifelong learners.

Our location adjacent to popular destinations such as Indianapolis Cultural Trail, White River State Park and the Downtown Canal provides access to the arts including five galleries exhibiting contemporary works of art by internationally renowned artists and designers.

IMBM: What’s next for Herron?

Herron aspires to be a national leader in art and design education in both theory and practice by merging new technologies with traditional creative processes. A growing number of businesses are emerging around new technologies, and there is a scarcity of creative people with hands-on experience.

The “Think It Make It Lab” at Herron provides students with access to digital technologies that will help them become experts in broad applications of design, production and fabrication for a variety of fields.

Art and design paired with other disciplines, for instance health and life sciences, will generate new and cutting-edge approaches to how we define areas of research and how they interconnect and relate to the professional world on a global scale.

We’re also expanding our graduate programs, especially in the field of visual communication design. Students are immersed in methods and processes that enable examination of human contexts and interactions in order to identify opportunities for improving people’s lives. Students learn to work with diverse groups of stakeholders in order to lead processes for change and innovation.

To be successful, we need partners and collaborators. We’re eager to work with leaders who can enhance the Herron experience and help prepare our students for the contemporary workforce. I

SEE FOR YOURSELF: UPCOMING HERRON EXHIBITS

Ragnar Kjartansson and The National, A Lot of Sorrow Exhibition | June 21–Sept. 2

A Lot of Sorrow is a six-hour video by Ragnar Kjartansson of a performance by the indie-rock band The National. For this video, Kjartansson asked The National to play their 3 minute, 25 second hit song “Sorrow” live on stage, repeatedly and continuously, for more than six hours. As hours pass and fatigue sets in, the band members subtly change the song, experimenting and improvising while always keeping the original track recognizable. By stretching a single pop song into an hours-long experience, Kjartansson continues his explorations into the creative potential of repetitive performances to yield unexpected outcomes and meanings.

Also on view this summer:

Marsh Gallery: New paintings and a site-specific installation by Jaqueline Cedar

Basile Gallery: Art of the Zine (June–July); new work by Samuel Levi-Jones (Herron BFA ’09)

Cynthia Daignault: Light Atlas Exhibition | Sept. 13–Nov. 11

In 2014, artist Cynthia Daignault embarked on a yearlong exploration of America. This road trip and the resulting paintings form her most ambitious and epic work to date, Light Atlas. Consisting of 360 paintings, Light Atlas chronicles the view every 25 miles around the country. As a grand portrait of America, Light Atlas, with its 360 sequential 8-by-10-inch paintings, reads as an odyssey whose protagonist is America itself. Born of the American desire to go west and understand the meaning of the country through the meaning of its land, Daignault’s work explores the changing role and significance of American identity and landscape. This exhibition marks the first time that Light Atlas will be shown in its entirety.

Also on view this fall:

Marsh Gallery: Cat Head Press (September–November)

Basile Gallery: Manufactured Abstraction — work by Denver-based artist Derrick Velasquez (September–November); new work by Robert Horvath (November–December)

HERRON BY THE NUMBERS

800 art and design students

47 full-time faculty members

115 years of art and design history

14 degree programs

70+ studio spaces

10,000+ square feet of exhibition space

By Ebony Marie Chappel 

Alpha Blackburn is known for many things. A legendary fashion career, a successful tenure in architecture and much like her name would connote, a strong, influential impact on the lives of others. For many years, her iconic styles have graced the pages of local and national publications, and today she hasn’t missed a beat.

During a visit to her expertly decorated home, Blackburn flaunted a few of her new pieces, including a gown for the mother of a bride that was still in the design phase. On a full rack, stationed in her foyer, Blackburn shuffled through gown after gown. The client, who bought her own wedding gown from Blackburn 27 years prior, wanted something with lace. Blackburn ran down the different variations, her manicured fingers outlined the differences between the types; chantilly, knit, embroidered. A shuffle or two later, she landed on another example. A navy blue creation with a keyhole cutout for a touch of skin. “She can be covered and still be quite sexy,” she said with her signature smile. In another room, she opened up one of many photo albums and pointed out a chic black and white striped casual dress. The client who purchased it in the ’80s has since passed it on to her daughter. “I love that because it means that it met my own criteria for what makes good design,” Blackburn said of the garment’s lasting power. “I’m inspired to make beautiful things. I don’t want to make junk or throwaways.”

IMBM recently caught up with Blackburn to chat about her career, inspirations and current projects.

Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

IMBM: What is the first piece of fashion you ever constructed?

