Columbus artist Alyse Tucker Bounds is part of the artist collective known as One Drop that will be featured at the Small Talk/s speaker series today at 411 Gallery, 411 Sixth St., Columbus.
The nonprofit Columbus Area Arts Council Small Talk/s free series continues at 5:30 p.m. today at 411 Gallery, 411 Sixth St. (the downtown Arts Alley) in d0wntown Columbus.
Today’s speakers include the Indianapolis-based traveling artist collective known as One Drop, and artists Tasanee Durret, India Hines and Nandi Jordan, all currently exhibiting at the gallery. Refreshments will be available at 5 p.m.
Small Talk/s is a speaker series featuring local creatives telling their stories. Through this program, the arts council aims to highlight the varied and circuitous paths that local creatives take in their careers.
The format for Small Talk/s is casual, fun and flexible. The audience is encouraged to ask questions and interject throughout a talk. Organizers regularly say that humor and irreverence are welcomed and encouraged.
One Drop is run by three artists. One member of the trio, Alyse Tucker Bounds, is a Columbus native who earned substantial attention two years ago with the 40-minute mini-documentary film “Crossroads Stories,” examining issues of race and racism in the Midwest.
Formed amid the global pandemic in 2021, Hannah Paz-Westbrook (bachelor’s of fine arts from the Herron School of Art + Design at Indiana University Indianapolis), Tucker Bounds (also a bachelor’s of fine arts from Herron School of Art + Design) and Caleb Davis-Barney (a master’s of fine arts from Pratt Institute) noticed the lack of representation in the local and international art world.
They decided to utilize their resources to create a space that allows for artists and the community to come together for one common cause: amplifying the voices of historically marginalized communities through vibrant creativity.
Since then, they’ve completed numerous art exhibitions across the United States while partnering with city planners, artist-run spaces, galleries and more.
The trio just completed their third year partnering with organizations in Columbus to curate art exhibitions surrounding Juneteenth, have earned an Innovation Award from the city of Bloomington after repurposing a vacant storefront into a public exhibition, worked as stage designers with global force Midwest Fashion Week, and acted as the official install team for GANGGANG to design and execute the exhibition “Butter: At Indy’s Home Court” during NBA Allstar 2024 in the Indianapolis Arts Garden.
