Joshua Jenkins is a Louisville based painter and a recipient Great Meadows Foundation grant. He currently has work on display at several locations tonight including at the re-opening of the Butchertown Social (formally known as Louis’s The Ton). He will also have works on display in the group exhibit Queer Voices at OPEN Community Arts Center and he will also be apart of a group pop up show at 209 S. 5th Street, Louisville, KY 40202 along with fellow artists, Sunny Ra & Anne Austin. He is on the staff of Louisville Visual Art.

*A much younger Jenkins working on a painting in his college studio (back in 2008).*

When did you first think you would be an artist?

I think I've known I would be an artist to some degree since I was a pre-adolescent. I've always had an interest in art, but more particularly with drawing and in cartoons. I remember when I was around twelve years of age that I wanted to become a great comic artist like Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes) and during early high school years become a creature concept artist. I didn't really get into "fine art" until my senior year of high school and didn't really think about being an actual artist until my mid college years—where I quickly built up the confidence to start calling myself one.

If you could do anything else but make art, what would it be?

If I had ANY musical talent I would quite easily pursue a life as a musician, but unfortunately for me I lack that skill to a great degree. I couldn't sing if my life depended on it and I have horrible rhythm. In high school I tried just about every rock instrument, but sucked miserably at each one.

"When Lovers Sleep" by Joshua Jenkins, 48 x 36 x 1.5 in, Acrylic and mixed media (2015) — on display at the Butchertown Social — *"When Lovers Sleep" by Joshua Jenkins, 48 x 36 x 1.5 in, Acrylic and mixed media (2015) — on display at* *the Butchertown Social*

What challenges you more than anything?

Coming from a dysfunctional and low-income family my life has always been challenging. I've always had a bit of a big ego and for some reason have always had high standards for myself. So I think what challenges me is ultimately myself—to always do and be better than where I came from. I've also always had this drive in me to prove everyone wrong that ever told me I couldn't do this or couldn't have that.

In particular to art itself: when I see other artists succeed in life or in their work I immediately think to myself - if they can do it then so can I. This mind set constantly pushes me to do better as an artist. As soon as I feel comfortable in my art process I immediately want to push myself back into the uncomfortable zone, because I think that is where true challenge lives.

You just returned from a trip to Los Angeles funded by A Great Meadows Foundation grant What were your impressions of L.A. as a city and/or arts community?

I never imagined L.A. to be so big and spread out like it is. It's definitely different than most North Eastern cities that I'm used to and the complete opposite of the "Big Apple". This was my first trip to the West Coast in general let alone to L.A. For some reason I thought it would be a little more laid back, more glamorized and way more artsy than what I found it out to actually be (thank you movies & television for letting me down again!) Traffic was miserable and a lot of the people seemed to give off this "judgy" or competitive vibe. Granted, I only visited for a week and had my own agenda and schedule to keep up with. So, it's probably not fair of me to judge so quickly. I will attest that the weather was absolutely perfect though—and the plant life was out of this world. (I really enjoy plants.)

*Jenkins (on the left) viewing a painting in the "Kerry James Marshal: Mastry" exhibition at the MOCA in downtown LA.*

In regards to the city's art community; There were definitely plenty of public murals scattered around the city, along with street art, but for some reason or another I didn't get any sense of an "arts community". Clearly the city is home to some amazing museums and galleries, but I felt like there was a great disconnect between them all. Maybe it was the distance? Maybe I didn't spend enough time in the city? I'm not sure, but all I do know is that, having visited other big cities, I really didn't seem to get the vibe of a "scene" there. But then again I was only in L.A. for a week, so who am I to say?

Did you encounter any celebrities? If you could meet any celebrity who would it be and what would you ask them?

I walked past a person that looked like a hipster-girl who I may have seen on an indie film or that could have appeared on HBO's Girls, but then again most hipsters these days all look alike. Overall, no celebrity encounters for me. I'm not one to be in awe over a celebrity anyways and I didn't really keep an eye out for any. If I did come in contact with one though I would probably want to ask them if they liked art and if so, would they be interested in buying some of mine—like a true hustler.

"Sunbathers" by Joshua Jenkins, 24 x 24 x 1 in, acrylic and mixed media on canvas (2017) — on display at the "Queer Voices" exhibition at OPEN Community Art Center — *"Sunbathers" by Joshua Jenkins, 24 x 24 x 1 in, acrylic and mixed media on canvas (2017) — on display at the "Queer Voices" exhibition at OPEN Community Art Center*

How important is the community you live and work in? Do you think about relocating?

