Jasper Arts, Dubois County Pride unveil Pride Month exhibit

An eight-foot found-object umbrella and a soundscape built from local voices will anchor “In Every Storm, We Shine,” the Pride Month installation Jasper Arts and Dubois County Pride will open June 4 during First Thursday at the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center in downtown Jasper.

The opening reception is set for 5 to 7 p.m. at 100 3rd Avenue, Jasper, and the exhibit will remain on view through Sunday, June 28. Jasper Arts and Dubois County Pride are staging the work as a public-facing display inside a county cultural venue that houses Jasper Arts, the Jasper Public Library and more than 63,000 square feet of galleries, workshops, private studios and a Black Box Theatre.

The installation is meant to do more than mark Pride Month. Jasper Arts says its mission is to stimulate appreciation of the arts and foster belonging among residents, while Dubois County Pride says it works to empower and affirm LGBTQIA+ people and allies through connections, support systems and spaces for self-expression and belonging. That makes the exhibit both an art show and a statement about who is meant to feel welcome in a prominent downtown space in a city of about 17,000 people.

Local artist Curtis Uebelhor created the umbrella, and Jasper Arts intern Jade Darding produced the soundscape using community voices. Volunteers of all ages helped build additional pieces, giving the installation a countywide feel rather than the look of a single-artist showcase. It will be displayed alongside work by Evansville sculptor Christina Zimmer Robinson, whose 2026 Jasper Arts lineup includes a solo sculpture exhibition running June 4 through Aug. 23.

The timing places the exhibit in the middle of a busy June calendar at the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center. Jasper Arts’ upcoming events also include the 5th Annual Juneteenth Community Celebration on June 6 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., extending the month’s focus on public gathering and cultural visibility. The Pride collaboration also builds on earlier work between the organizations, including Create with Pride, the monthly open-studio and instructor-led workshop series they launched in January 2025. Dubois County Pride’s sixth annual Pride Festival was held June 21, 2025, at Jasper Riverwalk and Dave Buehler Plaza, and the group has already announced its 2026 festival for Saturday, Oct. 17, at the same location.