Pen and ink sketch of Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple), K.P. Singh.

 

An exhibition of drawings and prints by K.P. Singh, an architect, artist and historian with a particular passion for historic buildings in Indiana, opened at Back Home Indiana in Indianapolis on Nov. 22 and is scheduled to run through Dec. 30.

Trained as an architect, Singh is internationally known for his distinctive pen-and-ink drawings of historic architecture and monuments all over the world, but especially of the historic buildings of Indiana. His adopted state has returned his love.

On April 18, 1995, The Indianapolis Star published a special editorial honoring Singh as International Citizen of the Year.

When President Ronald Reagan visited Hendricks County in Indiana on July 13, 1987, as a memento of the visit, County Commissioner M. Richard Himsel presented the President with a print of Singh's drawings of Hendricks County landmarks.

Trained as an architect at IIT, Kharagpur, and the University of Michigan, Singh was an architect and city planner for Indianapolis in the early 1970s, when there was a move to tear down the Union Station.

The building had been designed by Thomas Rodd and completed in 1888 at the site of the original Union Station built in 1853, which Singh said was the "first union station anywhere in the world... where two railroad lines of different companies crossed." Through his drawings attention was brought to the beauty of the building and the station was spared the wrecker's ball.

After the drawing appeared on the cover of Indiana Architect magazine, Singh quit his city job and set up his design studio, k.p. Singh designs, producing hundreds of drawings of landmarks from the state Capitol to log cabins and covered bridges.

His interest is not limited to just Indiana architecture; he travels all over the world, drawing on spot and taking photographs of buildings such as the Golden Temple in Amritsar, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and the Taj Mahal in Agra.

Architecture, he says, "is a window to the culture, traditions and institutions of a civilization. It is a resource for learning and understanding ideas and ideals of man."

He told a writer for an Indiana newspaper that he visits India once every two years "to renew my spirit."

He has traveled on foot in the High Himalayas, visiting places of pilgrimage.

The invitation to the opening of his current show states that the artist "will be at Back Home Indiana" from 1 p.m.to 4 p.m. each Sunday afternoon between Thanksgiving and Christmas."