assemblage

Fiber

Vignette: Stephanie Tanner

"Up The River" by Stephanie Tanner, Mixed Media Fiber Art Metal, Wool, Driftwood, 12x60in, 2018, $600

"Up The River" by Stephanie Tanner, Mixed Media Fiber Art Metal, Wool, Driftwood, 12x60in, 2018, $600

Stephanie Tanner makes sculptures that scream out to be touched. The tactile quality of the wool she often uses is particularly alluring, but more importantly, the pieces communicate an emotional intensity that is utterly compelling.

"Holding Fast" by Stephanie Tanner, Concrete, Wool, Wood, 8x22x18in, 2018, $250

"Holding Fast" by Stephanie Tanner, Concrete, Wool, Wood, 8x22x18in, 2018, $250

“I like to think of myself as a woven word artist,” explains Tanner, “a poet that wants to hold words in my hands and show how they appeared as I wrote them. I write passionately about love, loss, longing, and mental illness. My rendering of each poem uses discarded household objects, concrete sculpture and various types of fiber (wool, yarn, fabric etc.) to move the poem from paper into this dimension.”

The recognizable objects are filled with fabric situated in forms and patterns suggestive of the ordinary contents or attachments, but the softness of the materials, including the delicate interplay of pastel colors that suggest Baroque paintings, lends a dream-like quality to the sculptures. Tanner’s formal education may have not included an art degree, but her work is nonetheless filled with academic references from history, even while it expresses complex emotional states that reflect.

“I am stubbornly self-taught in that I learned my techniques through a great deal of curiosity and experimentation. There is never a sketch or a plan…just the thought ‘I wonder what would happen if I did… X?’ and then surrender myself fully until it tells me it is finished. My goal is to bridge the gap between poetry and visual art and create a fuller sensory experience.”

“I loved the people I worked for but found the 9-5 life unfulfilling. I quit in 2008 after the birth of my daughter and jumped head first into art, pursuing a career as a professional photographer. After 9 years of photographing weddings, babies, and families my heart once again felt restless and I felt a desire to further push my creative limits. I began exploring all kinds of artistic mediums but none of them felt right for me. I had always written poetry but in 2016 I began weaving as a way to battle my chronic depression and anxiety and it quickly moved from a hobby to a full-time passion. Recently I have been working on larger pieces that incorporate my poetry, weaving, and found objects.”

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On September 29, Tanner will be part of the Louisville Visual Art’s Juried Exhibit in the 2018 Portland Art & Heritage Fair. The exhibit will be available for viewing at the Marine Hospital from 11am-5pm. Jury prizes will be awarded at 2:00pm.

Hometown: Grew up in Germany, Alabama, South Carolina, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. But for the last 15 years, I have called Louisville my home.
Education: Degree in Hospitality Management, MBA, Johnson and Wales University
Website: www.iamstephtanner.com
Instagram: iamstephtanner

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"Starships" by Stephanie Tanner, Wool, antique fish basket, 24x18in, 2018, $300

"Starships" by Stephanie Tanner, Wool, antique fish basket, 24x18in, 2018, $300

“Nowhere to Keep This” by Stephanie Tanner, Wool, vintage suitcase, 26x20in, 2018, $425

“Nowhere to Keep This” by Stephanie Tanner, Wool, vintage suitcase, 26x20in, 2018, $425


Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2018 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.

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Mixed Media

Vignette: Philip High

"City by the River" by Philip High, Acrylic and mixed media on wood panel - Painted paper collage. 40x29.75in, 2018, $1400

"City by the River" by Philip High, Acrylic and mixed media on wood panel - Painted paper collage. 40x29.75in, 2018, $1400

Even before he called himself “artist”, Philip High was a collector. It is such a common characteristic for artists for at least the last 100 years or so, certainly since Marcel Duchamp made us view seemingly ordinary and mundane objects through a different lens. Art makers were recycling materials long before it became fashionable.

For High, these items are both inspiration and medium: “Rocks, seed pods, scraps of metal and paper, thoughts personal and proverbial, and more, have all filled boxes and notebooks or been on display at some point. For me, they serve as objects of wonder and contemplation, reminding me that every form we perceive is a record of the unseen forces that created it.”

"Ethereal Picnic" by Philip High, Sumi-e and mixed media on aluminum, 24x18in, 2017, $700

"Ethereal Picnic" by Philip High, Sumi-e and mixed media on aluminum, 24x18in, 2017, $700

“Similarly, my art combines collected visual fragments from nature and personal experience – both objective and abstract – in a search for relationships that activate the imagination and suggest meaning.”

“I prefer to work in mixed media - also reflecting my eclectic tendencies – incorporating conventional and unconventional materials and techniques such as: acrylic painting on Tyvec collage, sumi-e on aluminum, monotype, digital drawing, found wood, and concrete. Broadly, they fall into three categories: works on paper, wall-hung assemblage, and freestanding constructions.”

High’s works are dense visual constructions that incorporate all of these collected intelligentsia, highly personal assemblages of color, texture, and form that achieve a crucial balance of the cerebral and the visceral. The relationships are seductive but built upon a tight schematic foundation that echoes the discipline of Zen meditation. There is a profound sense of peace to be found there.

After graduating from the University of Kentucky, High moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he began a career in graphic arts. He returned to Lexington in 1989 and in 2012 moved to Louisville where he now lives. He is currently working on a Triptych commission for a medical center in Virginia, and four of his pieces have been added to the University of Kentucky Medical Center collection.

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He has received regional, National and International awards for fine art and illustration in both traditional and digital media, as well as two Professional Assistance Grants from the Kentucky Arts Council.

On September 29, High will be part of the Louisville Visual Art’s Juried Exhibit in the 2018 Portland Art & Heritage Fair. The exhibit will be available for viewing at the Marine Hospital from 11am-5pm. Jury prizes will be awarded at 2:00pm.

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: University of Kentucky, Fine Art: painting, 3 years, degree uncompleted.
Website: philiphigh.com
Instagram: highphilip/
Gallery Representation: Main-Cross Gallery, Lexington, KY, Mulberry and Lime, Lexington, KY, New Editions Gallery, Lexington, KY, Zephyr Gallery, Louisville, KY

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"In The Shallows" by Philip High, Acrylic and mixed media on Tyvek, 21x26in, 2015, Sold

"In The Shallows" by Philip High, Acrylic and mixed media on Tyvek, 21x26in, 2015, Sold

"The Labyrinth Makers" by Philip High, Mixed media assemblage, 31x50in, 2017, $2400

"The Labyrinth Makers" by Philip High, Mixed media assemblage, 31x50in, 2017, $2400


Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2018 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.

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