Each year, Lotus brings performing artists from around the world to intimate stages in downtown Bloomington, Indiana. Lotus has something for everyone, from acoustic music presented in quiet indoor venues, to dance-party rave-ups and standing-room-only street tents. One ticket gets you into a full night of multiple performances: your wristband is your passport, from one cultural adventure to another. For a full schedule of events, go the Lotus website: http://lotusfest.org/festival-main/festival-events

The Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market is held every Saturday from 8 am until 1 pm, from April through November.

The Farmers’ Market is located at 401 N. Morton St. next to City Hall – Showers Building. Locally grown produce, annual and perennial plants, and a variety of prepared foods are available. Purchase your food directly from farmers and ask them questions about their products. Local entertainment adds to the shopping as well as socializing experience. Tantalizing scents and the inviting atmosphere may cause you to make the Market a weekend tradition.

“This is How I Live United” gallery showcases photographs taken by residents throughout the area, the capturing how they Live United by giving, advocating, and volunteering to create a better tomorrow for our community.

The 2013 Lotus World Music and Arts Festival’s special exhibit showcases indigo textiles from around the world — from creatively reconfigured blue jeans and other custom-made garments, to finely woven fabrics.

Indigo has been used across cultures for more than 9000 years, making its unique blue one of the earliest and most prevalent colors in cloth. The antique to mid-20th century cloth objects in this exhibit come from private collections in Bloomington, Nashville, and Indianapolis. Taken as a whole, these textiles — from China, Italy, Japan, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Sumatra, Peru, Germany, Iran, Guatemala, North America, and other countries — reflect indigo’s universality and reveal its practical and aesthetic uses.

When: September 6 – 28
Where: Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center (122 S. Walnut); Rosemary P. Miller, Treasurer’s, and Vault Galleries
Opening reception:
Sept. 6, 5 – 8 p.m.
Gallery talk by Rowland Ricketts
Sept. 11, 5:30 – 7 p.m., Rose Firebay
Gallery talk with World Blues Collectors William Itter, Barbara Livesey, Harold Mailand, Suzanne Halvorson, Jim Canary, and Joan Hart
Sept. 28, 3 – 4:30 p.m., in the Miller, Treasurer’s, and Vault Galleries

September 25-29, 2013

The Festival is proudly based in downtown Bloomington and named in part for Indiana musician Lotus Dickey (1911-1989). Every fall, the world brings its music to Bloomington, with dancing in the streets and in downtown venues. This year, Lotus hits the big 20! We’re planning a great party to celebrate the end of our second decade – booking artists, planning visual splendor, mapping out a Lotus parade for Saturday night, rounding up volunteers, and bringing on sponsors.

A wristband is your passport to multiple performances each showcase night, at multiple venues. Stages range from the Buskirk-Chumley Theater to standing-room-only street tents, to churches where traditional music shines. Lotus offers both ticketed showcases and free events for all ages. Saturday’s Lotus in the Park is packed with live performances, hands-on art projects, and interactive workshops with Festival artists.

For a Festival First Look, visit http://lotusfest.org/lotus-at-20-festival-first-look
For ticket information, visit http://lotusfest.org/festival-admission

Cirque Arte
Large canvas and acrylic paintings by Juliana Burrell, an artist and member of the Flight Fitness Club-Bloomington. Juliana was born and raised in South America. After completing multiple degrees at Indiana University, she joined a professional circus troupe as an aerialist and toured nationally for four years. After touring, she returned to Indiana and began work as an artist and art educator. The paintings in this exhibition draw upon her varied experiences and have the bold lines, vivid colors, and defined shapes that are the hallmark of her style.

The Flight Fitness Club-Bloomington will be featured in the First Friday Evening Science of Art: Aerial Arts on September 6 and at the benefit gala Science Night Out: Cirque on September 13.

Construction Junction: The Science of Building
Design, build, test, and engineer all kinds of structures! The special exhibition’s three-dimensional building experiences include the Skyline Toolbox, developed and designed by Chicago Children’s Museum, where children can use wooden struts and braces, fabric curtain walls, and real construction tools to build imaginative, original structures big enough for them to walk inside! Other components include the Earthquake Shake Table, the Multilevel Building Zone, the Bridge the River Cantilever Challenge, unique materials construction stations, and more. There also is a special place for toddlers and preschoolers to build with age-appropriate materials.

Recent Explorations in Form and Color Porcelain by Scott Frankenberger. Functional porcelain, intended for use in the home or workplace. Scott enjoys embellishing the surfaces with a variety of marks and textures, as well as building up a layered blend of colors from overlapping glazes, slips, and overglaze decoration. By Hand Gallery is open Monday – Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm. Exhibit runs until September 28.

Special Exhibition, “Art Interrupted: Advancing American Art and the Politics of Cultural Diplomacy”
Runs September 15-December 15
This exhibition reconstructs a 1946‒47 exhibition titled Advancing American Art, which featured over one hundred examples of stylistically diverse American art from the mid-1930s to the mid-1940s. Organized by the State Department as a form of cultural diplomacy, Advancing American Art traveled to venues in Latin America and Europe before political controversy in the United States led to its cancellation. Art Interrupted illuminates a fascinating historical moment when modern art was seen as a powerful tool for furthering democratic ideals around the world.

Chamber Market Share is a LIVE broadcast featuring Chamber members who talk about their business, share why they like doing business in Monroe County, and other topics of choice. We’ll be there every Saturday beginning in May through October!

Interested in being featured? Contact Mary Jo Orlowski at [email protected] to sign up!

For our autumn feature the Farmer House Museum steps back in time and presents “Psychedelic Art.” In our Workroom Gallery we will exhibit striking examples of the work of major San Francisco rock and roll poster artists of the late 1960’s. The posters will be displayed with information about the artists, promoters and the bands they advertised. We will also take a look back at the student culture of the time. In a back room, we have created a special feature: a dark room with blacklight posters of the era. In the dining room we continue the psychedelic theme with a table setting designed by Peter Max.

Show runs until November. Museum closed Monday. See website for all hours and further details.