Indiana welcomes artists, partners 'Under One Roof'

When South Bend's Krista Hoefle's sculptures are displayed "Under One Roof" at Hammond's Indiana Welcome Center, she will be given a rare opportunity to see her work alongside her other half, artist Jason Lahr.

"I feel like we always talk about our stuff before we make it and then we'll show each other how stuff's working out," she said. "But unless it's within the context of our shows, we never really see each other's work together in the same space. So this is going to be really interesting."

Celebrating the opening of the exhibit with a reception at Indiana Welcome Center at 6 p.m. Feb. 11, "Roof" is made up of works created by 14 pairs of artists who are also life partners.

CarolAnn Brown, exhibitions director for Michigan City's Lubeznik Center for the Arts, came up with the concept for "Roof." Between the participating couples, 105 pieces crossing a myriad of styles and genres, will make up "Roof."

"It's not often that couples are able to exhibit such large bodies of work together," Brown said of the exhibit. "It's also a great opportunity to view and meet other artist couples living and working in the region."

By day, Hoefle teaches sculpture and is gallery director at St. Mary's College, while Lahr is an assistant art professor at the University of Notre Dame.

Citing science fiction as an influence for her sculptures, Hoefle's works in the exhibit are inspired by photos she'd seen of Occupy Wall Street. Her significant other's works in "Roof," she said, deal with themes of masculinity and identity.

"It sounded like an interesting experiment almost," Hoefle said of the show. "There's some crossover in terms of ideas that Jason and I explore in our work, but we don't often get the opportunity to show together in this kind of context. And we were also excited to see if the other couples' works would be complimentary or if they would contrast."

Both Hoefle and Brown were also excited at the prospect of showing works at the Welcome Center.

"It's so different there," Hoefle said. "It feels more like a installation space, and I think that's really unique. When we dropped them off and saw the big open space, it was awesome."

"It isn't often you have the opportunity to curate a 6,000 square feet of exhibit space, so I started contemplating what type of exhibit I've always wanted to curate, and it was a couple's show," Brown added. "Northwest Indiana has an abundance of life and art partners living and working in the region and this was the perfect setting, and it's also just in time for Valentines Day."