If you've watched Antiques Roadshow on PBS lately, you will notice they are running old shows but with updated appraisals of the items people bring to the show. People bring things from Folk Art to musical instruments, carpets to dolls, china to silver, and the paintings they inherited or pulled out of the trash. What I find interesting is that many of the appraisals go down in value, but almost all the painting appraisals go up in value. So that leads me to this column of what's happening in Broad Ripple in the art world. Is there a place for you to spend your money that will add value to your investment and beauty to your surroundings?

Broad Ripple, 10 to 15 years ago, was a real hub of an active art scene. We had a variety of galleries, the Indianapolis Art Center (once the Indianapolis Art League,) and Hoosier Salon Gallery all not far from the Indianapolis Art Museum. Broad Ripple Art Fair is surviving and so is the Art Center, but most galleries have closed or moved. We only have a few individual artists, framers, and galleries left and most locations have been replaced by eateries or bars. Now enters Green Men Art Gallery. Donnae Dole, Gallery Manager, formerly of Hoosier Salon Gallery, is building a new gallery to showcase local artists. From contemporary, still life, jewelry, landscape, and representational, she is developing a display to please any art buyer. Donnae is curating oils, watercolors, prints, acrylics, sculpture, jewelry, and design furniture.

And you say you have never bought art! Now is the time. How do you do it? You can enter art collecting at any level. Most connoisseurs suggest you buy what you like. If you inherit, have it appraised. It might be worth a lot. When asked, Donnae said, "If you need that special piece of art for your room or office, I know the artisans of the area. If I don't have it on hand, I can put you in touch with someone who can create it for you." She also said she is reaching out to interior designers and architects because the gallery is associated with Green Men Restoration, a company of craftsmen specializing in restoration, remodeling, and design with a focus on the Meridian Kessler area and there abouts. The shop often has music on the weekends and an offering of Harvest Café coffees to try. Check out the gallery at 54th and Keystone between Marco's and Backyard Birds.

Also, you can find a limited showing of dog and cat portraits just next door at Backyard Birds. I don't usually share my art with my readers, BUT. . . .for the past year and going forward, I am painting dog and cat portraits to raise money for Canine Companions For Independence. I have talked about Steve and me raising service dogs for this group often. We are raising #16, Benton II, a golden retriever. All sales go to Canine Companions to build a new campus to train and place dogs for FREE to people with disabilities other than blindness. Stop in. (PS. Late Thursday and Friday, you can bring your dog and cat and get their nails trimmed for $6.) You might just want to immortalize your best friend. Also, I have a few oil paintings in Green Men Gallery.

If you have a free afternoon and want some inspiration, you will find it at Green Men Art Gallery, Backyard Birds (and I even have cat portraits at City Dog Grocery.) Art has a way of feeding your spirit and soul. Donnae and I talked and we both wished that Broad Ripple would bustle with art galleries again.

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

― Pablo Picasso