Meet Jerry Mannell at FAC
This article is 133 words – a 1-minute read.
“Award-winning artist’s exhibit opens this August”
Jerry Mannell will be showcasing his work “Color Coordinates” at the Fishers Art Council Hub Gallery from July 31 to August 31.
FAC Gallery | July 31 – August 31 | Monday-Thursday | 9 am – 5 pm | See Jerry and others’ work at the Fishers Art Council gallery throughout the week!
Public Reception with Jerry | Friday, August 11 | 6 – 8 pm | 11810 Technology Drive, Fishers, IN | Join this public meet-up to meet Jerry Mannell, see a collection of his work, and meet others interested in our communities art. There will be live music, along with snacks, drinks, and a cash bar.
Go Deeper
This is a unique opportunity to engage with the local art scene and meet an award-winning artist. Mannell’s work, known for its vibrant colors and unique interpretations, has been recognized at the Carmel Arts Festival and the Hoosier Salon exhibit.
If you’re interested in the whole press release provided by the council, here it is:
[Fishers] – For the month of August, Fishers Arts Council (FAC) is pleased to display “Color Coordinates” the artwork of Carmel artist Jerry Mannell, who was the Best in Show winner at the 2022 Juried Exhibit of Hamilton County Artists, sponsored by Jiffy Lube of Indiana, hosted by Fishers Arts Council. His exhibit is on display from July 31 – August 31.
Jerry spent his childhood in Chicago, moving to South Bend as a high school sophomore, and after Jerry graduated from Ball State–majoring in literature and art–he spent a few years in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and has been living in the Indianapolis/Carmel area since moving back from the Southwest.
Jerry began his career after college working as a graphic artist; after he left the field of graphic design, his interests merged into a career-long exploration of the relationships between the concrete and the abstract and the mechanical and the organic. Jerry creates colorful compositions, full of well-defined shapes with hard edges. His vibrant color palette creates an almost tropical feel in his pieces. In Jerry’s work, everything is self-contained, a stand-alone shape or group of shapes, and he incorporates a lot of movement as well. “You can make the eye move from one side of the canvas to the other and relate that to color on the lower right-hand side. The eye keeps on moving in terms of shapes and color, and that’s all in the composition.”
Jerry’s approach to his art is to create works with movement and tension but with unity and color that takes his work in a direction dictated by his own feelings. He is strictly and oil on canvas painter, and a bit of a colorist, which he describes as “an artist whose dominant feature of the work is vibrant color.” He always begins with a sketch–a “cocktail napkin kind of composition in pencil” to see what the sketch suggests. He then transposes his initial plan to canvas and begins to paint.
Jerry encourages his viewers to find their own meaning in his art: he encourages people not to be too influenced by his titles for his abstract pieces, but to instead supply their own. He says there have been times throughout his career where patrons saw something completely different in his work from his own original conception. Once at an art fair, two different customers walked up and described one of his pieces as “sushi,” when that comparison had never before occurred to Jerry. Through interactions like these, he realized that when viewers are encouraged to put their own “spin” on a piece, they are far more likely to want to own the piece.
Jerry’s art has been recognized and praised by many people, but he says, “my personally satisfying paintings are my greatest successes.” He has been accepted into the Hoosier Salon exhibit more than once, has won both first place and second place in the Carmel Arts Festival, and won Best of Show at the FAC Juried Exhibit of Hamilton County Artists in 2022.
Jerry says that he would enjoy traveling as a way to enhance his art. He says, “Experiencing more exotic locales and cultures would certainly inform my art.” Many people see the Southwest in his work, and he attributes that to having lived almost four years in New Mexico.
Join us at the Collaboration Hub at Hamilton County Community Foundation at 11810 Technology Drive in Fishers to meet Jerry Mannell, see a collection of his work, and meet other residents who are interested in art and the artists who create art in our community. We hope to see you at Second Friday – our free, public, all ages reception, August 11, from 6:00-8:00 P.M. During the Second Friday reception on August 11, there will be live music from the Goodman & Joven Duo, along with snacks, drinks, and a cash bar featuring Sun King beer and Daniel’s Vineyard wines. Additionally, FAC board member Pat Grabill will lead an interview with Jerry around 6:45pm. All are welcome and wanted in the FAC Hub Gallery.
The gallery is open 9am to 5pm Monday through Thursday. Friday gallery visits are by appointment only by contacting Fishers Arts Council directly.
