2 historic murals moved
IPS relocating works by famed Indiana artist Clifton Wheeler to new School 54

By Aldrich M. Tan
aldrich.tan@indystar.com

July 18, 2006

The historic Eastside school is coming down, but the artwork inside is being saved.

Crews used a crane Monday to move two 83-year-old murals from the old Indianapolis Public School 54 into the school's new building, which is set to open this fall.

Historic preservationists had hoped to save the entire building, one of the oldest in the Indianapolis district. While they lost that bid, the district is working to save the valuable artwork and other distinctive features of the building at 3150 E. 10th St.

That's no small task. Local artist Clifton Wheeler painted the idyllic pastoral landscape on the plaster on the school's third floor. Altogether, the murals weigh 4 tons.

Packing, restoring and moving the murals will cost about $72,000, IPS spokeswoman Kim Hooper said.

"We are preserving the school's past," Hooper said. "These murals bring a sense of history."

The school's Class of 1921 raised $700 for Wheeler to paint the murals, said Marilyn Shank, spokeswoman for Schmidt Associates. Her firm is overseeing construction projects under way for the district, paid for by hundreds of millions in bonds.

Because the landscape is painted directly onto the plaster, the mural is challenging to remove, said Tony Rajer, mural conservator and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Rajer worked with a team of students from Indiana University in June to cut down the wall and then cover the murals with layers of foam and sheets of plywood.

Rajer will install the mural in the new building this week, he said. The murals will be on the first floor next to the cafeteria.

School 54 was home to other noted artwork. Paintings by Hoosier artist T.C. Steele and others are in storage, Shank said. The paintings will be installed in the new building by fall.

The original building will be demolished at the end of August.

Other architectural details will be moved across the parking lot to the new building, including reliefs that flank the stage in the old gym and the Dearborn Street entryway's limestone columns, which will be in the new media center.

"There was a strong effort," Shank said, "to bring elements of the old building into the new building."

Call Star reporter Aldrich M. Tan at (317) 444-6309.
Copyright 2006 IndyStar.com. All rights reserved

Indiana artists with works in School 54

• Clifton A. Wheeler (1883-1953) grew up in Mooresville and studied with William Forsyth and William Merritt Chase in New York. He was a teacher at Shortridge High School, the John Herron Art Institute and the University of Colorado. In 1948, he left teaching and became a full-time artist, working from his Irvington home. His best known works in Indianapolis are murals at the Hilbert Circle Theatre and Wishard Memorial Hospital.
• T.C. Steele (1847-1926) is the best-known Indiana impressionist of a group of turn-of-the-century artists known as the Hoosier Group. He was famed for vivid portraits and lush landscapes. He was a founder of the John Herron Art Institute in 1902, which was built on the site of his Indianapolis home. Steele's Brown County home, the House of the Singing Winds, is a state historic site.

-- Star research