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• IMA exhibit look at parades and why we love them

Herron students Thomas Streit (left) and Tre Reising, aid New York artist Allison Smith's project. (Frank Espich / The Star)

Merritt Aalsma was ready to play a mouse as Kyle Ragsdale painted his giant mousetrap. It will be a float in Saturday's art parade. (Matt Kryger / The Star)

It's hard to say what constitutes an "art parade."

When people think "parade," they're likely to imagine Shriner cars, blow-up cartoon characters or celebrities in convertibles, rather than overtly artistic statements by creative types.

"I think maybe Indianapolis as a culture is more familiar with a certain kind of parade -- a more institutional or authoritative parade -- like the 500 parade," said Rebecca Uchill, assistant curator of contemporary art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the organizer behind "On Procession," an exhibition in two parts. (Part One is a Saturday parade. Part Two is an IMA exhibition, exploring the parade concept, opening May 2.)

The IMA decided to keep Saturday's art parade organic. It invited no advertising, and advised participants to think green. The parade starts in two places and is intended to converge in confusion, helping to distort the division between actor and audience.

Some pieces in the parade will also be on display in the May 2 exhibition, like a Brooklyn artist's set of giant equine pull toys. Then there are locals who embraced the "come one, come all, make art" philosophy.

Herron photography major Brent Aldrich, 22, will drag two discarded Christmas trees along the route with a collaborator, juxtaposing "bringing home the tree" with the somber issue of deforestation. Marie Ursay, part of the Oatmeal Eaters poetry group, will be one of a handful of people walking the streets in old prom dresses with poems written on them.

"We wanted to use the spontaneity of the moment and encourage people to be creative," said Ursay, 27.

Everyone is invited to join an art-making experience 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday (materials provided) and then walk in the parade.

A different kind of 'mouse club'

Meet Fountain Square's version of the Pied Piper.

Artist Kyle Ragsdale's contribution to Saturday's IMA art parade is that of organizer and ringleader.

Ragsdale, 41, oversaw the creation of a giant mousetrap float for the parade, and came up with the idea of dressing a group of neighborhood kids in mouse costumes (thrift-store hoodies with mouse ears attached). The "mice" will pull the float down Virginia Avenue.

"It's not an uber-polished costume," Ragsdale said. "It's kind of low-fi."

The project is a collaboration between a group of Fountain Square families -- the dads making the float, the moms making the costumes, the kids doing the parade-day legwork -- and all of them doing Ragsdale's bidding.

"In our neighborhood, almost everybody has mice, because of abandoned houses and construction, and everyone is trying to do something about it," he said. "We're always trying to get rid of them."

IMA Art Parade

Route: Starts in two places: Near Virginia and Fletcher avenues, and Sanders and Shelby streets. Will converge on Virginia Avenue near the I-65/70 overpass.

When: Noon, April 26.

Cost: Free.

Info: www.imamuseum.org/onprocession