India Cruse-Griffin

India Cruse-Griffin is an American artist and educator based in Richmond, Indiana Her work focuses on the Black experience in Indiana. She is known for her technique of painting over collaged pieces.

Early life and education Cruse-Griffin was born in Richmond, Indiana. She graduated from Ball State University with a B.S. in Art Education.

Career

Cruse-Griffen designed a piece for the Eskenazi Health Art Collection in the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital called "Wading in the Water". This piece, made in 2007, is a 49.25 by 37.25 inch collage featuring a girl partially submerged in water with fish.

Cruse-Griffin created "Two Moons" in 2010 for the collection. The piece shows a couple in front of houses and trees. She also designed "Friends" in 2011 for the same collection, which shows two girls side by side, one Black girl and one white girl. In 2013, she designed another piece for the collection titled "Sunday Morning." It features a row of city buildings in a 28.25 by 41.25 inch collage painted with acrylic.

In 2022, Cruse-Griffin created a variety of pieces for the Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Court is painted on two wooden panels to showcase the emergence of Black basketball in Indianapolis, displaying children playing as part of Crispus Attucks High School, as well as in Lockefield Gardens segregated neighborhood. The Farm, painted on a single wooden panel, also focused on basketball and Indianapolis, portraying the mixture of rural and urban neighborhoods of Indianapolis with children playing. In 1955, the piece portrays the time Crispus Attucks High School team won its first state championship, making it the first all-Black team to win a state championship in the entire nation.