Visual Arts at the John Waldron Arts Center

Gallery Mission:
Our mission is to build bridges between different arts and backgrounds and to create an opportunity to expose local communities to impactful art. Additionally, the gallery provides a vibrant venue in the heart of downtown Bloomington for local and regional artists from all stages of their careers to exhibit.

Vision:
From community, for the community. 
We seek art to elevate the public’s visual and intellectual experience in all mediums and styles. We facilitate opportunities to bring artists closer to audiences by providing art shows, talks, films, and other programming. Our venue is open to everyone through the galleries and studio programs, emphasizing art made in the community for the community. We are here to become a house for all artists, encouraging them to advance their practices and develop a stronger connection with society. We work with artists, photographers, indie filmmakers, poets, musicians, and writers to facilitate a welcoming space to exchange art and creative ideas.

Questions? Contact Gallery Manager Huner Emin at huner@seeconstellation.org. Learn more about Huner here.

Art Gallery Hours

Waldron Arts Center Gallery Hours: 
Wednesday 12:00-5:00pm
Thursday 12:00-8:00pm
Friday 12:00-8:00pm
Saturday 5:00-8:00pm

Rent the Art Galleries

The Waldron Arts Galleries are also available for rent! To check out the wall and floor plans on each of our galleries, click here! To start planning your rental email info@seeconstellation.org.

Current Exhibit: Rosemary P Miller Gallery

Climate Shock: March 3 – April 7

Featuring the work of Dena Hawes, Kriste Lindberg, and David Young

CLIMATE SHOCK! is an exhibition that examines major transformations in the environment caused by climate change and global warming. This show consists of the latest artworks by three Bloomington artists Dena Hawes, Kriste Lindberg, and David J Emerson Young. This group of artists each take a different approach to address the risk of climate change and global warming. Artists draw attention to major transformations in nature caused by human destruction of the environment in various aspects such as geological, biological, and ecological. Some of these transformations are visible and experiential, such as flooding/storm water damage, wildfires, and extreme storm destruction, while others are symptoms – a sign of the existence of something, such as melting glaciers as a sign of significant increases in air and sea water temperatures.

The artwork in this group exhibition will be drawn upon in terms of an affective and visual manifestation of the climate change/global warming crisis, and its effect on our deepest loves, our deepest yearnings, our love of beauty, but also our deepest fears of loss, endangerment and extinction.

This exhibit consists of several art practices such as three-dimensional jewelry, informative photography, and 2D painting/drawing.

Climate Shock Exhibit Sneak Peak:

Current Exhibit: Spotlight Gallery

Stone Soup: From Nature to Politics: March 3 – April 28

Featuring the work of Susan Savastuk

Local painter Susan Savastuk examines the tradition of stone soup in this new solo show. Throughout history and across cultures, stories of stone soup continue to exist and evolve. Some travelers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot and a rock, they convince the towns people to help them make a delicious pot of soup. Through many small individual contributions, the townsfolk and travelers help to create a delicious meal to share. “I believe that creativity lives in each of us, at many levels and many different forms. I am grateful to all who have shared a photo, a place, an idea or a challenge that has inspired me,” says Savastuk.

Stone Soup Exhibit Sneak Peak:

Current Exhibit: Educational Gallery

Elements: An Exhibition by Artists for Climate Awareness: March 3 – April 7

Featuring the work of Craig Barton, Cathy Korinek, Bess Lee, Joe Lee, Sara Steffey McQueen, Anita Naanes, Meri Reinhold, Carol Rhodes

Artists for Climate Awareness is a nonprofit organization that facilitates workshops that combine art education with environmental and climate education. In our workshops and events, we bring together the hands-on, emotional language of art with thematic environmental education, while also encouraging everyone to communicate with others about climate change. For more information and additional resources, visit https://artistsforclimateawareness.org/toolkit/.

Artists for Climate Awareness has several events going on this spring, see https://artistsforclimateawareness.org/events/.  For these events, we proudly feature partnership with the Hoosier Chapter of Sierra Club, Sycamore Land Trust, and Sassafras Audubon (with a grant from the latter). We are partnering with Ivy Tech Bloomington to deliver all the workshops in this region.

To date, our membership is largely based in Bloomington and St. Louis, but we also have members and subscribers from Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, California, Minnesota, Virginia, New York, District of Columbia, Australia and the Netherlands. Our largest group is in Bloomington with 36 people, followed by a Missouri group of 11 and a small but growing group active in the Chicago area.

Artists for Climate Awareness Exhibit Sneak Peak: