NOURISHING COLLABORATIVE CREATIVITY
Photo by: Shakkira Harris
Stephanie Robertson, program chair of fine arts at Ivy Tech Indianapolis, has gladly orchestrated the campus’ involvement with the Spirit & Place Festival for nearly 15 years. Her creative leadership has led to stellar collaborations, both internal and external, elaborate community involvement, and award nominations. Robertson has seen the campus’ Spirit & Place involvement through an assortment of community art shows that have included a roller derby team, divers, bodybuilders, boxers, and even a trebuchet and pumpkins. Internally, she has, at one point or another, incorporated the fine arts department, early child - hood education department (ECED), culinary arts, technology, and the English department. Externally, she has worked with the Garfield Park Arts Center, Harrison Center, the National Art Museum of Sport, and many more.
Center, ECED, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, and Mari- an University. “Our printmaking class made special automobile coloring pages; there was a station for making cars out of clay; our automotive center brought in en- gines, simulators, and bodywork. We had a station for making roller derby cars and cardboard cars,” Robertson described. Robertson considers herself more of the project manager than the creative for each event. “We love to do interactive, fami- ly-friendly things,” Robertson said. “What we finally figured out through putting together the automotive art event was we needed about seven different activities. If everybody does their part in one activity, then it’s not too much for any one person.” Buzz & Flutter When Robertson learned the theme of the 2023 Spirit & Place Festival was Nourish, she instantly knew who to call. She orchestrated a meeting with varying faculty members from ECED, Teach2Grow, culinary arts, and, of course, fine arts. They met in February, about nine months before the multi-day festival was slated to
begin, and, as Robertson recalls, quickly came up with the idea of Buzz & Flutter. “The hard part wasn’t figuring out what we were going to do – that all came together very quickly,” Robertson said. “The hard part was figuring out if we wanted to have it on campus, near our community garden, or the culinary building. But then Garfield Park Arts Center reached out to us, and we’ve worked with them several times for Spirit & Place, and it just felt like the perfect fit!” All about cultivating, creating, and caring for our pollinators, Ivy Tech Indianapolis faculty and students alike came up with a plethora of ways attendees could join the conversation, learn, and explore the many ways they could help better our community, our planet, and, thus, their families. In addition to an art exhibit based on gardening, bees, and butterflies, Ivy Tech Indianapolis had informational tables on beekeeping, hive manage- ment, gardening, and monarch but- terfly gardens. Buzz & Flutter also fea - tured honey tasting, a honey-themed recipe station, a do-it-yourself flower pen station, and flower crowns. “We can nourish ourselves through nourishing the earth,” Renee Rule, the
“We love doing fun and funky things!” Robertson said.
In 2018, Ivy Tech Indianapolis won Spirit & Place’s Award of Awesome- ness for its “Explore Art-omotive!” The event explored the intersection of art and automobiles and included Ivy Tech’s Automotive Technology
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