Blackburn: A cocktail dress, and I didn’t need a cocktail dress! I was in high school and too young to even be wearing it. It was the first thing I pulled off as being a really designer creation. I was making clothes prior to that but I was just learning the rudiments from my mom. By the time I got to high school, I was ready for the big time! I could figure out in my mind, and I still do it now, I lie in bed or sit and my mind will be figuring out the construction to achieve a certain look and how I could put it together so that it’s beautiful.

What, in your opinion is the key to making designs that lasts through the decades?

I figured something out about fashion, people concentrate now on style and I like the idea of styling up. For instance, take the look that you have -— or the look you think that you have or want to have, and figure out how to take it up a notch so that you get the individual expression that you really aspire to have. The way you do that is to make sure that the fashion is solid and the fashion is the silhouette, fabric, construction and wearability of a garment. I think that when you get too far astray from doing solid fashion you get into what I call fad. It’s for a season. You may or may not want to keep it longer than that because it will be dated and you may look silly in it or someone will tell you that you look silly in it. Fashion changes and it should. In order to be dynamic and diverse it needs to change. When it gets too far on the spectrum of bizarre it no longer serves a purpose functionally. That does not constrict a creative person to being monotonous it just challenges you to be aware of the fact that you’re trying to clothe a human body that has to move, sit and stand and to design something that won’t work in any of those scenarios is not truly advancing the field as far as I’m concerned.

You have lead quite a life and career as an artist of many mediums, business owner and philanthropist. There are many people who admire you and consider you to be inspiring. When you reflect on that impact, what are the thoughts that come to mind?

Once in awhile, I have to ask why? But most of the time I acknowledge their compliment and thank them because it feels good. If you have worked out of your own imagination to bring things to fruition you get a sense of fulfillment just out of doing it but to have the acknowledgement of other people is a bonus. It’s a wonderful thing… you don’t work for that purpose but it’s great to feel it and I do feel it, without exception, everywhere I go. Someone asks, “Can I have a selfie with you?” “May I give you a hug Mrs. Blackburn?” or “You don’t know me but I have known you, watched you and admired you.” I think that it is the cherry atop my sundae.

You talked about working out of your own imagination, what are the things that inspire you when you sit down to sketch out a design?

I think my inspiration comes from wanting to create, number one. I don’t need a whole lot, I can look at my bird, at fish… I can look at flowers. I always keep orchids blooming and I love lilies. I think that I’m inspired by nature, people, activity and life. When I’m separated from any of those I feel it and my spirit gets depressed a little. I need to get out of the house more.

I hear that’s really good for you!

Yes, it not only feeds my ego but it feeds my spirit. I think that most people need that, social interaction the human touch, I get hug hungry sometimes.

When you think back on all of the shows, exhibitions and collections you’ve created. What is one of your most fond fashion memories?

Oh, gosh! The one that comes to mind is in the late 1960’s when television journalist Janet Langhart Cohen modeled for me in a show at what was then Stouffer’s Inn, it is now Ivy Tech. That show was memorable. When Janet left (television), she called me. I was modeling for L.S. Ayres, and she asked me if I would come and audition for her television show. I did and got the job. She has since married William Cohen who became Secretary of Defense and she has gone on to write a book and a play. The outfit, a full-length gown and coat, that she wore and modeled in that show was sold through the Crystal Room at L.S. Ayres to a local minister’s wife. This was also one of the shows that Al Hobbs (noted gospel music legend) produced. He’s no longer with us but the spirit of the work he did lingers. Also, one of the models in that show assists me with shows now. In my mind, it is one of the shows that kind of crystallizes for me that your purpose in doing things may not be as great as the outcome if you put the right energy and effort into it. If you do things well, you set in motion that good things will come out of it.

Beyond design, what are some of the other things you are working on?

I serve as Chairperson of The Indiana Civil Rights Commission. I was originally appointed by Governor Orr in 1987. I was also selected as one of only eight design professionals nationally, to jury the selection of the next five architectural projects for The National Mall. Most important to me is my annual fundraising fashion show. Each year, along with a small committee of volunteers, I organize a gala event established in honor of my late husband Walter Scott Blackburn. We present $10,000 scholarships to students to study design, architecture and its allied fields, and the arts at any college or university of their choosing. We now have Blackburn Scholars who have graduated from Howard University, Prairie View, Jarvis College, and Ball State. This year, the event will be held on July 8 at the Artsgarden, which was designed by Walter. This is our 13th year. The fund is administered by the Central Indiana Community Foundation. I have also established a scholarship for an incoming student at Herron School of Art and Design at IUPUI and, we have also named an annual book award to honor Steve and Charlotte Talley. Steve was a faithful and special member of our committee, and his widow Charlotte has remained a steadfast supporter.