South Shore Arts - Crown Point, IN

123 N. Main Street, Crown Point, IN 46307

http://www.southshoreartsonline.org

Photo courtesy of Google Maps

Approximately 45 miles southeast of Chicago and the Lake Michigan shoreline is Crown Point, Indiana. Located a half block from the historic county courthouse where silent film star Rudolph Valentino married Winifred DeWolfe and three blocks from the county jail where John Dillinger famously made his escape is a branch of the South Shore Arts at 123 N. Main Street.

This not-for-profit organization was formed in 1936 as the Hammond District Art Association by 10 artists who had “the avowed purpose to stimulate interest and appreciation of art in our region." What began as a showing of works in the hat department of Minas Department Store in Hammond, Indiana (30 miles to the northeast of Crown Point) turned into an annual Salon Show of painters and sculptors; today $10,000 in prize money is awarded to local artists. It is one of the largest juried shows in the Midwest.

The mission of South Shore Arts is to “transform the South Shore through the arts,” notes Tricia Hernandez, Director of Marketing and Development. The organization makes the arts accessible to the community by providing exhibitions for local artists, youth outreach programs and classes for all ages. Throughout the year, South Shore Arts provides more than 400 classes in visual arts media, including ceramics, photography, painting, drawing and cartooning. And, in a time when the art programs are the first thing to be cut at many schools, they partner with schools and serve approximately 28,000 children each year.

Public exhibitions have included Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell and Ansel Adams.  In addition to the annual Salon Show, South Shore Arts provides other opportunities for artists to show their work and awards more than $200,000 in grants with funds provided by the Indiana Arts Commission to nonprofit arts providers in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties in Indiana.

With their main location in Munster, Indiana (approximately 24 miles northwest) South Shore Arts established a branch in Crown Point in 1998, but moved into this gut-rehabbed space on Main Street in 2011. Hernandez says it’s a great space with large glass windows where people walking by can see the activity of classes in session or exhibits being hung. “[The windows] cause an interest in the arts, which is our goal.”

In the more than 70 years they have been in the area, many artists “have been able to make art their livelihood and succeed,” says Hernandez. She is also quick to point out the impact of classes on many area children. According to the website, some classes are available from birth. Hernandez says some people bring infants as young as a couple weeks old into the "Music Together" class. "Mommy & Me" classes encourage toddler participation. Other classes are enriched with an educational component where children learn about diversity, littering or drug prevention through art. Adult and senior classes teach drawing, watercolor painting, sewing, pottery, photography and more.

South Shore Arts is also the largest national retailer of South Shore Posters. Between 1925 and 1929, the Indiana commuter train known as The South Shore Line, became very successful. Passengers could ride from Chicago all the way to South Bend, Indiana. In an effort to boost ridership, the train began an advertising campaign highlighting area stops of interest such as the Indiana Dunes and Notre Dame Football. The poster art became well-known and won medals in several Art Directors Club annual competitions. Print magazine compares them to the graphic posters of the London Underground and notes that “there are eight examples [of the South Shore posters] in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.”