Brian Byrn, artist, library advocate, steps away after 40-plus years of leading Elkhart’s art museum
As Brian Byrn sorts through 44 years of memories and wisdom earned in downtown Elkhart, his superpower shines through.
He is an artist, after all.
Resourcefulness.
His recent retirement from the Midwest Museum of American Art just marks the beginning of new creative explorations. Byrn, the museum’s director and longtime curator, has been in this position before.
Creating opportunity
“I felt Elkhart was my whistlestop on the way to Chicago. I had a three- to five-year plan when I stepped out of college in May 1981 … to try and begin my professional career as an artist,” he says. “The world was my oyster.”
He was honored with best in show at the third annual Elkhart Juried Regional art competition. But he also won the attention of Jane and Dr. Richard Burns, the museum’s founding family.
He was invited to give a talk about Edward Hopper on a bus trip to the Art Institute of Chicago. After that, she called him in for a job interview.
Resourcefulness.
“All that led to November 15th, 1981. And on my first day, Jane said, ‘Looks like it’s me and you, kid. Doesn’t look like you’re afraid to work, so let’s get busy,’” Brian recalls. “… I didn’t know anybody in the art community here. But I was amazed at what I saw when I walked in the front door – the scope of the main gallery at first blush.”
For the next four-plus decades, Brian had an office with his name on the door. But he says with joy, “I was never in it. I’d rather be downstairs on the floor and working.”
Connecting communities
“The first 20 years, I was just a visitor,” says Brian, a native of Lanesville, Ind., current population 935. “I was just living here, working here. I would return to southern Indiana as much as I could.”
That distance probably didn’t seem as great as the divide between the art communities of South Bend and Elkhart. Brian says, “I felt there was something very insular … and I came to learn how that played itself out.”
The resourceful repair? Growing the Midwest Museum’s cornerstone event.
“The Elkhart Juried Regional … became the catalyst for: A) me meeting more artists; and B) building the kind of relationships institutionally with the art community that we saw were important,” Brian says. “It’s important to pay attention to what’s going on in your art world.
“It’s great to know what’s happening in New York and Paris. But Chicago is pretty important, and Indiana has its own history of artists.”
Increasing in prominence throughout Brian’s tenure, the Juried Regional now connects artists from 24 counties. The museum’s website touts the competition as “an important survey of the very best of what is happening currently in Michiana.”
Finding needed resources
Alongside improved and deepening connections, the Midwest Museum achieved other goals.
“Scholarship in American art history has risen 1,000 fold,” Brian says. “When I came here, there were three books on the bookshelf and the internal history was not vast in resources.”
So, Brian – ever resourceful – made his way to Elkhart Public Library.
“I championed the library and its services. With no money here, I borrowed films to show. The art library was phenomenal,” he says. “(Library Director) George Brich came over here and helped my first librarian get organized. Ken Brady and Pat McClure up there in A/V – so helpful. I used the Reference Department as my own personal research unit.
“I was always grateful to call up 522-KNOW on the telephone and talk with Marsha Eilers and Jan Bower and the rest of the staff.”
Brian had a seat on the EPL Board of Trustees from 2009-17, and he still fills the role of influencer.
“Nowadays, artists have more of an opportunity to be visible than they ever had before, using (social media) platforms,” Brian says. “I tell people … if you don’t want to spend time learning it, get to your public library and take some free classes and ask at the reference desk. They’ll help you tool up.”
Tapping into creativity
In the 1990s, Brian says he was at a crossroads. He had stayed longer in Elkhart than planned, but the experience had given him opportunities to move on. For lots of reasons, he decided, “Guess I’ll hunker down here for the long haul and see where that takes me.”
Pushing all in as curator meant dedicating less time to creating art of his own.
“People say, ‘Do you still make art?’ Well, not like I did when I was a young person. When you’re young, you can produce more,” he says. “But I never let being an artist go.”
Each fall, when the heavy lifting of the Juried Regional was done, Brian and his wife, Lisa, would head out to decompress. They tried Florida and the Pacific Coast before settling on trips to the Yucatán.
“My wife downloads about 20 books from the Elkhart Public Library … and this last time, 14 days, I produced 26 finished works – watercolor, mixed media,” Brian says. “I’m not saying they’re all masterpieces … but I’m not just spending my day trying to get a tan, the good Irish-Welsh man that I am.”
Ever resourceful, the artist packs for portability. On these trips, he’s made 226 works total, ranging in size up to 12-by-18. Brian says Jennifer Abrell, the Midwest Museum’s executive director, expects him to exhibit these works … someday.
Moving ahead
The resourceful mind always must expend creative energy, and Brian has his eyes on something new.
“I might want to travel around and podcast – The Artful Travelers, or something like that,” he says. “That could be my extension of contact with the art community. It could be far and wide, but there’s still so much locally to uncover.”
After 44 years, the Midwest Museum of American Art won’t be the same without Brian Byrn. And, in Brian’s view, that’s all right.
“I knew my time had come, I knew my skill sets were limited,” he says. “I could see the complexion of the art community … and I just knew this was special. But I just couldn’t lift the bar any higher.
“Jennifer has lifted that bar really high, and I just applaud that. Her level of expertise is incredible. … I can walk away, be detached, and know this place will live on for at least another 50 years.”
Enjoy Brian Byrn’s accomplishments at the Midwest Museum of American Art. You can visit this and many other attractions by checking out Experience Passes from Elkhart Public Library.