Alex Van Galder is pushing his boundaries.  

“Spray paint is our medium,” the mural artist says as, on this day, he instead uses brushes and latex paints to avoid spray from flying off to taint walls and floors inside of the South Bend Museum of Art. “Graffiti is illegal. I’m not doing graffiti anymore.”  

He is filling an 18-by-13-foot mural, one of five that consume the museum’s Warner Gallery.  

Five local muralists converged at the museum May 31, along with community leaders, to have a discussion about innovation, and then, in recent weeks, painted what it meant right onto the gallery walls for the exhibit, “Visualizing Innovation,” that runs through Oct. 9. 

“There are a lot of styles here in one room,” Van Galder, the last of the artists to finish their piece, rightly says. 

And, until Oct. 1, community groups can inquire about creating their own murals on the gallery's walls while under one of the muralists’ guidance. Four murals are expected to be finished by a Sept. 2 reception for the exhibit. It's part of the museum's renewed focus on involving the community in art.

"We all feel blown away by this exhibit," Casey Smallwood, director of innovation, education and programming, says. "It is helping us to bring the community together."

Van Galder used to tag walls as a teenager growing up in Madison, Wis., surrounded by gang violence, where two of his friends were murdered. He later moved to Middlebury, graduating from Northridge High School, and majored in fine arts at Vincennes University, where he joined a trip with an art professor to Greece and Italy.  

Now 35, he’s a dad and takes care of his 73-year-old mother in Elkhart. He led the community mural that filled a temporary wall at Niles Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard, known as the South Bend Art Wall, that came down two years ago.  

Now he leads a community mural along the brick side of the Rio Park Event Center, a business at 3028 E. Mishawaka Ave.  

All of that has come with fund-raising through his nonprofit Graff Bash. And that community work led museum staff to invite him here to paint.  

Van Galder speaks about his piece as he stands next to a sign that explains how his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder helps with juggling the mental and physical aspects of making art, noting, “It’s like you’re playing 4D chess in color.”  

“For me, I view innovation to be survival,” he says. “Because humans created fire out of necessity, to survive. For me, I think the next logical step is space travel. This mural is a cosmonaut during an explosion. He’s shifting through different realities. The shifts in realities represent the gaps in technological innovation. … By accident is how a lot of things are created.” 

“I study a lot of artists and try to meld different styles that I find aesthetically pleasing,” he explains. “I write my ideas on paper. I draw them and then run them through a computer (tweaking the art with programs like Adobe Photoshop).” 

For this mural, he used a projector to help post the image on the wall, then used latex paints from a hardware store, plus a few of his own blends for muted colors.  

Another local muralist, Alex Ann Allen, who organized this summer’s Mural Mania that brought five muralists from around the country to paint new outdoor works in and near downtown, has created a sprawling piece in this exhibit with her trademark style. Vibrantly colored geometric lines are sandwiched between two young boys’ faces with dreamy, upcast eyes in “The Next Generation.”  

More in South Bend art news:South Bend hosts first-ever mural festival. Here's what to know.

Federico Rodgriguez created a circular series of colorful dots, each embedded with the palm of a hand, that he says hints at the evolution and innovation that happened from the time when hands were depicted in cave paintings until the dot paintings of artist Damien Hirst. It’s titled “Due SMTNG,” a play on the words “do something.” 

Actual fabric drapes off of a painting where eight hands are peeling away darkness to reveal the flowered cloth in “Bringing Light to Dark,” by Lauren Steinhofer.  

“Inno-Vision,” by Cassandra Graber, illustrates several local examples of innovation, from the hydroelectric turbine under Seitz Park to hydroponic greens to the light towers by the St. Joseph River.  

April 2022:Q&A with Alex Ann Allen and other artists as SB Museum of Art turns 75.

• Where: South Bend Museum of Art, 120 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., South Bend 

• Hours: Noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays 

• Reception: This free event from 5 to 8 p.m. Sept. 2 will celebrate the mural exhibit along with two others: “InResidence” and “St. Joe Valley Watercolor Society: Inspirations.” It includes a 15-minute performance by New Industry Dance at 6:30 p.m. and by local musicians HeyZeus and Reminisce at 7:15 p.m.

• Lunchtime talks: The following muralists from the exhibit will talk from noon to 1 p.m., where water, coffee and tea will be provided. Visitors may bring their lunch. Reservations are required.Federico Rodriguez on Aug. 31, Alex Van Galder on Sept. 7, Lauren Steinhofer on Sept. 14 and Cassandra Graber on Sept. 21. 

• Afternoon with Alex Ann Allen: The Art League will host this free gathering from 2 to 4 p.m. Sept. 25, starting with refreshments at 2 p.m. and a talk by the muralist at 3 p.m. Reservations are required.

• Community murals: Groups can inquire about painting a wall in the museum, with guidance, by contacting Casey Smallwood at smallwoodc@southbendart.org or 574-235-9102. 

• For more information: Call 574-235-9102 or visit southbendart.org.