Although it opened in the fall of 2021, it’s not widely known that COMPANION, an art gallery located at 3715 Washington Blvd., shows some of the most exciting art by non-dead Indiana-based artists.
“It is just my house,” said Braydee Euliss, who has led the curatorial team for BUTTER Fine Art Fair by GANGGANG since its first year in 2021. “There’s almost always beer and water in the fridge, in the kitchen, that everyone is welcome to.”
The gallery has no regular hours and attendance for exhibitions is by event or appointment. Because Euliss runs the gallery mostly by herself, updates and information for gallery events are shared through the Instagram account @thisiscompanion.
Currently on display, “Winding Accord,” is a bit different, however. The show of works in painting, collage, ceramics, textiles and printmaking came together in partnership with GANGGANG and was only meant to be on view for 48 hours — the duration of the 2024 Indiana Global Economic Summit at the Indiana Convention Center.
But all the work that Euliss put into the exhibit for the out-of-towners left her feeling like it deserved more attention. Now, every work that was on display there is now inside Euliss’ house.
Where there’s normally a communal table, large ceramic sculptures by Stephen Creech are now on display. The stairway that leads to the bedrooms is blocked by a hanging fabric sculpture by Hannah Paz-Westbrook.
“It’s a 100+ year-old house, complete with a half-set of back access stairs. We were happy to hand over the main staircase to Hannah.” said Euliss.
“Winding Accord” features the work of six Indiana-based contemporary artists: Su A Chae, Creech, Mailinh Hồ, Paz-Westbrook, Israel Solomon and Julie Tourtillotte. None of them have ever shown their work together — this is where the curator comes in.
Installation view with works by Israel Solomon. Credit: Photo by Jana Astrouski 
Installation view with works by Mailinh Hồ and Su A Chae. Credit: Photo by Jana Astrouski 
Installation view with works by Hannah Paz-Westbrook. Credit: Photo by Jana Astrouski 
Installation view with works by Hannah Paz-Westbrook. Credit: Photo by Jana Astrouski
“The word curator is based in ‘care’,” said Euliss when asked about how people can better understand her role in putting these shows together. “That can be interpreted a lot of different ways. For me ‘care’ is attention to the artist experience and the audience experience. Valuing how their artwork is presented and shared.”
Euliss also explained that in a group show setting, a curator has an opportunity to tell stories that point to things that are present in the artwork but are not always clear to the person looking at it.
The story that “Winding Accord” tells is about Indiana’s arts community in relation to science and technology.
“I started with Stephen Creech. He’s a ceramicist and the director of special projects at AMACO Brent: American Art and Clay Company,” said Euliss. AMACO has been based in Indianapolis for more than 100 years. “If we’re talking about global economics and bringing business and manufacturing to Indiana, Steven’s work is part of the story.”
Paz-Westbrook was the second person that came to Euliss’ mind for the show. “Specifically the work that she exhibited at the Harrison Center last summer.” The show included layered paintings with multimedia that explored technology and how it affects relationships.
From there, the next goal was to tell a well-rounded story of who is making cutting-edge work in Indianapolis.
“We get comments from a lot from out-of-town people. ‘Oh, when you think about Indiana, you don’t really think about art,’ and I felt that if this exhibition could do one thing it would hopefully change that attitude,” said Euliss.
To see “Winding Accord,” you can attend the closing reception on Sunday, June 30, 1-4 p.m.
Jennifer Delgadillo is Mirror Indy’s arts and culture editor. Contact her at jennifer.delgadillo@mirrorindy.org.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
