Vignette: Mary Clore

A Search for Tenderness and Community

"Claire (painter)," Mary Clore, oil on panel, 5x5in, 2016, $675

In an age that will forever defined by the domination of social media, painter Mary Clore supplants the “selfie” with traditional portraits painted by hand in oil.

"Hannah (poet, archaeologist)," Mary Clore, oil on p[anel, 5x5in, 2016, $675

“This series of portraits explores intimacy and human relationships,” she explains, “in contrast to the contemporary compression of images and information that occurs through technology and social media. I begin each portrait from life, intentionally selecting the subjects from my circle of friends and acquaintances. The sittings are an intimate opportunity to grow closer to an individual, and the resulting portrait offers physical proof of time spent with a person I care about. I am using a traditional medium to create an index of my relationships, mirroring the list of contacts in my phone and friends and followers I have on social media outlets.”

Clore’s work reinforces the old value of the relationship between artist and subject, and underscores that art is essential communication. If her technique is traditional, with supple and sensitive brushwork, her aesthetic is contemporary.

"Scott (musician)," Mary Clore, oil on panel, 5x7in, 2016, NFS

“My generation has received an onslaught of criticism surrounding our use of technology to build and maintain relationships. In my experience, my peers are aware of the limitations posed by these technologies and are adapting to create meaningful relationships enhanced by the technologies available to us. In the same way, my oil portraits have limitations. The paintings employ realism, but I intentionally leave some flatness and traces of brushwork. Sometimes my sitter’s personality will come through in their portrait, while some portraits remain stiff and carry less emotion. My process does not always yield the tender and personal end product that I desire. While each portrait refers to a different relationship, the series as a whole encapsulates the act of surrounding oneself with friends and forming a community. My closest friends make up a surrogate family of artists, musicians, and poets, and their creativity feeds my own. My involvement within an intimate artistic community brings joy and meaning to my work, and informs the imagery I wish to create.”

Clore was selected for this year’s Not BIG(4) Juried Show, at M.S. Rezney Studio/Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky. 

Name: Mary Clore
Age: 23
Hometown: Goshen, Kentucky
Education: BA, Art History and a BFA, 2D Studios University of Louisville, Magna cum Laude, 2016
Website: cargocollective.com/maryclore
Instagram: @maryclore.art

"Corey (psychologist)" Mary Clore, oil on panel, 5x7in, 2016, $675

"Maddie (cartoonist, bookmaker)," Mary Clore, oil on panel, 5x5in, 2016, $675

Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2017 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

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Vignette: Tad DeSanto

“I want my work to make people smile, laugh and think.”
– Tad DeSanto

"I could agree with you but then we’d both be wrong", Tad DeSanto, 24x24in, mixed media, NFS (sold)

Tad DeSanto creates amusing yet pointed images that can be seen as part of a tradition stretching back to English poet and illustrator Edward Lear, who may be the first artist who embraced the descriptive “nonsense.” Of course, that strain of facetiousness came to distinguish the work of satirists in the years since, and a connection between DeSanto’s work and political cartoonists is not that much of a stretch.

"Must be present to win," Tad DeSanto, 16x16in, oil stick on panel, $400

“I Could Agree With You But Then We Would Both Be Wrong,” is perhaps the most clear example provided here, an overt commentary on the painful and seemingly irrevocable division in social discourse in recent years. The commentary itself may suggest a position on the part of the artist, but his opposing figures are given equal weight. The black & white shirt worn by one character might represent intractability, an inability to consider the grey middle ground, while the red and pink print shirt on his nemesis could be read as the opposite, an ability to consider a variety of perspectives; the ambiguity invites the viewer to finish the debate to their own satisfaction.    

“Making something from nothing is magical,” explains DeSanto. “When the image I’ve created touches another person’s heart I feel a special connection that is beyond words. I know what I do is not for everybody and that’s fine with me. I do it because it takes me to another place, a place where thoughts, feelings and memories collide. I want my work to make people smile, laugh and think.”

DeSanto is a self-taught artist who has been showing work since 2005. His work has been exhibited at the Kentucky Folk Art Center, Museum of Art and Craft, New York City Outsider Art Fair, Craft(s) Gallery & Mercantile, Galerie Hertz, Swanson Contemporary, the Arts Company (Nashville, TN), the Good Folk Fest and other venues. DeSanto’s work can be found in several notable personal collections, including Jacque Parsley, Larae Bunn, Julius Friedman, Henry Heuser, Dr. Lawrence Weis, Congressman John Yarmuth, and the University of Kentucky.

