GREENWOOD — Like a puzzle assembled over months and years, the right parts came together piece by piece.
When Kathy Cunningham discovered an old bicycle part or a set of spoons or spools of wire, she’d hang on to it, sometimes for years. Her studio would be crammed with discarded treasures and unique finds, all of which held the potential for to be one of her signature mixed media works of art.
Even if she didn’t know how the piece would fit into her work, she remained confident that inspiration would strike.
“I walk through Goodwill or the Salvation Army, and if something speaks to me, I take it home. I let it tell me what it wants me to do with it,” the Indianapolis resident said. “You can’t just pick something up and say, ‘Oh, this goes with this,’ immediately. You have to think about it.”
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Cunningham has focused her artwork on using recycled materials, not only to help save the environment and diminish waste that ends up in our landfills, but to tell stories. Her work ebbs and flows, with pieces added on and taken away, but with a finished composition, she hopes that the varying items will have come together as something new.
Her work will be on display at the Southside Art League’s Off Broadway Gallery throughout the month of January, ideally sparking creativity in those who see it.
“I hope they get some enjoyment seeing things that don’t end up in a landfill. They can see new purpose for them, and I hope they see some fun in it. Art has to be fun; it’s not always so serious,” she said.
Growing up in northern Indiana, Cunningham had a knack for unique creativity. Her father would buy her crayons and coloring books, and particularly liked gifting her paint-by-number kits.
Instead of following the instructions perfectly and coloring within the lines, Cunningham preferred to follow her own path.
“I’d mix up the paint, so maybe a horse isn’t black or white or brown, it’s purple,” she said. “I was always looking at things a different way.”
Cunningham also loved nature and mechanics, discovering new aspects about them. She would research how the different pieces of things looked, and would take items apart then put them back together to see how they work.
That curiosity naturally led her to the sculptural pieces that she specializes in now.
“It’s examining things and seeing what I could put together to create something. My pieces now are usually about nature, or natural things,” she said.
Cunningham’s process is very specific as she searches for items that go together to create her art. She allows for as much time as is needed before the different pieces that she’s collected reveal themselves to her.
One of her recent pieces involved using old ping-pong paddles and balls to sculpt a massive daisy. She called it, “Love Me, Love Me Not.”
“I had that for probably four years before I got the right canvas and the right color for the background in my head, before I did it,” she said.
She turned an antique hair dryer attachment into an octopus. Another of her pieces is a 3-foot-tall beer bottle made of bottle caps. Cassette tapes turned into a nearly 300-piece robot.
“Each piece is unique. None are duplicated, and they have their own personality and purpose,” she said. “I usually try to throw something in that’s fun, for people to notice.”
One of her greatest inspirations is Michelangelo, and his statement that every block of stone has a statue inside it, and it’s up to the sculptor to discover it.
“That’s my theory on all of my pieces. The artwork is there, it’s just how you put it together to work again,” she said.
Cunningham was a former member of the Southside Art League, so she was familiar with the Greenwood-based group. A friend told her they were accepting guest artists to show throughout the year, and she submitted her name to be featured.
Art league officials invited her to be the first show of 2021.
“I have several things that I can show, including a number of works I made for the (Indiana State) fair that I couldn’t bring in,” she said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
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Kathy Cunningham exhibition
What: A showcase of mixed media artwork by Cunningham, an Indianapolis resident who specializes in using recycled materials in her artwork to help save the environment, to diminish landfills, and to give those unique items new life.
When: Through Jan. 30.
Where: Southside Art League Off Broadway Gallery, 299 E. Broadway St., Greenwood.
Exhibition hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
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