Grover Center Museum announces 2026 Exhibition Season

The Grover Center Museum has announced its 2026 art exhibition season, featuring artists with strong Indiana connections, community-centered programming, and immersive projects that highlight art, history, and cultural exchange.

The exhibition season opens with Felrath Hines Jr. (1913-1993), an Indianapolis-born contemporary artist, designer and conservator. A graduate of Crispus Attucks High School, Hines emerged from the historic institution that gained national recognition during segregation, as well as under basketball coach Bill Garrett (a Shelbyville graduate), who brought the team to a state championship.

Hines’ abstract artwork and contributions to museum conservation earned him national acclaim and set the tone for a year focused on artists who bridge local history and national narratives. Exhibit panels (in the main hall) are created by the Indiana State Museum and Kisha Tandy.

This will lead off Black History Month that also will include the history of Black churches in Shelby County, Indiana. A talk will be held at the Grover Center Museum, 52 W. Broadway St., at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 25. Sarah Richardt will be the featured speaker.

Also featured is Victor Higgins (1884-1949), a Shelbyville native and founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. Known for his vibrant landscapes and portraits of the American Southwest, Higgins helped establish Taos, New Mexico, as a major American art colony.

This year, the museum will have a new mural (in the train room) by Carl Leck, representing a 90-foot-long painting in the style of Victor Higgins.

In early summer, the Blue River Community Foundation in cooperation with the Grover Museum will unveil the Japanese Alley Project, an immersive installation inspired by traditional Japanese culture including art, festivals, agriculture and economics.

This project transforms an alley space into an environment, encouraging visitors to explore design, culture, and atmosphere through architecture, detail, and movement.

Michael Runge (Art/Architecture) and Ignition Arts, LLC (Fabrication/Engineering) were hired to develop the space. Mt. Fuji, a World Cultural Site, is an important backdrop to the Shizuoka landscape and was ultimately selected as inspiration for the installation.

The Rotary Club of Shelbyville also donated $20,000 to this project. To learn more or donate, visit: https://www.blueriverfoundation.com/arts-culture

An exhibit of the 1833-1834 block print by Utagaya Hiroshigi, 53 stations of the Tokaido, will be on display until May to commemorate the museum's nearly 40-year history with our sister city, Shizuoka. This is on loan from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.

The season also includes work by Jeffrey Becom (born in 1953), an artist and architect from Shelbyville whose paintings and photographs document vernacular architecture and cultural landscapes around the world. Four paintings and one photograph by Becom have been generously donated to the museum's collection (in the main hall).

Rounding out the fine art exhibitions is Roland Hobart (1940-2020), an Austrian-born artist and printmaker whose murals, screen prints, and public art left a lasting impact on Indiana's art community and generations of young artists. They will be on display in the meeting room and the Jones Gallery.

In addition to fine art, the Grover Center Museum will host children’s and community exhibits throughout the year, including the SCUFFY Children's Art Exhibit (April 22 to May 20) and the Shelby County Prosecutor's Office Children's Art Exhibit in November and December.

Grover Center: Museum and Historical Society is operated by the Shelby County Historical Society. The museum is free to the public and features 20,000 square feet of galleries and exhibits.

There are three rotating galleries and three permanent galleries featuring The Streets of Old Shelby, Building Shelby County and the Train Room featuring working model trains.

The museum is free and open to the public Wednesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information about the Grover Center, go to www.grovercenter.org.

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