Vignette: Elle Brown

“I believe that being a woman is very important, especially in a world that predominantly shuts us down.” – Elle Brown

"A Transitioning" by Elle Brown (detail), Charcoal on paper, 163x18in, 2017, POR

Every art student has a portfolio of work from figure drawing classes, but Elle Brown, a recent BFA recipient from the University of Kentucky, has kept her focus on the human form, developing her studies into a highly personal exploration of gender, body image, and identity.

"A Transitioning" by Elle Brown, Charcoal on paper, 163x18in, 2017, POR

“The general direction my work has been heading in explores larger scale drawings, prints, and paintings using layered print matrixes and inks. Like most of the work I make, my subject matter is mainly the nude female form, considering my work deals with the struggles and misconceptions of my own body image being portrayed to the world in a generation predominantly led by beauty. Body image is something many people, including me, struggle with.”

“The reason I use the female form is because I believe that being a woman is very important, especially in a world that predominantly shuts us down. Fitting into society has always been an enormous concern of mine, to a point where I would alter my image or personality to seem more likeable or approachable. I want my work to ideally omit my feelings and struggles that I have faced, I wish to come to not only love and respect my body and myself, but also not compare myself with the harsh fictions of people portrayed around me.”

Brown appears to be building an ongoing narrative through the use of multiple drawings. In one, extended, series of five-minute drawings that stretches around the walls of the gallery, she creates a frieze-like presence around us using our innate sense of linear flow to lead us into “reading” the work as we would a comic book panel.  "Being an art history minor and traveling through Europe, I would see elaborate friezes which is what always fascinated me the most about the buildings. Depicting movement and interaction, I created this installation as a viewing to see the day to day, pure form of a woman."

“I want to portray the mood and feelings of my own body. I do this by using a muted color palette along with subject matter connected to these feelings. I also play with what makes a piece of work finished or unfinished. I believe there is a giving balance that expresses gestural implied shapes, and skillful specific lines.”

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: BFA, Art Studio, University of Kentucky, Minor, Art History
Website: wixsite/ellebrown
Instagram: ellebrownart

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"Free Yet Restricted" by Elle Brown, Oil on canvas, 36x48in, 2017, POR

"Still" by Elle Brown, Charcoal on paper, 22x30in, 2017, POR

"Con(fusion)" by Elle Brown, Charcoal on paper, 22x30in, 2017, POR

"Imagined Trophy" by Elle Brown, Oil on canvas, 41x58in, 2017, POR

"Light Through The Storm" by Elle Brown, Charcoal on paper, 10x13in, 2018, POR

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

Vignette: Shane Smith

"Ed Reimann Visitation" by Shane Smith, Windows & mirrors & projector & screen & fake flowers & paint on wood, 12x24x16ft, 2016, NFS

It is a misnomer that visual artists are less articulate, that a talent for expressing themselves in visual terms somehow comes at a price: the inability to verbally engage intellectually or socially. It is as hoary a cliché as the notion that great art comes from madness – Van Gogh, or that Monet painted as he did because of his failing eyesight.

So when Shane Smith offers the following as his most recent artist’s statement:

Preachin' to the choir,
just a liar vyin'
for retention.

"Learning Curve" by Shane Smith, Chair and table and bed slats and nails, 17x3x5 ft, 2016, NFS

We should take care to assume he has no more to say. In a 2017 interview with Not Random Art, the Interdisciplinary Artist refers to his own mental health issues as, “…more helpful than hindrance…but really, this, film and design are what help form my aesthetics.” Smith has a lot he can say about his work, beginning with this honest appraisal of where it comes from.

Smith’s work is rustic and playful, polished and serious. “Learning Curve” suggests that we should climb the ladder, but it also feels as if you might be positioned at the bottom of a roller coaster. Are we to think that getting ahead in life puts us at risk at being crushed by the weight of responsibility? In the installation entitled “Ed Reimann Visitation” we encounter a tableau that touches upon themes of mortality and remove through media that reach beyond the deceptively simple yet highly evocative objects placed before us.

The Wilmore, Kentucky native has recently returned to Kentucky after several years in Pennsylvania, and in 2017 exhibited at Pilot Projects and AUTOMAT in Philadelphia, and the Petzel Gallery in NYC. 

The artist in the basement.

Hometown: Wilmore, Kentucky
Education: BA, Asbury University/NYCAMS
(New York Center for Art and Media Studies); 
MFA-PAFA (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts)
Website: www.shaneallansmith.com
Instagram: @shane.smith.art

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"Pretty Pretty" by Shane Smith, Paint on socks and five pocket organizer, 1x2.5ft, 2017

"Caskpit" by Shane Smith, Paint on wood on wood, 8x3.5x3.5ft, 2016, NFS

"This Ain't Water" by Shane Smith, Paint on colander, jug, hose spray nosel, funnel, 3x1.5x1.5 ft, 2017, NFS

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

Vignette: Cathy Shepherd

"Veronica" by Cathy Shepherd, Acrylic, 11x14in, 2017. POR 

The human subject never fails to fascinate. Capable of kinetic action and infinite expression, it also is compelling in repose. We love to examine each other, or perhaps it is narcissistic self-obsession as a species. Painter Cathy Shepherd understands that stillness does not necessarily equal an inert state for human beings.

