The month of August always makes me smile, even with the heat index hitting 109 this week. I breathe in the warm summer air and listen to the first sounds of the State Fair. Opening today I can hear the Fair Train's horn as it rolls up and down the tracks just reserved for its passengers. Smiling at the sounds of the world around me, my son falls into his sleep for the evening and he starts to breathe deep as he makes sweet noises like a purring cat. Sitting back after a lovely evening out, and listening to the cicada's singing their very noisy song out in the dark, I reflect on what the City of Indianapolis has to offer.

Tonight was First Friday and for the first time in a long time I was able to just go out to the galleries and enjoy the evening like all the other First Friday goers. I have to admit today felt strange, I wasn't preparing any gallery reception, not a worry about food or wine or even if I had all the signs and labels up for the show. I just had a chance to relax. So naturally I decided I had to write about the event in hand, because I don't know how to just relax at an art event.

So with all of that said, let's talk about the evening. If you didn't get a chance to step out on this beautiful night and see what the August First Friday had to offer, then maybe I can shine some light on the night's events. I ventured down to Fountain Square to an unusual location for a gallery opening, the Keep Indianapolis Beautiful headquarters located at 1029 East Fletcher Avenue. On this night the building had turned gallery and one could see the newest show in Fountain Square, "RE-USE" REDOME Art Contest. KIB partnered with IDADA and Big Car Gallery for this one of a kind art event. What is the "RE-USE" REDOME art contest? Good question. After the "Hoosier Dome" met its fate in 2009, nearly 13 acres of fabric material that was used to construct the roof was removed. KIB received a little over 4 acres of this material, and it was to become the canvas for this project.

On Friday August 6th, 2010, I entered the building on the grounds of KIB where there was a long "carpet" of dome material that welcomed and led the way into the building. The painted foot steps on the fabric showed us the way to the makeshift gallery inside. Stepping through the doors I was instantly captivated by a life-size Yeti. The Yeti was a mixed-media piece, by Keith Hampton, but his fur was made up of shredded dome material. By far the best piece in the show. It was hard to compete with the life-size snow creature and even tougher once you read Hampton's story behind the work and learned about his love for this mythical creature, or as he would like to believe, not so much a mythical creature.

To be critical for a moment, looking over the evening, the level of artistry that was on display seemed a little weak in execution aside from the Yeti and the work created by the elementary school kids. The Youth Art seemed to stand above the several pieces considered for the contest to be Professional Art. The group that created the 3D piece "Jamjay Paulardon RCAsaurus" from the Children's Museum, which stood front and center for the show catching a lot of attention from the crowd was a favorite. Another Youth group did a great job with "Recycle-Gator" from the Geist Elementary School.

There was at least one installation that I found interesting that was not on display in person, but is housed at the library. "Call Station" created by Austin Reavis takes flight above the IUPUI Library floor and from the images I saw were something worth going and checking out if you are around the campus this month. Now don't take this wrong, the work created by the artists were nicely done, but I would have loved to seen more that really engaged the audience in the "Reuse" nature of this contest.

Something I thought was splendid from this event was the prizes awarded to the artists. For the Youth Art they would receive a free tree and for the Professional Art category they will receive a cash prize ranging from $50-200. All-in-all the event is what I would consider successful, considering that at least six pieces have sold already with the proceeds being split 75/25 - artist/KIB. The money going to KIB will help with the many programs they have for planting trees.

In an effort to build a stronger community bond and to be able to display the art around town, KIB partnered with more than twenty local artists, schools, and youth-serving organizations to re-use salvaged material from the former RCA Dome in an artistic manner.

To better shine the light on this matter for some of you who may not know, the dome roof was set to be laid to rest in a landfill... surprise, surprise. But, a couple of smart "green" thinking some ones who focus on doing extraordinary things for the greater good thought up a plan on how to save the roofing material and put it to some lovely reusable alternatives. These people would be better know us PUP; People for Urban Progress. PUP is wonderfully responsible for rescuing the thousands of yards of fabric material that was doomed to sleep eternally in our landfill. You may have seen their efforts transformed into lovely handbags, wallets and notebooks found in locations such as Silver in the City. Check out PUP's website for more information. www.peopleup.org

Bringing this full circle; what brought me out on this evening was that I was intrigued to see that not only has KIB engaged and put together this great event supporting the arts, but they are also one of many partners on the beautification project that is taking place along I-70 that will include several new sculptures created by local artists. For more information on Keep Indianapolis Beautiful please visit www.kibi.org. This show will run through the end of August 2010.

Next Issue - Part II: Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and the Artists that were chosen to help beautify the west side of I-70.