 Age: 70
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: BA, Education, University Of Kentucky, 1970

"Believe", Tad DeSanto, mixed media, 24x24in NFS (sold)

"End the War," Tad DeSanto, 24x24in, mixed media, NFS (sold)

"Peace," Tad DeSanto, 24inx24in, mixed media, NFS (sold)

"Was or not was," Tad DeSanto, 24x24in, mixed media, NFS (sold)

Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2017 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

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Vignette: Victor Sweatt

"Chickasaw Park" by Victor Sweatt, 16x20in, oil on canvas, 2017, $750

Parks and Inspiration

For a painter interested in landscapes, Louisville’s celebrated park system offers a nearly inexhaustible series of locations. For Victor Sweatt, the beauty is in the commonplace paths open to all of the city’s population; the diverse range of sunlight and the prosaic quality of the trees, great and small, which shade the environment. Knowing the themes of spirituality and community that are dominant in his figurative work, it is but a small leap to imagine the artist sees nature as an extension of those very same ideas.

Recently, Sweatt completed two large scale paintings for the Slugger Museum in downtown Louisville that depict native son and World Champion Boxer Muhammad Ali on one, and Atlanta Braves legend and holder of the record for career home runs Hank Aaron on the other. Together the work is titled: “Ali & Aaron: United in the Fight”. He also won a design competition to paint an image for the Heritage West development in the Russell neighborhood of Louisville that will be displayed on a billboard.

 "Ali & Aaron: United In The Fight" by Victor Sweatt, acrylic on canvas, 2017, courtesy Slugger Museum.

Sweatt was born in Louisville. The oldest of three sons, Sweatt was raised in a single-family household. He has shown his work in group and solo exhibitions, and appears in public and private collections throughout the United States. In 2015, his work was included in the Louisville Visual Art exhibit, Presence and Place at Metro Hall in Louisville, KY.  Sweat is a signature member of the Louisville Visual Art, the Kentucky Artist Pastel Society, and the Kentucky Watercolor Society.

"A New Day is Dawning" by Victor Sweatt, 12x16in, acrylic on panel, 2017, $650

A long-time teacher and mentor for kids in west Louisville, Sweatt is currently seeking funding for "Speak Up", a children’s book that empowers them against child molestation, educating youth about the negative effects of under age drinking and setting positive goals.

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/victor.sweatt

"Shawnee Park Trail" by Victor Sweatt, 8x10in, acrylic on canvas, 2017, $450

"Underpass" by Victor Sweatt, 11x14in, oil on panel, 2017, $650

Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2017 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

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Vignette: Jennifer Palmer

Mapping the Void, 4" x 3", Mixed Media on Poplar, 2017,  $300

The Act of Creating and Coping with Grief

The act of mapping connects the past with the future. It charts a journey into the unknown, providing a safe, or at least safer, passage for those that follow in our path, alleviating fear and superstition as we move into the larger world together. This was true for explorers traversing the globe hundreds of years ago in wooden ships, literally mapping the geography, and it is just as true for artists using the concept metaphorically today. The face of the earth has been prodigiously documented, but individual emotional experience is nearly always unchartered territory.

Jennifer Palmer’s new exhibit, Mapping Loss, features mixed media artworks that, in the words of the artist, “…create maps of thought that are about finding Zen in the chaos of loss; the search for balance amidst the process of grieving. The works feature a variety of materials that explore the meditative process of repetitive mark making juxtaposed against colorful, unrestrained shapes.”  

Between the Clouds, Mixed Media on Paper, 9" x 12", 2017, $400

“Through the process of finding the light in the darkness, the act of creating is helping to bring calm to the chaos of the grieving process and coping with the death of my mother.”

“I want to keep exploring the world and the objects it holds, and create personal maps out of memories. I am searching to find a balance and peace to what has happened and also trying to create something beautiful out of my experiences.”

Mapping Loss, is on display at Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast through September 22nd. In October Palmer will be the Collider Artist in Residence at the South Central Regional location of the Louisville Free Public Library.

At present Palmer is an Adjunct Professor at Bellarmine University, Louisville, teaching Drawing, 2D Design, and Art Concepts.

