My jewelry guru and friend, Julie Bishop, knows all the fun Indianapolis downtown hotspots! She is always rocking the most fabulous gems and shares her jewelry journeys with us on her blog, Juler’s Row.

Happy New Year! Let’s get back to my favorite PGTL series, Guide to Indy. This round, we are talking to one of my very favorite pop surrealist artist, Mab Graves. To say that I have a small obsession with her work is an understatement… I have a mega “fan girl” obsession. She is not only a world renowned artist, but she loves supporting local business and knows some of Indy’s best hotspots!

1.What part of Indy do you live in? I live in the awesomest part of Indy ^_^ Haha! In Fountain Square.

2. What is our cities “hidden gem”? We have a ton of them! I love the Indianapolis Art Center (http://indplsartcenter.org/). They offer really cool classes with materials you don’t often have access to, they have some great galleries and beautiful gardens.
Also, our Children’s Museum is something I’m really proud our city has. As an auntie I love having such a cool place in our city that is totally 100% for kids – but still interesting and engaging enough that you can go with them and not be bored or overwhelmed as an adult! https://www.childrensmuseum.org/

3. What is your favorite restaurant? Bluebeard on Virginia Ave. Soooooo amazing. I really love interesting, creative and beautiful food. I’m one of those people who if I see is something on a menu I don’t know – THAT”S what I want to eat! A lot of Indy restaurants have the standard same-ol’ same-ol’, but Bluebeards changes their menu weekly and it’s always fabulous. I can confidently walk into Bluebeard, close my eyes and point blindly at the menu and know that whatever comes out to me from the kitchen will be inspired. I have never had anything less than a spectacular meal with them!
http://bluebeardindy.com/

4. Where is your favorite place to take an out-of-town guest? I love taking people to Best Chocolate in Town and Midland Arts and Antiques. Best Chocolate is seriously the best chocolate and has the cutest atmosphere. Midland has some of the BEST vintage and really crazy awesome prices too! People from out of town usually pop their tops in Midland because no one does affordable cute vintage like they do!
http://www.bestchocolateintown.com/
http://www.midlandathome.com/

5. Where is the best place to grab a cocktail? I would have to give it up to the Brass Ring Lounge. I love their 1920’s feel with soft lighting, black and white movies playing silently on screens and some of the nicest bartenders in the city. The servers and staff really make or break any bar and give it its personality – the Brass Rings really shines in that regard for me!
http://www.thebrassringlounge.com/

6. Where is a great place to pick up a unique gift? Homespun on Mass Ave. That place is seriously dangerous for me – so much cute and unique! It’s like all the best parts of Etsy – but in a local shop and you don’t have to wait on shipping! I have never walked out empty handed ^_^
http://www.homespunindy.com/

7. Where can you get the best cup of coffee? Waaaah V__V I can’t drink coffee anymore! I wish I could.

8. What is your favorite part about living in Indy? Honestly? The people. Growing up I always heard the old “People from the Midwest are so Nice blah blah” and I was like, “whatever!”. That was until I became and adult and travelled a bunch and I realized – people here ARE really nice. And they are really real. I love that. The social climbers, name droppers and phonies don’t fly in our city. We have some really genuine and really cool people here and I love it. I get homesick for it.

9. Who is your favorite Indy based artist, designer, writer, or blogger? You of course! We also have some really awesome artists here. Some of my top Indy Art Throbs are:
Brett Manning http://brettisagirl.com/
Casey Roberts http://wildernessoverload.com/home.html
Amy Earles http://www.pushedunder.com/

10. What would you like to see next for our city? I would love to see a stronger New Contemporary Art scene here in Indy. Don’t get me wrong, we have several great galleries, but we don’t have a lot of New Contemporary, Pop Surrealist and Lowbrow artists and as such we don’t have much in the way of a unified movement or scene. I know in ages past, if you wanted to make it as an artist you had to migrate to one of the Coasts, but now with the age of the Internet, artists can live ANYWHERE! I’m hoping that Indy will start being able to keep its talent and we will be able to cultivate a community of strong creative minds!

We hope this inspires you to try new experiences in our little slice of the midwest!

Instagram & Twitter: @mabgraves

xoxoxo – Preppy Girl