American and Indiana Art

Topics available for tours and presentations at the David Owsley Museum of Art include:

Carved and Cast: Sculpture in America
The museum is home to a number of important American sculptures. This talk presents works by Daniel Chester French, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Harriet Frishmuth, and others.

Transformations in American Landscape Painting
From its early beginnings and throughout the course of the 19th century, American landscape painting underwent numerous stylistic changes, which are examined in this talk.

Impressionism: The Americans
This talk examines impressionism in America at the turn of the century, focusing on the work of Childe Hassam.

Indiana Influences: The Hoosier Group and Their World
Indiana was home to a group of painters called the Hoosier Group. This talk examines work by these local artists, who enjoyed successful careers in the decades surrounding the turn of the 20th century.

A Bronze Sculpture of Abraham Lincoln
Daniel Chester French, the artist who created Ball State's Beneficence, also made a sculpture of Lincoln in the museum's collection. This talk focuses on this earlier work by French.

Benny and the Jets: Beneficence and Other Outdoor Sculpture in Muncie
Ball State and Muncie boast several traditional public sculptures by important American artists. In addition to Beneficence and Frog Baby on campus, Muncie is home to two Cyrus Dallin sculptures, Appeal to the Great Spirit and The Passing of the Buffalo. This talk includes discussion of these works in bronze.