“People have been my main focus through the years. I like to capture the moment of decisions. To some people, this just looks like sitting around, but to me it's the time when things are churning and clicking; the moment before someone says, "That's it! That's what I'm going to do," and jumps up and runs toward that thing.  As a result, my compositions are becoming less surrounding, more close-up.”

“But I still have to paint, even when a subject can't pose, and to my surprise and delight, I've found that still life subjects have personality and big skies are pretty heady characters themselves. Even then, I'm looking for something in the human experience we all share, whether it's animal, vegetable, or mineral.“

"Peonies in Green Glass Vase" by Cathy Shepherd, Oil, 10x8in, 2017. POR

Shepherd may study her subjects closely, but the paintings are fresh and spontaneous, built with assured marks and a careful control of the medium. Her images never feel overworked or fretted over, and that ease may indeed come from a foundation.

“Underneath all of these is drawing. I’ve had wonderful mentors but I don’t exactly follow in their footsteps. Two of my teachers, Philip Pearlstein and Mary Ann Currier, were exacting realists, but Lennart Anderson and Sidney Goodman were tonalists - one classical and one dramatic.  The underlying thread connecting all of them, and me, is drawing as the foundation on which the painting is built. My best drawings are under paintings. And light. I always love light.”

Shepherd is a past recipient of the Al Smith Fellowship and is currently showing as a part of Five Exceptional Painters at Galerie Hertz. The exhibit runs through March 24.

Hometown: Paris, Kentucky
Education: BFA, Louisville School of Art/University of Louisville; Four-year certificate in painting, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; MFA, CUNY, Brooklyn College Center for Book Arts, NYC, non-degree
Website: www.cathyshepherd.com
Gallery Representation: Galerie Hertz (Louisville)

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"Cape in Snow" by Cathy Shepherd, Oil, 8x8in, 2017. POR

"Reverie" by Cathy Shepherd, Monotype, 9x12in, 2017. POR

"Derrick" by Cathy Shepherd, Water color, 12x14in, 2017. POR

"Blue Slip" by Cathy Shepherd, Acrylic, 11x14in, 2017. POR

"Summer Sky Over VFW" by Cathy Shepherd, Oil, 32x40in, 2017. POR

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Written by Keith Waits. 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.

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Vignette: Tracey Ippolito

"I Only Have Today" by Tracy Ippolito, Acrylic on canvas, 24x30in, 2016, $850

The fantastical in art often exists in a gray area between fine art and genre, yet the Surrealists are a movement that reached farther than is often acknowledged. Everyone knows Salvador Dali, of course, but when looking at the work of Tracey Ippolito, we are reminded of less famous Surrealist painters such as Leonid Afremov and Jane Small. Ippolito, who is mostly self-trained, claims a different classification in describing her work, but the debt to Surrealism is clear.

“All my life, I have been an artist, thirsty for exploring, sharing, and making new discoveries,” explains Ippolito. “In the midst of creating my art, I began to gather a collection of ideas to bring something new to my images. This became a lifelong project, Universalism.”

“I have always utilized my own life as a medium in my art, using my own journey to punctuate and hopefully illuminate the journey for us all. I have always felt a strong, inherent responsibility to others to create experiences, such as I have had whether due to mental illnesses or spirituality, awakening us to something higher than what we know, or who we think we are.”

"The Angel and the Apparition" by Tracy Ippolito, Acrylic on canvas, 24x36in, 2016, $950

“I approach my canvasses as if they are open windows that anyone can look through to see into another world. The intention is for the viewer to see so deeply into the painting, that eventually, the line of sight reconnects with the individual. This is to bring about a unique, all-encompassing experience which not only heightens the personal notion of “self”, but increases the concept of oneness or co-consciousness through the merging of worlds. Through exploring a compendium of subjects on one visual plane at a time, we enter wholly into the pursuit of finding ourselves, remembering where we came from, and discovering what we mean.”

LIke so many artists, Ippolito is striving to communicate something so intensely individual in broad enough terms to connect the viewer’s own, equally individual spiritual sensibility.

Ippolito has exhibited in several local group exhibits in 2017, including Cherchez lez Femme,  at Prophecy Ink, and The Enduring Nude at Kaviar Gallery, both in Louisville.

Permanent Collections
Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville KY
Nelson Atkins Museum, Rochester NY
Royal Palace, Kingdom of Bahrain, Middle East

Hometown: Gilford, NH
Education: Self-taught
Website: www.artofuniversalism.com
Instagram: /Artofuniversalism            

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"Recluse" by Tracy Ippolito, Acrylic on canvas, 24x36in, 201*, NFS

"Ladyhead" by Tracy Ippolito, Oil on canvas, 16x20in, 2016, $675

"Chrysalis" by Tracy Ippolito, Oil on canvas, 30x40in, 2017, NFS

"The Battle for Sanity" by Tracy Ippolito, Oil on canvas, 22x26in, 2016, NFS

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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.