I received an invitation to submit paintings, and subsequently show them at the prestigious 3rd Annual Eiteljorg Museum Invitational – called ‘New Art of the West’ in Indianapolis in 1992. All 3 of my paintings were sold to a board member of the Museum. 

It was a fantastic show representing 20 amazing artists of the West (out of 70 artists that had been invited to submit work). The show began with a Gala opening on Friday, followed by a day-long panel Forum on Saturday in the theater of the museum attended by an ‘audience of more than 50 Western art enthusiasts’, as described by moderator Steve Mannheimer. He was the Indianapolis Star’s Visual Arts Writer and an associate professor of painting at the Heron School of Art, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.

The Forum featured two parts. First, nine of the 20 participating artists, of which I was one, gave a large format slide presentation and talk about their work. Then as a panel, we discussed the subject of the Forum, which was to offer our concepts to define the characteristics of and the role of contemporary Western Art. All nine artists had a different take on that – as varied as all the fascinating work curated into the show, none of which consisted of just ‘cowboys and Indians, …Old Paint …and majestic purple mountains’, copying words used in Mr. Mannheimer’s article in the INDIANAPOLIS STAR article from Sunday July 19, 1992, called ‘It’s Tough To Lasso Western Art’.

 Mr. Mannheimer wrote in his article, which he gleaned from my offerings during the panel discussion:

 …”Ginna Lagergren, a painter from Hailey, Idaho, sees her art as something of a remedy. She wants her highly colored landscapes and floral studies to be ‘beautiful, peaceful paintings to offer some balance to the terrible things I see happening’ –specifically, the destruction of the Western environment.

Lagergren spoke sincerely of the transcendental unity of all things, from the highest mountains to the most delicate flowers, demonstrated by their common origin in molecules and energy.”

In addition to all this, I was asked to perform a demonstration in pastels in the Eiteljorg Museum on the Sunday of the exhibition opening weekend, as well as to teach a 5 day workshop in pastels at the Indianapolis Art League during the prior week, both of which were well attended. – G.P.L.