Jasper Arts to showcase Marion artist Tashema Davis in solo exhibition

Jasper Arts is bringing Marion artist Tashema Davis to the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center for a solo exhibition that gives Dubois County residents a free look at original oil and acrylic paintings without leaving downtown Jasper. The show, titled Talitha Cumi, opens with a First Thursday reception on May 7 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., and Davis is scheduled to give a Gallery Talk during the event.

The exhibition runs through July 26 at 100 3rd Avenue, Suite A, in a building that has become one of Jasper’s busiest cultural anchors. Jasper Arts says the galleries are open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. Admission is free, with donations appreciated, and school groups and clubs are welcome.

Davis brings more than studio work to the show. She attended Ball State University, originally planned to study interior design, then shifted to earn a master’s degree in art and a teaching license in 2010. Since 2011, she has taught art at Marion High School and sponsors the school’s art club. Her public bio also says she works as a book illustrator, takes part in community beautification projects and aims to express “all things beautiful and meaningful in life.”

That mix of classroom experience, illustration work and community projects makes Davis a notable booking for Jasper Arts, which stages 17 visual arts exhibits each year. Her show also strengthens the arts connection between Jasper and other Indiana communities, including Marion and Fort Wayne, where she serves on the advisory board for the Fort Wayne Museum of Art’s art and writing scholastics.

The setting matters, too. The Thyen-Clark Cultural Center houses Jasper Arts galleries, workshops, private studios, a Black Box Theatre and the Jasper Public Library, with more than 63,000 square feet of cultural space in the heart of downtown. Jasper Arts was founded on May 12, 1975, as part of the City of Jasper, and the center grew out of a long planning process that advanced after early 2000s talks, a 2013 master plan, a 2015 matching-grant challenge from Jim and Pat Thyen and a successful 2016 referendum.

Jasper Arts also points to other May and June events at the same site, including Chalk Walk on May 16 and a Juneteenth Community Celebration on June 6. Kimball Electronics is listed as a supporter of the exhibition, adding another local name to a downtown arts calendar that keeps expanding.