St’Art Up 317: Meridian + Dorman Street

Photos by Maddie Scarpone

Launched just last year, St’ArtUp 317 is a competitive program aiming to match vacant commercial spaces in Downtown Indianapolis with artists, brands, startups and established businesses to create pop-up stores. With a similar goal in mind and new ties between PATTERN and Develop Indy, a sector of the Indy Chamber, this year St’ARTUp 317 will feature 30 pop-ups at 10 locations in and surrounding Downtown in order to showcase the authenticity of Indy’s creative class and in hopes to secure long-term tenants for underutilized storefronts, enhancing the overall cultural identity of our city.

This series of stories highlights artists, entrepreneurs and businesses that were selected to participate in this year’s return of St’ArtUp 317.

DENIS KELLY

Indianapolis photographer Denis Kelly has been producing exhibitions since 1985 both in the midwest and New York. His work occupies a wide variety of realms, including publicity, commissions, portraits, and doing his own creative work. For over 12 years he has been the official photographer for the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. One recent commission he completed provided a contextual look at the White River with other waterways throughout the globe. In this and other projects that Denis has completed, eco-consciousness is a recurring theme in his work. His current exhibition at his St’Artup 317 location (220 N Meridian Street) titled “Nature and Holiness” is a study of the impacts that humans have on the natural world. In his artist statement for this body of work, he acknowledges the paradox of using digital methods like photography to capture the natural, but he also notes the advantages of his medium to “allow a glimpse beyond our common experience and open our hearts to grace.” His passion for the appreciation and protection of that natural world comes through in his work. He captures natural scenes with reverence, often also showing how humans, creatures and their natural elements impact one another. “We are all connected in the web of life,” he states. “We all live in an ecosystem. I urge us to be good stewards!”

You can see Denis’ latest work by visiting his website and by visiting his space this month at 220 N. Meridian Street, Indianapolis.

HAY DEY

Josh Betsey began his endeavor in Indianapolis in 2002. Moving here from the East Coast, he initially started to make art with a focus on illustration. However now he is fascinated with digital design and aims to “pull the past into the present in new and exciting ways” using funky and retro colors, designs and items as his inspiration. His business, called Hay Dey, stands for Having All You Desire Every Year is still in the beginning stages. Betsey plans on expanding it as far as he can saying “I plan to produce a line of t-shirts, vinyl toys, canvases and other products that inspire a more positive Indy in a playful and artistic way.” St’Art Up 317 has given him and his vision a platform to grow and gain visibility. As for what will happen in the future, Betsey says “I hope to be surprising people with some really inspired, artfully designed products by years end.”

Check out Hay Dey’s window display at 985 Dorman Street and follow them on Instagram!

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