Artists Talk with LVA: December 22, 2022

Imuzi Ryzoncity Thompson and Autumn McKay Lindsey talk about their exhibits at 1512 Creative Compound's The Common Gallery. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Imuzi Ryzoncity Thompson is a self-taught artist who was born in Manchester, Jamaica but is now based in Louisville KY. His exhibit, Birth Of An American Beast, is now on view at The Common Gallery at the 1512 Creative Compound.

Autumn McKay Lindsey is a ceramic artist whose newest exhibit, Return to the Beaten Path,is now on view at The Common Gallery at the 1512 Creative Compound.

Feature: 2020 Academy at LVA Senior Recognition

Brendan Taylor - Vision Award - $500 cash scholarship
Elizabeth Hill - Portfolio Award - $75 Preston’s gift card
Megan Smith - Community Award - $50 Preston’s gift card
Claire Vicars - Inspiration Award - $25 Preston’s gift card

The journey from 14 to 18 years of age is a time of discovery and finding one’s self; identity forms but doesn’t ever finish. For artists, it is when the simple pleasure of drawing becomes a vital and intentional means of expression. A newly found focus on medium and technique points to the next level of growth and maturity.

As the greatly disrupted schoolyear came to a close, Louisville Visual Art is pleased to have finished out Academy classes online and is proud to recognize the accomplishments of four Academy Seniors.

Megan Smith graduated from DuPont Manual High School

Because of that interest in identity, self-portraits are common. Megan Smith’s “To The Center” highlights the Pop Art colors of a hard candy sucker in contact with analogously colored lips by allowing the face to remain in black and white. The image balances illusion and reality, surrealism and naturalism, and is striking, simple, declarative, and fun.

Megan will be studying at IUS this fall, majoring in Psychology.

Megan Smith, “To The Center”

Elizabeth Hill graduated from Corydon Central High School

Elizabeth Hill explores the fundamental relationship of structure in nature and how humankind has followed it in design and architecture. Every child anthropomorphizes their toys, seeing a giraffe in every crane, and an elephant or rhinoceros in every earthmover, because their perception remains intuitive. If the observation that adult artists are often trying to reconnect with the innocent perspective of childhood, The playful hybrids seen here suggest that Elizabeth hasn’t yet lost that vital connection, combining a solid design foundation with a fine conceptual wit.

Elizabeth will be a student at the Kentucky College of Art + Design.

Elizabeth Hill, “Mass Destruction”

Claire Vicars graduated from DuPont Manual

Design is prominent in Vicars’ work, most notably a poster for a theatrical production of Antigone that might be the envy of a professional. The imagery is highly evocative of Greek tragedy overlaid with romantic textures, and the visual detail of an errant black line extending up from the title is inspired in how it invited the viewer to complete the allusion to the fiery sun as a balloon, a motif that reflects the conflict between earthly and divine power in the play.

Claire will enter the Hite Art Institute BFA program at the University of Louisville.

Claire Vicars, “Antigone poster”

Brendan Taylor graduated from Eastern High School

Brendan offers evidence of one of the most crucial qualities for the young artist: observation. The detail of texture and color overlays a developing exploration of space and dimension. The connection between seeing and drawing can move to a profound level once the artist liberates themselves from a fixation on mark-making; the ability to get lost in the visceral reality of even a seemingly mundane subject such as a ceramic mug and some fruit. The relationships of the objects include the harsh contrast of very green bananas against the warm wood grain of the table and the analogous color of the mug and the table. The viewer can identify with Taylor’s absorption in the almost forensic study of all of these elements. 

Brendan has applied and was accepted into the University of Louisville Hite Art Institute as a Studio Art Major.

Brendan Taylor, “Kitchen Table”, acrylic

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Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2020 by Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

In addition to his work at the LVA, Keith is also the Managing Editor of a website, Arts-Louisville.com, which covers local visual arts, theatre, and music in Louisville. 

