John Wesley Hardrick’s grandfather moved to Indianapolis around 1880 to escape the racism around his rural Kentucky farm. John Hardrick showed a natural talent in art very early on, drawing by the age of 6, painting watercolors at 8, and exhibiting some of his work at the age of 13. One of his teachers at Harriet Beecher Stowe School was so impressed with his work that she showed it to local arts patron Herman Lieber, owner of an art supply store, who saw to it that John attended children’s art classes at the John Herron School of Art.

While attending Emmerich Manual Training High School, he was a student of Otto Stark, and in 1910, he began attending regular classes at Herron, where he studied under William Forsyth. But financial pressures meant that John had to work nights at the Indianapolis Stove Foundry in order to put himself through Herron.

1914 was a big year for Hardrick. He held his first exhibition, selling some of his paintings for as much as $200. However, he continued to work in the foundry in order to support his wife and growing family of three daughters. For a while, he had a studio at 541 ½ Indiana Avenue with fellow artist, Hale Woodruff.

In 1925, he left the foundry to work in his family’s trucking business, but he continued to paint. He showed at the Indiana State Fair and at Herron. In 1927, Hardrick and Woodruff exhibited their work at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Hardrick received a second-place bronze medal from the Harmon Foundation. From the 1920s through the 1950s, Hardrick received some commissions and exhibited regularly. He stopped painting later in life when he developed Parkinson’s disease.

This painting is not a typical Indiana landscape but suggests a more tropical situation by its name and character. The color system is analogous. The light areas on the water draw your eye to the center of the painting; the focus is on the depths of the painting.