Sherry Rouse, curator of campus art at Indiana University in Bloomington, poses for a portrait in front of “Mrs. Steele in the Garden” by Theodore Clement Steele last month at the IU art storage facility. The painting is one of several T.C. Steele paintings donated to the university. James Brosher | Indiana University
Sherry Rouse, curator of campus art at Indiana University in Bloomington, poses for a portrait in front of “Mrs. Steele in the Garden” by Theodore Clement Steele last month at the IU art storage facility. The painting is one of several T.C. Steele paintings donated to the university. James Brosher | Indiana University
Indiana University's rich collection of Brown County art just got richer.

And although the new additions — six paintings by T.C. Steele and one by his friend and fellow painter John Ottis Adams — are valued at a half-million dollars, the real riches are in the works themselves.

They are part of Hoosier history and representative of the work of the artists and craftsmen who gained fame as the Hoosier Group and established Brown County as a nationally known arts colony in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The group’s work drew heavily on depictions of the rural landscape and wooded hills of the county, with Nashville at its center. The small town, now a tourist destination, remains a significant center of arts and crafts in the state.

Now, the job for IU campus art curator Sherry Rouse is to find the perfect spots to display this newest gift, given last month by the Indianapolis-based insurance company OneAmerica, of the work of two of the most prominent artists of the Hoosier Group.

The donation includes Adams’ painting “Brookville in Summer” and Steele’s paintings “Tinker Place, Indianapolis,” “Brown County Autumn,” “Brown County Landscape,” “Landscape With Cabins,” “Fall Scene: House in Valley” and “Mrs. Steele in the Garden.”

Since their arrival, Rouse has been working with IU President Michael McRobbie to find the perfect locations to hang the works, with final decisions not yet settled.

She said some of the paintings could be destined for the Indiana Memorial Union, already home to several Steeles, and for the new international center, now under construction just south of the Wells Library.

“We have a couple of places in mind. We want to make sure they’re as visible as possible,” Rouse said.

Rouse has worked as curator of the university’s non-museum art for 16 years. Her responsibilities include caring for and keeping track of the art on all of IU’s eight campuses.
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