Vignette: Lindsey Dezman

"Grenadier 5" by Lindsey Dezman, Ceramic, 16x16in, 2017

Artists are known for repurposing materials, but Lindsey Dezman’s most recent approach is a little more unusual. She captures the detritus from a communal studio sink trap, a plumbing fixture that collects discarded clay and glaze particles that would otherwise clog sewer lines. Although a new technique for her studio practice, it is consistent with the anthropological thread that seems to run through Dezman’s career.

“I explore materials and objects as a means to understand rhythms of time. As we age, so do the things around us; the steps upon our front door creak and slump more with every season, while a fossilized, thousand years old dinosaur bone is a test of time. My work is inspired from these rhythms and pulses of life. The results are simple, abstracted forms through which material explorations take place. I specifically choose to highlight the inherent life spans and the nuances within each of the materials that I use.”

“As my methods of making vary, my focus is always upon utilizing clay in alternative ways. "Grenadier" is a collection of wall works that highlight a continued self-interest in material research, recording, and beauty in the discarded. The sludge is ever changing from red, white, beige to blue depending upon the materials used by myself, and others in the studio. I collect this accumulated sludge of clay and glaze and build the work using the Japanese process of Nerikomi. It incorporates a layering and stacking technique that, once cut into sections, reveals a decorative pattern. The wall pieces illustrate the transitional shifts between material usage over time while the sculptural works are core samples. By harvesting materials from the sink trap, the results are spontaneous and the pattern is unpredictable. The work becomes indicative of the materials washed away and becomes a record mapping the activities within a communal studio.”

Even though Dezman’s past work does include examples of what could described as more conventional forms and vessels, she seems far more conceptual than a potter. Her perspective feels fluid, shifting between an absorption in the craft and an objective point-of-view of her position in the world as both an artist and a human being.

"Grenadier 7" by Lindsey Dezman, Ceramic, 16x16in, 2017

Dezman splits her time between New Albany, IN and Detroit, MI. Earlier this year she was featured in Small Favors: Think Inside the Box, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA, and from July 26 through August 22 you can find her work in Small Works 2018 at the Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. Her work is part of permanent collections including Cranbrook Art Museum and Icheon World Ceramic Center. Dezman is currently the Resident Artist at Indiana University Southeast in Southern Indiana.  

Hometown: New Albany, Indiana
Education: Master of Fine Arts, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, 2014; Post Baccalaureate, Oregon College of Art & Craft, Portland, OR, 2012; Bachelor of Fine Arts, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 2011
Website: www.lindseydezman.com
Instagram: lindseydezman

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An exhibition at ROYGBIV Gallery in Columbus, OH, July 2017  Installation View

"Grenadier 8" by Lindsey Dezman, Ceramic, 16x16in, 2017

"Miniature.25" by Lindsey Dezman, Ceramic, 3.5x1.5x22in, 2018

"Grenadier 4" by Lindsey Dezman, Ceramic, 16x16in, 2017

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Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2018 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

The Academy at LVA 2018 Senior Spotlight: Claire Mundy

Claire Mundy took classes with LVA for about eight years with Mr. Dean Mistler at Scribner Middle School and Indiana University Southeast.

She won a second place award and scholarship at the 2018 Ivy Tech Art Competition. Claire placed in 4H competitions for two years, and this year she also placed in several events with her Academic Bowl team. With all of this and making art, Claire also is very active in her church, volunteering each month with the food pantry and Community Meal, and having participated on several work mission trips.

In the fall of 2018 Claire will be attending the University of Montana, where she has received a Leadership, Achievement, & Service scholarship for $11,000. She will be majoring in Environmental Sciences and Wildlife Biology.

“LVA classes have not only helped me become a better artist, but they made me want to be better and to push myself. Art is a huge part of my life and LVA has been with me for most of my journey as an artist. I wouldn’t be where I was today without these classes.”

Claire's work is included in The Academy at LVA Exhibition, which will be on display May 9 - 16 at Louisville Visual Art, 1538 Lytle Street in the Portland neighborhood. Gallery Hours are Monday through Thursday, 12-4pm, or by appointment. 

