Educational Gallery

Forest featuring the work of Michael Chitwood, Meris Drew, Roger Hangarter, Josh Johnson, Meg Lagodzki, Jeanne McLeish, SIOSI, Amanda Smith, and Betsy Stirratt

On display October 3 – 26, 2025
Gallery Talk: Sunday, October 12 at 4pm (doors at 3:30pm)

About the Exhibition:
November of 2025 marks the 90th anniversary of the first land purchase to create the future Hoosier National Forest. “The Hoosier” is a defining feature of life in South Central Indiana, yet there is much debate about how it should be managed. Two hundred years ago, Indiana was 80% forest. In just a century, land clearing for timber and agriculture reduced that forest cover to just 7%. Today, through much deliberative policy, Indiana is now at approximately 17% forest cover. Unlike state parks and nature reserves, the Hoosier, like other national forests, was planned as a sustainable resource through an act of Congress. The Multiple-Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960 states that “it is the policy of the Congress that the national forests are established and shall be administered for outdoor recreation, range, timber, watershed, and wildlife and fish purposes.” This multiple-use model inevitably leads to disagreement over how to best utilize the resources of the forest, and whether, as parts of it regenerate to mature forest, we even should.

This show includes work of varied media to tell visual stories of the Hoosier today. The included artists make work about loss and regeneration, wildlife diversity, and changes to the forest through both anthropocentric and climate disruptions, asking “What, and who, is the forest for?” And what is our collective responsibility to the forest that we love?