Each month the Harrison Center wines and dines a local artist in hopes of building community connection. This month, Kevin James Wilson took the seat of honor.
Since 2018, the second Monday of every month at the Harrison Center is host to ArtDish, a four-course dinner designed with local, working artists at the center. Each dinner features a carefully curated menu based on the artists’ work and prepared by a local chef, a wine pairing and a dance performance from Herron students as the hand-crafted dinner table descends from the ceiling.
“If you can imagine you’re an artist and you spend hundreds of hours creating a body of work,” Joanna Taft, executive director of the Harrison Center, said. “It feels there’s limited opportunities to talk about it, and so ArtDish is just an amazing event where you have three to four hours when you get to be immersed in, in the work and people are interested in your story.”
On July 10, guests gathered in the Harrison Gallery for Wilson’s ArtDish. Wilson is best known for his realism drawings — which take anywhere from 125-400 hours to complete — and his most recent gallery exhibition “Anthology” opened at the Harrison center July 7.
The exhibition features more than two dozen pieces of Wilson’s work, spanning several decades to showcase how his craft has evolved over time.
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“I have a method of structure that — I call it because when you see a building go up, the first thing you see are steel beams — and this is how all my artwork starts, and then I render it or shade it as people would say,” Wilson told the Recorder in a phone interview. “To me that structure part is actual drawing. I draw from the ground up. This is something I really love to do. I actually love to draw. It’s always been my passion.”
Wilson said he has been drawing since the age of five when he was introduced to the work of Norman Rockwell via the Top Value Stamp Magazine. He then went on to win multiple art competitions throughout his school years, then he received a full-ride scholarship to the Rhode Island School of Design before taking a teaching position at International Business College.
“I can remember my brother telling me when I was around five years old, he said, ‘The covers are done by Norman Rockwell; he’s an artist,’” Wilson explained to guests around the table in between courses. “Clearly, I didn’t believe it, I thought they were photographs and I ran and asked my mother. She said, ‘Oh, no, he is an artist.’ And from that point on, I started waiting on the monthly periodical just so I could see the cover. I didn’t realize that was the artist in me.”
Although ArtDish has seen increased popularity over the years, Taft said the idea for fine dining artist discussions was born from an accident. When renovating the Harrison Gallery several years ago, Taft said they decided to rip out the drop ceiling, which revealed an additional four feet of space filled with framing lumber.
Rather than tear it out and throw the wood away, Taft said she commissioned artist Matthew Osborn to create a dining table from it, leaving the historic ceiling on display. The table is also stored in the ceiling of the gallery and comes down using a rigging system used in professional theaters.
When ArtDish first started in January 2018, the table sat 18 people comfortably. The event got so popular, Taft said they created extensions to the table to seat 28 people. During the pandemic, they reduced that number to six couples so people would be safely spaced out. Now, the table cozily seats 24 guests.
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“The chef expects us, as soon as we walk in, they’re handed a glass of something sparkling, right,” Taft said. “The first 20 minutes, we tell them to get to know the art, get to know each other and that we give a little hint, but we’re gonna have a conversation later and read the titles, look at the art and come up with what you might have a potential question.”
Dancers from Herron High School or Herron Riverside come out to perform a contemporary dance routine to call guests to the table as it floats down from the rafters. Reilynn Garrett, a junior and competitive dancer at Herron Riverside performed a solo choreographed by Davonna Edwards of Abstrakt Solez Dance Conservatory for Wilson’s ArtDish.
“I don’t tell people that they’re dancers; I say, ‘We have a special way of calling you to the table.’” Taft said. “People don’t notice the table coming down at first; they’re watching the dancers, and then all of a sudden, their peripheral vision notices that there’s something coming down, and they look up … then the table stops, and then the dancers open the table, and then the table goes down again.”
Before each course, Tawana Gulley, the chef for the evening, and the sommelier, Dr. Michael Berend, introduced each dish and its significance. Gulley, who is the executive chef at Healthy Soul at The AMP at 16 Tech, said each of her dishes are made from organic and pesticide free foods, halal meat and wild caught seafood.
Gulley is a self-taught culinary artist specializing in Afro-Asian Hibachi but said she took an upscale approach to culturally African American dishes for Wilson’s ArtDish. After researching his work and him, she said she felt as if there was a sense of cultural pride in his work — something that felt family-oriented and comforting. Gulley said she wanted to create a meal that would emulate a Sunday dinner shared with family.
“I wanted to represent the artist and so that’s why I chose some of the things that would not be common to fine dining, such as the ArtDish,” Gulley said. “Not only do you get exposed to some things and combinations that you probably would not have ever tasted before, but you also get a reflection of what it’s like in our staple community.”
In between each course, guests are led in a curated conversation with the artist. Everyone at the table asked Wilson a question about his work and artistic process.
Wilson is also the first president of color of the Indiana Artists Club and recently became a full-time artist — a career change that he said comes with its own unique challenges. However, he said even after all these years of creating, no matter how many awards he has won or recognition he has gained, he is humbled and overwhelmed by the honor of being invited for an ArtDish.
“ArtDish and the main gallery of the Harrison, really this is the biggest stage you can be on in Indianapolis right now on the First Friday,” Wilson said. “It was somewhat overwhelming, but I was definitely thankful for it, I was humbled for it and it just means that, you know, what I’m doing is being recognized, and that’s a very good feeling.”
ArtDish takes place at the Harrison Center, 1505 N. Delaware St., on the second Monday of each month. Tickets are $150, which includes a $50 tax-deductible gift to the Harrison Center, as the event is a fundraiser and the only ticketed event the Harrison Center hosts, Taft said. For more information about ArtDish and upcoming events, visit harrisoncenter.org/art-dish.
Contact staff writer Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848 or chloegm@indyrecorder.com. Follow her on Twitter @chloe_mcgowanxx.