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Entire contents copyright © 2018 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved. 

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In Memory of Susan Moffett (1950-2018)

The picture is blurry, probably a "caught image" from a cell phone in the hand of a fellow contra dancer - there are many "better" pictures of her, in focus and more formally composed photographs, but it is Susan Moffett's last choice for the profile picture on her Facebook page, and we include it here because it seems to speak volumes about her energy and enthusiasm for life. Today we remember this artist who meant so much to the community, beginning with words from just a few of her many friends: 

"Susan was a wonderful printmaker, a fine arts educator, a musician, a world traveler and a great friend. She sought and found the experiences that make life vivid and meaningful. The lives she touched are a beautiful ripple expanding into the world. I will miss her for the rest of my life." - Wendi Smith, artist

"Susan was a creative force.  In the visual art community we knew her work mainly as beautiful, spiritual reflections on the natural world which are greatly admired. But the depth of her creative energy was vast and not limited by media. She was a loving and nurturing mother, a devoted teacher, a poet (especially of haiku), a musician and dancer. Susan was surrounded by loyal, loving friends who all knew her in one or more of her creative manifestations. As we are gathering and sharing our grief we are still learning from each other about her many talents." -Kay Grubola, artist and curator

"Susan was one of the building blocks of our program (at IU Southeast). Our fabulous print shop was built from scratch by Susan and Brian Jones – resulting in one of the best equipped shops in the region. Susan was a dedicated printmaker, who created beautiful prints throughout her career at IUS and after her retirement. She was active in regional and national printmaking organizations, a member of FACET, and a former Dean. For more than 30 years at IUS, she taught and inspired countless numbers of our students." - Debra Clem, Painting Professor at IU Southeast

"Moonlight in the Forest" by Susan Moffett, Relief Monoprint, 19x14in, 2016

The following is from our last Artebella post on Susan, in November 2016:

Music is so often, if not always, an integral part of the life of a visual artist. Besides being a highly respected printmaker and teacher, Susan Moffett is also a “Caller” for contra and square dances, and now is playing the fiddle. If we might characterize such pursuits as folk music crossed with precision of execution, it would be perhaps be a fair description of the work we see here.

"Seasonal Rhythms" by Susan Moffett, Relief Monoprint Installation, 42x54in, 2016

The tradition and protocol of printmaking includes labored technique, process, and the notion of limited editions of prints pulled by the artist to their exacting standards, but we find Moffett abandoning those for what she calls the, “the freedom and spontaneity of woodcut monoprints. Instead of a traditional series of perfected prints with a consistent image, I opt to use the block prints in an intuitive exploration of organic forms, creating rhythm within and relationships between the prints. Small prints are repurposed in relationships of color, density and repetition, to make a larger installation.”

Although Moffett is too educated and sophisticated in her sensibilities to be labeled a folk artist, there is an elemental quality in these latest images. Yet, because they are densely textured and highly detailed, they are also complex. We often find such tension at the heart of art that is compelling, a balance of contrasting themes and aesthetic that seems the honest, organic result of genuine discovery. 

With daughter Audrey at the Women's March in Washington, D.C., January 2017

Moffett was a founding member of PYRO Gallery in Louisville. She has exhibited throughout the United States as well as abroad in Ireland, Poland and Australia. Her work is in numerous public and private collections including:

Selected Collections
• Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, Evansville, IN
• Hyatt Regency, Louisville, KY
• Brown-Forman Distillers Corp., Louisville, KY
• The Kentucky Foundation for Women, Louisville, KY
• Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, Louisville, KY
• University of Dallas, Irving, TX
• The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
• Owensboro Museum of Art, Owensboro, KY
• The University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
 

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"Cool Flow, Fall" by Susan Moffett, Relief Monoprint Collage, 14x20in, 2016

"Approaching Symmetry" by Susan Moffett, Relief Monoprint, 16x6in, 2016

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Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2018 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

Are you interested in being on Artebella? Click here to learn more.