Valerie Eickmeier, Herron School of Art and Design dean, switched from painting to sculpture in college. At left is a detail of one of her works, "Tide of Thorns," which is displayed in her office. (Frank Espich for The Star)

Dean Valerie Eickmeier (passing students in the hallway) says the Herron School of Art and Design makes the Indianapolis community stronger, more vibrant and more attractive to business. (Frank Espich for The Star)

Valerie Eickmeier is sitting pretty, in part because she has one of the best views in town. Her second- floor office in the Herron School of Art and Design on the IUPUI campus overlooks Military Park and faces the Downtown skyline to the west, which glistens in the late afternoon sun.

She has one of the sweetest jobs in town -- dean of the state's only publicly funded professional art school. She oversees about 70 degree-seeking undergraduates, 60 full-time faculty and staff, 30 part-time faculty, and a nearly $9 million annual budget. An MFA program will be added this fall.

Eickmeier, 51, is a St. Louis native and sculptor who came to Indianapolis on a one-year appointment to teach in one of the motley buildings near 16th and Pennsylvania streets that then housed the school. The year was 1982.

"As you know, the museum and the school separated and Herron became a part of Indiana University, but it still looked like, behaved like and certainly felt like an independent, private school," Eickmeier said.

Veteran faculty openly joked about the prospects of getting a new building, or moving to IUPUI's campus. That didn't happen until 2005, when the school moved into the new, 170,000-square-foot Eskenazi Hall on New York Street.

You can tell it's an art school once you're inside -- the tell-tale odor of oil paints, the students in sandals or Chuck Taylors, and lots of high windows with -- you bet -- great northern light.

Why does Indiana need a publicly supported art and design school?

Because it makes a better community, it makes a stronger community, a more intellectual community, a more vibrant community. We're trying to attract more businesses to Indianapolis, and we're trying to attract a younger demographic to offset what many are calling the brain drain. If you have a vibrant, creative, culturally interesting community, you're going to attract the types of innovative, dynamic entrepreneurial individuals you want in your community.

(Then) there all of the programs and services that Herron provides for the community. We have five galleries that feature work of nationally and internationally prominent artists as well as regional and local artists. We host approximately 12 visiting artist and scholarly lectures annually. Herron offers Saturday School art and design programs for ages 12 through adults, Summer Youth Art Camps, an Honors Art Program for high school students and Community Learning and Elective Art courses for non-art majors.

A lot of people don't like modern art or contemporary art. Why do you think that is?

I don't know at what point in someone's life they develop the discomfort or dislike, but it's not something we're born with. I attribute that to not feeling secure in being able to look at something and forming an opinion. All art, figurative, non-figurative, contemporary, historical -- it's not meant for everyone to like everything. It is a matter of personal interest. Contemporary art, non-objective art, conceptual art is more challenging. It requires more of the viewer. I think that makes people uncomfortable.

What do you think of Julian Opie (whose art installations were seen throughout Downtown last year)?

I thought it was a fun show. I think the Arts Council was very selective and very smart about introducing these newer contemporary art pieces to Indianapolis. They were engaging in a way that was fun and friendly, that families could develop dialogue about. People liked them. I liked them. I think they seemed to create a lot of interest in the community. My husband (Phil Lamie) teaches in the Carmel Clay schools and a lot of the kids would come back to his class and say, I saw this one, I saw.that one. I think Julian Opie and Tom Otterness (whose cartoon-like sculptures were seen around town in 2005) were excellent choices to introduce the community to contemporary pubic art.

Can anyone be an artist?

I love that question. No. Can anyone make art, enjoy art, yes. There's a difference. Being an artist is not what you do, it's who you are. ..... The process of making art or the process of making an art object is an activity that can be taught, and there are various levels of accomplishment and skillfulness. I think that's the difference. When someone has the passion and commitment and the personal drive to go to art school, make it through -- it's not easy to make it through, it's not what people think, it's not a talent you're born with and no one has any influence at any other point. The moment that the outside pressure, where it's not a class, it's not an expectation, it's not someone imposing expectations on you to create or do something, and you do it because you have to, you can't imagine your life not doing it, that's an artist.

Why is art so expensive?

It's not expensive always. It depends on what you buy. There are different kinds of collectors. I'm not an expert in talking about collectors, but I know many of them. Some of them do collect because of the appraisal value or investment value, but the true collectors I know collect because they love it, because they have to have it. Sometimes it's expensive and sometimes it's not.

I think you could be at the right place at the right time and buy a student piece of work that's down the hall and you track that student or whatever and they could be in MOMA in 10 years and all of a sudden you've got this wonderful piece that you never expected to be an investment. That happens. Picassos were collected before they were valued at what they are today because people liked his work.

You're a sculptor. When did you begin?

I've enjoyed art my entire life. I don't know a beginning to creativity, but ever since grade school I just made things. I didn't know it was sculpture. It wasn't a matter of sculpture or anything else. I just made things. It was a conscious decision, I suppose in middle school, I started taking summer school art classes and in high school started taking art classes. I think I finished a semester's worth of college credits by the time I finished high school because I.was that enthusiastic about it.

What drew you to sculpture instead of, for example, painting?

After I started out, as many art students do, exploring a variety of media, my first thought was to go into design. And I have always painted. I got my first set of oil paints and easel when I was 13, so I started majoring in painting, but midway through, the paintings became more three-dimensional, they became more about the material. I realized that I liked working with a variety of materials and switched to sculpture as a major. .....

I like the problem-solving that goes into sculpture, where you figure out how to put these different elements together, how to work with different materials. I like the scale of sculpture. I like the variety. It seems very strategic in how to work with.multiple moving parts at the same time.

What do you do when you're not working?

Before deanship or after deanship? If I had 36 hours in the day, I think I'd be a little bit more well-rounded. But I enjoy so many things. I have two children, a 9-year-old and a 13-year-old, and so obviously much of my time and interests revolve around them. Studio practice is a commitment I made to stick with my entire life. It's harder now because of the demands of my administrative appointment. But whenever possible I like to devote as much time to studio as I can.

For fun we go to museums when we travel. We love to travel. My family has recently gone to Greece and Mexico, and we like to go to New York and a variety of places. Whenever we do, it's museums and zoos. I love to read. I read pretty much every day. I love to cook. I used to have more time for it, but I do fancy myself as a fairly good cook. I used to garden a lot. I have three parrots. So I have very eclectic interests.

- Interview by Abe Aamidor / Indy Star