Event honors Thomas Benton’s World’s Fair murals Sunday, IU professor Scott Russell Sanders to speak

Art, ecological awareness, literature, music and local food vendors are rarely associated with each other, but Jordan River Fest Director Nan Brewer created an entire event focused on these elements of the Bloomington community.\nThe Jordan River Fest honors the final day the exhibit “Shallow Creek: Thomas Hart Benton and American Waterways” will be shown Sunday at the IU Art Museum. The exhibit commemorates the 75th anniversary of Benton’s historic 1933 World’s Fair murals hung in the Auditorium, Woodburn Hall and the University Theater. \n“(The murals) are not only important public art pieces for IU but really treasures for the state,” Brewer said. “They’re considered masterpieces of American art from that period.” \nBrewer said the event was influenced by the exhibit’s theme.\n“I wanted to have a community event that brought together the idea of the American water ways,” Brewer said.\nThe Jordan River Fest will feature readings from IU English professor Scott Russell Sanders, a musical performance by Tom Roznowski and the Living Daylights and an introduction to Hoosier Riverwatch by instructor Kriste Lindberg. A reception with food and drink provided by local vendors will follow, according to a press release.\nBenton enjoyed rivers and waterways immensely and they heavily influenced his work, Brewer said. He often enjoyed going on trips down rivers, looking for inspiration and a stronger connection to America.\nRivers played a large role in early American history as well. \n“Rivers are central to American history, most of the early towns and villages were located on rivers because it provided transportation,” Sanders said.\nBecause of the influence rivers had on American history, it also influenced literature and writers such as Mark Twain, Sanders said.\nIt’s possible, now that technology has long since progressed to a point beyond the once-heavy reliance on rivers and waterways, the attention to their care and well-being has lessened. \nLindberg said pollution in a seemingly insignificant waterway such as the Jordan River can be very harmful because it is a part of a chain of waterways that eventually lead to the Gulf of Mexico.\n“It’s wonderful to help get people thinking about (water quality) more and combining it with art to work together for a common cause,” she said.\nSimilar to the way streams and rivers all over America eventually feed into more prominent bodies of water, Brewer brings thriving elements of the Bloomington community together, not only for a good cause, but in hopes of exposing people to things they might otherwise miss.\n“We’re reaching out to people with a diverse range of interests (to) raise awareness of our own natural environment locally,” Brewer said.\nWhile the event celebrates Benton’s artwork, Lindberg also sees it as a celebration of all the things Bloomington has to offer. \n“It’s wonderful to be creating a sense of place; helping people appreciate where they live,” she said. “And it’s a very special place; we’re connecting people by the thing that connects us all and that’s our water ways.”\nThe Jordan River Fest takes place 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the IU Art Museum.