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Media Relations

Idea art, intaglio and inspiration

IU Kokomo artists Minda Douglas, Gregory Steel open solo exhibitions

Indiana University Kokomo Lecturers in Fine Arts Minda Douglas and Gregory Steel both opened solo exhibitions of their works this month -- Douglas in Kokomo, Ind., and Steel in Indianapolis.

Douglas' Life, Death and a Piece of String will be on display at Sycamore Market Place, located at 115 E. Sycamore St. in Kokomo, through Nov. 30. Steel's Artifacts exhibition can be seen at Galerie Penumbra, 1043 Virginia Ave. in Indianapolis, through Nov. 25.

Douglas' traveling exhibition of drawings, paintings and prints has already appeared in Plainfield, Ind., and at Kokomo's Jackson Morrow Park. Additional showings are scheduled through June 1, 2007, at venues in Carmel, Ind., Muncie, Ind., and Indianapolis. Douglas is a printmaker who has a BFA from Wayne State University and MFA from Louisiana State University. She specializes in artist-made books, intaglio prints and drawings, and her imagery borrows heavily from nature. She credits the "reproducible matrix of printmaking plates" as fueling her fascination with pattern and design. She also describes her work as having a feminine quality through her use of color, texture, form and technique.

Steel directs the IUK Art Gallery and has exhibited work internationally in film festivals, museums and galleries. "(Steel) does not talk much about his work, but his work says plenty," said David Mattingly, owner of the Galerie Penumbra. "Steel has been called an 'idea artist,' and his work is not easily categorized. His work involves multiple media, including, but in no way limited to, digital imaging, book publishing, installation and new technology."

From an early age, Steel was encouraged by his creative grandmother to explore his artistic abilities. During his childhood, he was inspired by his grandmother's innovative use of ordinary materials in constructing unique objects and arrangements. Her novel approach to environmental resources and supportive nature were positive influences on Steel's artistic development. As a self-taught artist, Steel held jobs in various disciplines in order to support his work, but after many years of making art on his own, he realized he needed a serious arts education.

Attending school part-time and working full-time, Steel received a BFA in 1998 from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, and an MFA in sculpture in 2001 from the University of Michigan.

The art of ideas is fundamental to Steel's working process and at the heart of his work to date. For Steel, art and life are not separate spheres. Instead, his art is only an extension of who he is and, thus, is fully integrated into his life. Navigating academic discourse and the modernist dilemma, Steel relies on the instinct that art is an internal process. His influences include Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys, Lawrence Weiner and Allan Kaprow, and he employs a variety of materials and techniques in his art, including object making, digital imaging, book publishing, installation and new technology.

In 1994, Steel was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The disease has given him a greater focus and sense of urgency to complete his life's work. As an idea artist, he views the various materials he uses as a way to fulfill the function of the art. Through this diversity, he resists easy categorization. His work cannot be pigeonholed because it is integrated with his life and, as such, it is a richly layered and evolving experience. His concerns about issues of the human condition and social change -- and his hope for humankind -- are evident regardless of his final product.

Steel's work has been exhibited across the United States and Europe, most recently in Bay City, Mich., and in Barcelona, Spain.

For more information, visit the Galerie Penumbra Web site at http://www.galeriepenumbra.com.

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