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Nickel Plate Arts (NPArts) is featuring Leigh Petersen in the Stephenson House during the month of May. Information on the exhibit dates, receptions, and artist details for Petersen and the other NPArts-featured artists are available below.
Stephenson House
Leigh Petersen
Petersen
Leigh Petersen loves to use art as a way to “escape” and “unwind,” to get in touch with her thoughts, dreams, and inner self. She has always been creative; even as a child, everyone assumed she would become some sort of artist.
In high school, Petersen chose to enroll in summer school and completed as many required courses as she could so she had more room in her schedule for art classes during the school year. By the time she was a senior, she had taken every art class the school offered; thus, the school created “independent” art classes for her to fill the void. When she graduated, she wasn’t committed to any single medium and enjoyed drawing, painting, fashion design, and photography.
“I moved to New York City and got a job at a small graphic design firm as one of my first ‘real’ jobs,” Petersen said. “From there, I was hooked on graphic design because it was a place where I could draw from all of my favorite mediums and experiences … and I just never looked back.”
Petersen worked as a design apprentice in NYC before moving back home to Indiana and shifting to production and advertising design. Because she did not go to college, Petersen learned as she worked and was able to work her way up as a result of her admirable performance and achievements. During that time, she found her creative spirit in other aspects of art – specifically photography and music – and she did not go back to her roots of drawing and painting until she left the corporate design world to work as a freelancer.
Working as her own boss gave Petersen more time to dedicate to traditional creative pursuits; she discovered her passion for creating curves, lines, spirals, and shapes that don’t really mean anything to her in a sketchbook until she starts to “see” something that inspires the goal of the piece. Because of this, most of her work is surreal and abstract. The pandemic was also a turning point for Petersen’s career, as the uncertainty and chaos served as creative inspiration for her pieces during that time.
“Art has always been a means of escape for me, a way for me to disconnect from my day-to-day stress and worries and delve more deeply into my thoughts and feelings,” Petersen said.
Everything she draws or paints comes from within, as she allows her eyes, hands, and mind to disconnect and lead her in the “right” direction. Although her work is often classified as fantasy or surreal, to her, each piece of art is a visual representation of some piece of her inner self.
“They come from the chaos within,” she said.
See Leigh Petersen’s full exhibit, The Within, in the Stephenson House from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. You can meet Petersen in person at her free public reception from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, May 5 on the Nickel Plate Arts campus. The exhibit is open now through May 27.
Meyer Najem
Mark Timmis
The full exhibit, Mark Timmis: One Man Show, can be seen at Meyer Najem, located at 11787 Lantern Road in Fishers on the second floor, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. You can meet Timmis at his free public reception from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, June 2 in the Meyer Najem second-floor gallery.
The exhibit is open now through June 29.
Four Day Ray
Joy Tilson Cobb
Joy Tilson Cobb’s full exhibit, Free Flowing, can be seen at Four Day Ray Brewing, located at 11671 Lantern Road in Fishers, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday and Monday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
You can meet Tilson Cobb at her free public reception from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 22 at Four Day Ray, featuring live music by Party of Two with Steve Bogard on guitar and Tilson Cobb on vocals.
The exhibit is open now through June 29.
About Nickel Plate Arts
Nickel Plate Arts is an umbrella nonprofit organization that creates and coordinates arts and cultural experiences across communities in eastern Hamilton County and the surrounding areas to improve the quality of life for residents, strengthen local economies, and enrich experiences for visitors. Nickel Plate Arts is a project of Hamilton County Tourism, Inc. Learn more at NickelPlateArts.org.