MATT PANFIL

I’ve been making art since I was very small. I was a really little kid who always

liked all kinds of art. That has never changed.”. – MATT PANFIL

Panfil (’03), is the co-founder, head art curator, and installation artist for Healer, a collaborative art/music space located near

Fountain Square. HEALER DIY is part art space, as Indianapolis

artists showcase their work in monthly exhibitions. It is also a

bar, featuring live music. As it mixes different art forms, Panfil just says he wants visitors to engage in the art in a way unique to

galleries in Indianapolis.

“Healer is definitely something where I have complete creative control as the art director and the co-founder,” he says. “It is really

a culmination of all of the art practices that I’ve been interested in

since I was a kid. I just want to make sure that people engage.”

Panfil says his love of art surfaced early, and his parents recognized his gift. “My parents saw art was something that I had

a passion for early on so they encouraged me to draw and create,” he says. “I transferred from Spring Mill Elementary School

mainly for the Sycamore art program in 1996-97, and was at

Sycamore second grade through eighth grade.”

With the varied projects Panfil has worked on, he has been bouncing from genre to genre, working to find his niche in the arts, and searching to his find balance as a multi-disciplined creator.

After graduating from North Central High School, Panfil attended The College of Santa Fe (now Santa Fe College of Art & Design) from

2007 until 2009, studying film production. He finished his BA in Communications & Culture at Indiana University in 2011. He

attended graduate school at Herron School of Art & Design. He

has worked for three years as lead videographer for RAW Artists

in Indianapolis. Among his honors as a young filmmaker, Matt received first place in Downtown Indy’s “We Welcome All” $5,000 video challenge, and his entry was featured on their website to

promote growth in Indianapolis.

He worked as a painting instructor at Mimosa & A Masterpiece,

and showcased artwork at the Murphy Building in Fountain

Square as well as The Landmarks Gallery, DO317 Lounge, the

Broad Ripple Art Center, and The 5547 Gallery in Irvington. In

2016, Matt was selected as solo exhibition artist for The Attic

Gallery in August, and was chosen NUVO Magazine’s “Best of

Local Visual 3D Artists.” As a writer, Matt has penned two novels,

several screenplays and short stories, a poetry anthology, and a

stage play. His poetry has been published by KNACK Magazine

and The Pine Grove Literary Review, and a short story, “Sounds

of Silence,” was published by The Saturday Evening Post as a

finalist in their Great American Fiction Contest.

“I thought I felt almost overprepared entering high school, but

in a really good way,” Matt says about his education after leaving

Sycamore. “Nothing really felt that difficult or challenging because Sycamore prepared me so well.” He says the Sycamore

lessons would carry into adulthood. “I know other Sycamore

people without even hearing that were from Sycamore, meeting

them later in life, because we all have this same kind of drive that

was instilled in us from an early age.”

That Sycamore-nurtured drive kept pushing Panfil to grow as an artist, and when a friend reached out to him with an offer, he took

it. That decision to lead HEALER keeps him busy. “He said he

had an office building, and asked if I wanted to decorate it with art. We kept the cubicles and turned it into an immersive art space.” It

was 2017. The building, formerly a healthcare billing office, had been a space where a band called Dog Brother practiced. Two

bandmates, Ben Sutphin and Colin Oakley, joined Panfil in the endeavor. They brought the music. Matt brought the art.

“The best thing is when people play with the stuff,” he says. “We’re

all ages - we will have toddlers and then we’ll have people in their

70s.” In 2020, they continued their monthly artist-in-residence

program, were home to a string of concerts, held a Valentine’s

Day benefit for Indiana Youth Group (IYG), and hosted a group

meditation session done in fellowship and solidarity with climate

activists from across the globe, with the intention of bringing peace,

promoting healing, and creating a better world.

It is a varied artistic life that Panfil leads, as he pulls others into his artistic world, shepherding those who venture into HEALER

through some of Indianapolis’ unique art and performances; his

own visions shaped by those artists around him.

“I would say if you were an artist the best most realistic path - no

matter where you go - is that you have to carve your own path. You

have to make something that is honest to you. Don’t feel like you have

to go the normal route of going to art school, getting the degree, and

then showing your work in galleries,” he says of students who might

be considering chasing their artistic dreams professionally or just as a

side hustle. “What it really comes down to is making something that

is different and genuine, and carving your own way, whatever that

means. Do what you can with what you have.” n

“NOTHING REALLY FELT THAT DIFFICULT OR CHALLENGING BECAUSE SYCAMORE PREPARED ME SO WELL.”