I moved to Louisville in 2011 and never planned on staying, but this city grew on me very quickly. Over the more recent years I have set permanent roots here. A community is important to have if you want to thrive and want to pursue your dreams. Louisville has just that. It has the small town feel that is comforting and missed when living in bigger cities. I've found it so easy to connect with people here. More importantly I have seen such an impressive growth and evolution in just the past five years that it excites me to be apart of Louisville. The sky is the limit for this city!

"Staubling Nonsense" by Joshua Jenkins, 48 x 36 x 1.5 in, acrylic and mixed media on canvas (2013-2014) — on display at the Butchertown Social — *"Staubling Nonsense" by Joshua Jenkins, 48 x 36 x 1.5 in, acrylic and mixed media on canvas (2013-2014) — on display at* *the Butchertown Social*

How do you feel about the local art scene in Louisville? Would you change anything about it?

The local art scene here has definitely grown since I first moved here. I'm excited about the advancement in the Portland area and think it has the potential of becoming a great arts district. There does seem to still be a bit of disconnect amongst the arts community as a whole, but I have hope it will all come together soon.

If there was anything I would change about the local art scene is with its consumers. Everyone wants pretty pictures of the Kentucky cityscapes/landscapes, of horses, and/or of bourbon memorabilia. I love all of those things too (minus the horses), but there is so much talent in this city and it's being washed over with the constant demand for lackluster art. I think it's up to the galleries & businesses that showcase local art to be the ones to change the consumers mines by showcasing art that isn't just pretty to look at. I think it would then encourage a lot of artists to work on the pieces that they really want to work on. Every artist has their own voice and they should have the opportunities to showcase it prominently.

What is your favorite music to listen to when making art?

If I really want to get inspired I usually need something with a heavy bass, but generally when I'm creating art I listen to everything and anything; from Indie/Folk to New Orleans inspired Jazz to Electronic to Oldies to 90's Rock/Alternative to Classic Blues to Hip-Hop/Pop music. Needless to say all music inspires me.

What advice would you give a young artist just out of college? Tell us about an important moment of transition for you as an artist?

Despite the pressures from family, work, and society just don't let your art practices get away from you. I think it's very easy for artists to quickly "give up" on their art after college, because of the lack of opportunities and the pressures of "getting their career started". Life is to short to be spent behind a desk the rest of your life. I believe the twenties are key years for inspiration, exploration, and for living life to it's fullest. Take advantage of your youth while you have it. You can sit in a chair at a "real job" when your back starts hurting because your age caught up to you.

Hometown: Poughkeepsie, NY
Education: BA Graphic Design minor in Studio Art, Marist College
Website: h ttp://www.joshuajenkinsart.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshuajenkinsart/

*"Caught In A Moment Of Stillness" by Joshua Jenkins, 36x24x1.5in, acrylic and mixed media on canvas (2017) — On display in the group pop up show at 209 S 5th St*

"Gray Face" by Joshua Jenkins, 20 x 20 x 1 in, acrylic and mixed media on canvas (2017) — on display at the Butchertown Social — *"Gray Face" by Joshua Jenkins, 20 x 20 x 1 in, acrylic and mixed media on canvas (2017) — on display at the Butchertown Social*

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

Painting

Vignette: Carol Jones

Josh Jenkins · May 31, 2017

“After 38 years of nursing people back to health, I now apply that care and tender touch to my paintings” — Carol Jones

There is a phrase – the healing arts, that applies specifically to the practice of medicine, but we might as easily use it as a descriptive for the therapeutic value of making art. Beginning in the early 20th century, art sought to challenge, provoke, and even agitate, but the contemplative aspect of painting has stood the test of time.

Carol Jones was a medical professional who occupies her time now painting, and, for her, making art is a process that echoes her work as a nurse: “As a retired registered nurse, I paint for fun and relaxation. Going into my studio and putting on my uniform, now a painter's smock, I smile as I look at the blank piece of board from my local hardware store. I visualize what the finished product will look like after being massaged with brushes and oils. After 38 years of nursing people back to health, I now apply that care and tender touch to my paintings. Each painting is special, just like my patients were, with its own special needs. I have to step back to study and diagnose what would bring more beauty to the piece - a little stroke of color here or a bold push of texture there. And when it's finally ‘well’, I take joy in sending it out into the world.”

