Paintings by one of Indiana's most prominent artists, John Ottis Adams, are being featured at Ball State's Museum of Art throughout the summer. The exhibit, John Ottis Adams: American Painter, highlights Adams' Impressionist style and ability to capture qualities of light and reflections on canvas.
The museum is featuring 28 works total, including drawings, etchings and prints. Showing until Sept. 26, Adams' works are receiving much attention, specifically from people of the Muncie area, said Nancy Huth, assistant director and curator of education for the museum.
"[Adams'] works are very popular in this area," Huth said. "They are a piece of Muncie history, showing the prominence of his art over the 20th century, and how important art was in Muncie long ago."
Adams is among the admired Hoosier Group artists, William Forsyth and T.C. Steele. These American artists studied in Europe, mainly at the Royal Academy in Munich, and then returned to Indiana to focus on their home state's landscapes. Adams' works also include scenes from Michigan's lakeside, where he summered, and Florida's scenery, where he spent winters, Huth said.
Some of Adams' more popular paintings, In Poppyland and Summertime, feature landscapes from the Brookville and Muncie areas. During his time in Indiana, the painter almost exclusively painted local scenery, Huth said.
"What is so appealing is that he paints this area," Huth said. "Even in his own time, critics from other cities would make comments about how Adams made even 'ugly Indiana' look pretty."
Adams' bright, textured paintings are enjoyable for their imagery, but also for their consistency, Huth said.
"Adams realized his way of painting," she said. "Some of the other Hoosier Group artists experimented with different applications, but Adams' technique was very consistent and accessible."
Adams' wife, Winifred Brad, was a sister to Frank Ball's wife, one of the founders of the University, Huth said. This led the Ball family to acquire much of Adams' work throughout their home. The Ball Associates Building and Foundation, as well as the Muncie Public Library and E.B. Ball Center, display many of his paintings.
Adams' work is on display for any audience between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The exhibit is the first time in 20 years that the entire Adams' collection has been featured together at the museum.
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