The sixth annual BUTTER Fine Art Fair is underway Sept. 3-6 at The Stutz, featuring artworks by more than 50 Black contemporary painters, photographers, mixed-media artists and sculptors.
New this year: 13 Indiana college students will debut their art in “BUTTER BFA: New Voices in Contemporary Art.” The fair is also expanding education day into Camp BUTTER, designed to help young creatives build sustainable careers in the arts.
If you go
BUTTER Fine Art Fair
🗓️ Sept. 3-6
📍 The Stutz, 1060 N. Capitol Ave.
🎟️ $44.52-$81.88; free for kids 18 and under
Mirror Indy talked with four artists showing art for the first time. They’re bringing a range of perspectives and materials to The Stutz. Some are subverting racist regalia to explore the experience of Black queer people, while others are making paper to create intimate portraits of ambition.
Jaedin Evans: “The Pearl Necklace”
Jaedin Evans hails from Cordon, Indiana, a small town about 25 miles outside of Louisville, Kentucky. He’s known since he was in preschool that he would pursue a creative career.
At BUTTER, the 2026 IU Herron School of Art & Design graduate will showcase “The Pearl Necklace,” a sculpture that meshes the two biggest aspects of his identity — his Blackness and queerness.
Conceptually, the artwork is a noose — referencing an object used during lynchings. Instead of using traditional thread, he opted for pearls that he found at thrift stores. Evans said pearls were one of the first ways he outwardly expressed his femininity.
He made the sculpture two years ago. But ahead of the fair, he switched out fishing line for gold wire to re-thread all of the pearls onto the sculpture.
“That object is laced with so much pain and tension. It’s a symbol of hate,” the 23-year-old said. It’s a very messy but concise visual I was trying to portray.”
Kenny Mason: “Black Boy Shoot for the Stars”
Kenyon “Kenny” Mason, 26, is an artist who works as a part-time cook and manages Faye Gallery, while also planning creative events around Indianapolis.
Mason is the son of an art teacher and graduated from Ivy Tech in 2021 with a fine arts degree. He got his start as a mentee of well-known BUTTER artist Gary Gee and the We Are Indy Arts Collective.
Last year, as a fellow, he helped install artworks at BUTTER. This year, he’ll be exhibiting artworks of his own — “Black Boy Shoot for the Stars” and “Starry Eyes.”
At the heart of Mason’s art is sustainability. The mixed-media artist made paper pulps from different types of paper and cardboard to create four pieces. frames as well.
“Everything you see I’ve put my hands on and touched and created. It’s a nice nod to how I want to evolve as an artist,” Mason said.
Dennis Green: “Time to Hoop”
Dennis Green has been an artist for over 35 years. Green is known for his large metal sculptures. In elementary school, he won a contest for his chalk drawing of a flower. His late mother, Ollie, considered it one of her most cherished items.
“To this day my mother — who passed — but she still has the actual drawing in a picture frame,” Green said.
He went to trade school to become a millwright at Citizen’s Gas and Coke Utility, now Citizen’s Energy Group. There he learned how to cut torches and weld, all skills needed to create “Time to Hoop,” a stainless steel and stained glass sculpture for this year’s BUTTER.
He began to create the fully functional basketball hoop which is also a clock ahead of the 2024 NBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis.
The 63-year-old’s artistic skills — which he said came from having a skilled carpenter as a father and seamstress as a mother — were passed down to his three children, including three-time BUTTER featured artist Mechi Shakur.
Kheyarra Johnson: “Staten Island Fairies”
Visual art is a second career for Kheyarra Johnson. The 27-year-old Kokomo, Indiana, native went to cosmetology school after graduating from high school and specialized in natural hair styles — box braids, twists and locs.
After a move to Indianapolis in 2023 with her husband, she enrolled at IU Herron School of Art & Design to study art education and painting. She wants to become a teacher and considers it her “calling.”
Her faith plays a huge role in what she decides to paint. Her paintings always have a few hidden Christian crosses.
In the BUTTER BFA show, Johnson will show three paintings from her “Staten Island Fairies” series. The art references her visit to New York in 2024.
There’s the cityscape surrounded by a giant figure. The figure, a Black woman, has two single gold caps and a head full of wicks. Johnson said the Statue of Liberty’s crown inspired the subject’s hairstyle. There’s a feeling of chaos and overcrowdedness in the artworks.
“What inspired this piece is the energy of New York and how there’s so much going on. People are living their own lives,” Johnson said.
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Mirror Indy reporter Mesgana Waiss covers arts and culture. Contact her at 317-667-2643 or mesgana.waiss@mirrorindy.org.
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