"Drapes" by Carol Jones, 24x30in, oil on board (2012), $600 | BUY NOW — *"Drapes" by Carol Jones, 24x30in, oil on board (2012), $600 | BUY NOW*

"Reflections in a Pinwheel" by Carol Jones, 18x24in, oil on board (2015), $500 | BUY NOW — *"Reflections in a Pinwheel" by Carol Jones, 18x24in, oil on board (2015), $500 | BUY NOW*

Like so many artists, Jones pursues a personal course of study, continually taking workshops and studying under nationally known artists such as Charles Gruppe, Caroline Jasper, Robert Hoffman, Cindy Overall, Lori Putnam, Roger Dale Brown, and Dominic Vignola. “Just as with the continuing education courses I took in nursing, each class gives me wonderful new ideas and techniques.”

Jones enjoys painting landscapes, but it is in the near-abstract imagery of her fabric studies that we see qualities of care and nurturing that seems to express her process and aesthetic. They are quiet, but filled with compassion.

Hometown: Elizabethtown, Kentucky
Age: 67
Education: BSN
Website: http://www.caroljonesart.com

"Evening Sail" by Carol Jones, 24x30in, oil on board (2017), $500 | BUY NOW — *"Evening Sail" by Carol Jones, 24x30in, oil on board (2017), $500 | BUY NOW*

"Irish Fishing Village" by Carol Jones, 22x28in, oil on board (2011), $500 | BUY NOW — *"Irish Fishing Village" by Carol Jones, 22x28in, oil on board (2011), $500 |* *BUY NOW*

Photography

Vignette: Sid Webb

Josh Jenkins · May 30, 2017

“I think of art as making a statement about the artist’s time and place and/or turning points in techniques and tools that give the next generation of artists a new outlook.” — Sid Webb

"Skipping" by Sid Webb, 10x27in, photograph (2011), $89 | BUY NOW — *"Skipping" by Sid Webb, 10x27in, photograph (2011), $89 | BUY NOW*

Sid Webb creates in a variety of mediums, and today we see some of his photographs. “I have taken nearly 100,000 photographs,” claims Webb, “and although I am tempted by beaches, mountains, sunsets, and sunrises and their breath-taking beauty as much as anyone, I rarely find lasting substance in such images. We can count the significant landscape photographers on one hand. Landscape painters fare a little better because technique and interpretation come into play.”

Webb prefers people as subjects for his camera. Here we see a young boy approaching a large 17th-century canon at Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine with appropriate trepidation, sheepishly inching his foot forward, a look eager anticipation mixed with supreme caution on his face. The shot is from a distant, raised point-of-view, and if the child had a clue he was being photographed, would he have been so expressive?

"Cigar Roller" by Sid Webb, 11x17in, photograph (2013), $45 | BUY NOW — *"Cigar Roller" by Sid Webb, 11x17in, photograph (2013), $45 | BUY NOW*

The locations here cover a range of territory, from Germany to Portugal, and Webb’s camera finds the ordinary, universal truths of people instead of the divisive artificial barriers that arise from nations and politicians. Webb sees people experiencing the wonders of the world as a respite from their normal, daily existence.

“It is my feeling that about 80 percent of creating art is the process of making it,” says Webb. “By which I mean just being focused and absorbed in the process of creation. Another 15 percent or so has to do with skill and craft, and 5 percent is drawn from our sensitivity to the world around us and how finely tuned we are to form and balance and color. Somewhere in this mix is a bit of rational thinking and reasoning that lead us in deciding subject matter and content. Generally, artists are thought of as being creative and original. And artists think of themselves in those terms, too.”