Name: Jennifer Palmer
Hometown: Simpsonville, Kentucky
Age: 36
Education: MFA in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design; BA in Art and Political Science, Cedar Crest College (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
Website: http://jenniferpalmer.tumblr.com
Instagram: jenniferlaurapalmer

Mapping II, Mixed Media on Paper, 9" x 12", 2017, $400

Mapping Above,  Mixed Media on Paper, 9" x 12", 2017, $400

Woven Into time, Mixed Media on Paper, 22" x 30", 2017, $800

Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2017 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

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Vignette: Dobree Adams

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“These photographic mosaics are my way of making sense of and giving form to images captured in brief encounters with these ancient towns.” – Dobree Adams

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"Sant'antimo One" by Dobree Adams, 24x32in, Composite; Archival Inkjet Print (2017), $535

When an artist shifts from one medium to another, it is always tempting to see elements of the first medium in the second, and often there is a foundation in such observations. In the work of Dobree Adams, we can see the pattern and textures of her weavings reoccur in her photographs, and as she often has chosen historical architecture as a subject for her camera, we might also connect the fundamentally earthy tones of her textile palette with the aged, dusty surfaces found in much of her photography.

That palette also runs to a spectrum of greens, and in Adam’s most recent work she juxtaposes images of ancient architectural forms with lush gardens and mazes, connecting and contrasting the mortality implicit in the modern occupation of structures built thousands of years ago with the verdant arrangements of shrubbery and garden design. The “photo mosaics” are drawn from sixteen towns in Umbria, Tuscany, and Le Marche.

"Assisi Two" by Dobree Adams, 24x32in, Composite; Archival Inkjet Print (2017), $535

“I captured strong yet intimate images, often weirdly dissimilar,” explains Adams, “gargoyles, fragments of stone work and frescos, colors, light patterns, and landscape jewels. These photographic mosaics are my way of making sense of and giving form to images captured in brief encounters with these ancient towns. The images in each mosaic, although from a single geographical location, may be from different places, different times, different materials, and are sometimes reproduced at different scales.”

"Sweet Summer" by Dobree Adams, 62x32in, Felted by hand and on the FeltLoom; Silk, Merino and Lincoln Wool (2016), $950

“The energy or movement perceived in the mosaics works like the optical mixing of colors so important in impressionistic painting. Your eye is trying to make sense of the relationship between the images, perhaps trying to deal with that weirdness, looking for perspective or perhaps trying to argue whether a line is straight or crooked.”

Adams wants her compositions to communicate a sense of place through the subjective lens of her camera, as well as the unique and sometimes unorthodox juxtaposition of locations. There is an aspect of assembling a puzzle using pieces that aren’t a natural fit, yet there is an association that we only discover through the artist’s perspective; one we almost certainly won’t discover anywhere else.

Dobree Adams has been long recognized as a contemporary fiber artist. Most recently she has been creating felted landscapes using the FeltLoom in the University of Kentucky Fiber Studio. is also an accomplished photographer who began actively exhibiting her photographs with her woven work in 2003. She has had collaborative shows of her tapestries and photographs intertwined with the poems of her husband Jonathan Greene since 2009, including the Albrecht-Kemper Museum in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the Headley-Whitney in Lexington, and the Evansville Museum.

Her felted piece ‘Homage to Jasper Johns’ was included in the New Editions Gallery exhibition MIX IT UP. She is also in three current or upcoming exhibits:

"La Foce Nine" by Dobree Adams, 24x32in, Composite; Archival Inkjet Print (2017), $535

Way of The Land: The Farm Story, an invitational exhibition designed to document the region’s agrarian culture, will run through October 22 at the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art.

Italia Con Amore, a solo show and premiere exhibition of photographic mosaics from Umbria, Tuscany, and Le Marche will run September 22 through October 27 at Crafts(s) Gallery, as part of the 2017 Louisville Photo Biennial.

Lexington Camera Club: New Work, work by 32 members curated by Paul Paletti, will run October 6 through December 15 at the Lyric Theatre Gallery, Lexington.

Hometown: Frankfort, Kentucky
Education: BA, Mathematics, Wellesley College. Over 25 years in the scientific arena before becoming a full time artist/farmer; has studied at the Penland School of Craft & Santa Fe Photography Workshops
Website: www.dobreeadams.com/dobreegallery/

"Montepulciano One" by Dobree Adams, 24x32in, Composite; Archival Inkjet Print (2017), $535

"Umbertide One" by Dobree Adams, 24x32in, Composite; Archival Inkjet Print (2017), $535

Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2017 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

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