Kyle Ragsdale
This year’s Featured Artist installation is provided by Kyle Ragsdale. Kyle won top honors at St. Margaret’s Hospital Guild’s Art, Wine and Design event at the Harrison Center for his piece Stealing Your Anxious Thoughts.
The attendees of the Art, Wine and Design event voted that of the 12 submitted pieces, Kyle’s piece best represented the theme of “Opening Doors to Mental Wellness” and our current mission of raising $I million dollars for the John and Kathy Ackerman Mental Health Professional Development Center at Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center. His prize included the opportunity to show a curated collection of his art in this year’s Decorators’ Show House.
Kyle, thank you for joining our story and helping us to open doors for better mental healthcare in central Indiana.
About the Artist
Artist Kyle Ragsdale grew up in Texas and New Mexico, witnessing from a young age a mix of vibrant cultures and large wild spaces. Since earning degrees at Baylor University (BFA) and Southern Methodist University (MFA), Kyle has been painting full time, working periodically as a decorative painter and stage set designer, and making fine art. He has served as curator for exhibits in Texas and Indiana and currently is curator for the Harrison Center, Indianapolis.
Kyle’s work has changed many times—the paint has been thick, thin, shiny, and flat. He often delves into decorative floral patterns, landscapes, and portraiture, but probably is best known for his mysterious elongated figures. Many times, people featured in his paintings are enjoying the beauty of community, sharing life at picnics or parties. Sometimes formal, sometimes casual, these signature figures and their often ambiguous settings always leave room for interpretation; like an open-ended novel, relationships and meanings are found in the viewer’s gaze.
Kyle works in a beautiful studio at the Harrison, beneath stained glass windows and amidst a crazy menagerie of paints, antiques, and eclectic music. He is part of a great, synergistic community of 36 working artists at the Harrison Center who share ideas, tools, and life.
Kyle is currently in his 7th season of creating paintings for the Indiana Repertory Theatre and has created several murals in public spaces around Indianapolis. His work has been shown in galleries locally and nationally, and is frequently featured on HGTV’s Good Bones.