Hometown: Lexington, KY
Education: Majored in journalism and political science, University of Kentucky; Atlanta School of Art (High Museum)
Website: http://www.sidwebb.com/

"Boys and Guns" by Sid Webb, 11x17in, photograph (2014), $45 | BUY NOW — *"Boys and Guns" by Sid Webb, 11x17in, photograph (2014), $45 | BUY NOW*

"Fairy Dust" by Sid Webb, 11x17in, photograph (2013), $45 | BUY NOW — *"Fairy Dust" by Sid Webb, 11x17in, photograph (2013), $45 | BUY NOW*

Drawing

Vignette: Sarah Johnson

Josh Jenkins · May 26, 2017

“Iconography has given me the opportunity to undergo a reflection and transformation…”
— Sarah Johnson

*"The Holy Trinity" by Sarah Johnson, 14x22in, graphite on paper (2017)*

At this point, it is fair to say that all art speaks to tradition; even the most radical work usually sees Dadaism as an ancestor. There was a time when virtually the only way to make a living as an artist was to create religious imagery – the church was one of the only paying customers, and private collectors rarely wanted secular art, except for portraits. Iconography is not always religious, but the use of recurrent symbols and themes in churches arguably laid the foundation of how we think about such things. Sarah Johnson here picks up that tradition in designs that show fealty to the rigid, highly symmetrical compositional formula that were essential in this work, but with a soupcon of individual interpretation in the details of character.

“I have the opinion that art is supposed to reflect to its audience a message,” says Johnson. “I believe art has a very significant role to play in our daily and personal lives as well as having the capacity to influence our entire culture, spiritually and politically. The best examples of that kind of art have one thing in common: it touches the soul. I have a strong desire to share my belief and perspective and Iconography has given me the opportunity to undergo a reflection and transformation and to learn a time-tested medium. I aim to continue in my study in Iconography.”

So Johnson’s images are unabashedly ecclesiastical; a personal expression of spirituality rooted in the long and rich historical traditions employed by some of the greatest artists the world has known: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, not to mention untold numbers whose specific identity has been lost to time.

Hometown: Maysville, Kentucky
Age: 32
Education: Studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati
Website: http://www.sarahcatherinejohnson.wordpress.com

*"Christ Pantocrator" by Sarah Johnson, 14x22in, graphite on paper (2017)*

*"Archangel Michael" by Sarah Johnson, 14x22in, graphite on paper (2017)*

*"Saint Andrew" by Sarah Johnson, 14x22in, graphite on paper (2017)*

Painting

Vignette: Charlotte Pollock

Josh Jenkins · May 25, 2017

"The mind includes more than intellect. It contains a history of what we learn through our feet. It grasps the world that meets the eye, the city we know through our legs, the places we know in our hearts, in our guts, in our memories, and in our imaginations. It includes the world we feel in our bones." - E. V. Walter

Charlotte Pollock doesn’t just paint what is in front of her. Some landscape painters may, in fact, be documentarians; capturing with accuracy the details of color and light they find before them, but for Pollock, the choice of subject has specific meaning for her: “This series is the result of my desire to understand the meaning of place and its relationship to self. I paint places that emotionally resonate within me as a way to map my biography. Light and color articulate mood and combine with my paint application to make an interior world accessible to the viewer.”

“A sense of place,” is an elusive phrase that can be parsed many ways, but when we speak of art, we are trying to describe how an individual point-of-view of one moment in time might attempt to communicate ineffable aspects of a location. The artist doesn’t create a picture-postcard; instead they share their own unique experience and understanding of a given place, which may be markedly different than the viewer’s experience. It may also strike unexpected chords of universal experience - anything is possible. The E.V. Walter quote that partly inspires these paintings perhaps says it best: “It includes the world we feel in our bones.”

*"Have You Got Good Religion" by Charlotte Pollock, 36x48in, oil on canvas (2017)*

For Pollock, these paintings occupy the realm of autobiography, but on her own terms. What you may glean about the artist from these pieces will not be a complete picture, but what is there to discover just might only be available through her work.

Pollock’s solo exhibition, Lore & Landscapes, opens June 2 at Art Sanctuary with a reception that evening, 5:30-9:30pm. Reception is FREE, family-friendly, and open to the public. Refreshments will be available for purchase.

She also has work in On the Waterfront and Beyond through July 29 at the Jane Morgan Gallery in Louisville.

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Age: 26
Education: BFA, Allen R. Hite Institute, University of Louisville
Website: http://www.charlotteannpollock.com

*"Old Louisville in November" by Charlotte Pollock, 24x36in, oil on canvas (2017)*

*"March 29, 5pm" by Charlotte Pollock, 16x20in, oil on canvas (2016)*

*"Golden Hour on River Road" by Charlotte Pollock, 36x48in, oil on canvas (2017)*

Q&A: Joshua Jenkins