Mike Wolanin | The Republic Various types of artworks are on display for Art in Focus Gallery’s Artists Among Us exhibit in Columbus, Ind., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025.
You don’t need to be a full-time artist to create incredible works, as many of the artists at Stillframes Art & Design’s newest gallery “Artists Among Us” are demonstrating.
“I mean, we have professors and soccer coaches and doctors, just a very wide range of people,” gallery director Bob Anderson said.
“Artists Among Us” features works from 22 local and regional artists across a span of several mediums. The gallery officially opened at Stillframes Art & Design, 4780 Progress Drive, on Nov. 10 and will remain open until Jan. 31.
Hours for the gallery are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. All works on display are also available to purchase.
Several of those 22 artists are Columbus residents, such as Kimberly Free, Christine Taylor and Robert Schwartzkopf. Almost any artistic medium one can think of is likely represented in the gallery, from Linda Peterson’s oil paintings to Daren Redman’s fabric pieces to Frank Buddingh’s sculptures.
“Frank Buddingh is very interesting in that… he’s an arborist and all his work is made from found objects with trees,” Anderson said.
Artist and physical therapist Kimberly Watanabe has both paintings and assemblage art on display throughout the gallery. According to Watanabe’s artist bio, the Michigan native spent time visiting junk yards with her father. That kick started her fondness for old, industrial things.
One of her pieces in the gallery is a working clock, decorated with gears, a compass, a light bulb and other miscellaneous objects. She and Indianapolis surgeon Mary Kay Turner both have assemblage works at the gallery.
“I’ve always marveled at how they can find all these little objects and figure out how to turn them into something beautiful,” Anderson said.
Other featured artists in the gallery include Franklin College philosophy, religion and humanities professor David Chandler, retired geriatrician Dr. Dennis Stone and retired Columbus North soccer coach David Green. Artists from as far away as Indianapolis were hand picked and invited to participate in the gallery.
“And we really hadn’t planned on having 22 artists, but we just kept thinking of all the great artists in the area and so then we think, ‘oh, we need to invite this person, we need to invite that person,’” Anderson said. “And I’m sure we’ve left out several really good artists, but at a point, one, you can’t think of everybody and two, we knew we would have very little space left.”
While past galleries have featured individual artists on one dedicated wall, Anderson said they wanted to give more local artists an opportunity to show their work. With the holiday season coming up too, he said they wanted to give people a larger variety of what they can see.
An opening reception for members of the public to meet several of the featured artists was also held last month. Anderson said they had a good turnout for that and the public’s reception has been very positive so far. All in all, he is very pleased with how the gallery has come together.
“… a little over a year ago when we decided to open the gallery, if I had a picture in my mind what I would like it to be like, this is it. We got to a point where this is the kind of gallery that I want to have and there’s a little bit of something for everybody,” Anderson said. “And they’re not all high end and they’re not all low end, we try to make sure that we have some stuff that’s affordable for everyone.”
