The Glass Menagerie

poignant classic

Faded Southern belle Amanda shares a cramped apartment with her two adult children, the painfully shy Laura and the restless poet, Tom. Perhaps a gentleman caller will bring the one thing they all desperately crave: hope. This colorful cast of outcasts and escapists invents beautiful language to survive their drab lives. Looking back at his own family with bittersweet tenderness, Tennessee Williams probes the depths of inescapable memory.

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I remember first hearing parts of The Glass Menagerie in high school at speech and debate tournaments. I knew I wanted to focus the attention when Laura is showing off the glass unicorn. I used my neighbor Norah as the model for this painting. We set up a photo shoot in my studio with bright blue lights. I’ve painted her and her family many time over the years. In fact my last show at the Harrison Center starred Norah and other kids from our block. We focused in on blue tones to enhance the cold loneliness of her character entranced by the tiny glass animal.

Indianapolis-based artist Kyle Ragsdale has been painting full time, working as a decorative painter and stage set designer, and making fine art for over 30 years. He has served as curator for the Harrison Center since 2002. Ragsdale grew up in Texas and New Mexico, witnessing from a young age a mix of vibrant cultures and large, wild spaces. He earned degrees from Baylor University (BFA) and Southern Methodist University (MFA). Kyle designed sets for Summer Stock Stage for 18 years, and for several productions at the Phoenix Theatre and Cathedral High School. He is currently in his 9th season of creating paintings for the Indiana Repertory Theatre. His work has been shown in galleries locally and nationally, and has been frequently featured on HGTV’s Good Bones. His mural work can be seen in many public spaces around Indianapolis. Kyle creates in a beautiful studio at the Harrison Center, beneath stained glass windows and amidst a menagerie of paints, antiques, and eclectic music. kyleragsdale.com