BEAD celebrates August with exhibit of new artwork from Norma Pope

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 25, 2013

For more information, please contact:
Miah Michaelsen, Assistant Economic Development Director for the Arts, City of Bloomington Department of Economic and Sustainable Development, City of Bloomington, 349.3534


BEAD celebrates August with exhibit of new artwork from Norma Pope

Bloomington, Ind. - Throughout August the Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District (BEAD) will exhibit works by local artist Norma Pope in the City Hall atrium at 401 N. Morton St. The exhibit will be on display from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, and evening and weekend hours when City Hall is open for meetings. There will be a public reception for this exhibit from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on August 30.

Norma Pope was born and raised in Bloomington where she and her six siblings grew up tending the family farm. When Norma was in her mid-30s and raising five children with her husband, Roy, she started attending classes at IU, where she studied fine arts under Professors Bonnie Sklarskey and Robert Barnes. Her preferred media are watercolor and pastel and her subject matter is usually farm life, with many of her paintings recalling childhood memories of Southern Indiana farms.

From 1990 to 2003 Norma was the artist in residence at Billie Creek Village in Rockville, Ind. Her influences include work by T.C. Steele, Vincent Van Gogh, Mary Cassatt and Claude Monet.

This project is another effort under the City's strategy to leverage and expand the economic development potential of the arts in Bloomington. According to the 2012 Americans for the Arts study, Bloomington's nonprofit arts sector contributes $72.3 million to the local economy annually through direct spending by arts organizations and their audiences. For more information on the study visit [www.bloomington.in.gov/arts|www.bloomington.in.gov/arts].

For more information on the exhibition program, contact Assistant Economic Development Director for the Arts Miah Michaelsen at [mailto:michaelm@bloomington.in.gov] or 349.3534.

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