Vignette: Victor Sweatt

"Between Collard Greens and the Sun" by Victor Sweatt, Watercolor on paper and mixed media, 11x14in, 2018, $450

The people we see in Victor Sweatt’s work are people he knows well. Whether or not they are, strictly speaking, portraits of actual people in the artist’s life may seem beside the point, they may very well be, but even if they are not -Sweatt knows them. They are found in his neighborhood on Louisville’ West side and in thousand of neighborhoods just like it all over America. Simple, hard-working folk, but seen through the artist’s eyes as people of innate dignity and humility. As he paints or draws them, Sweatt is bearing witness to the divine in humanity. In the parlance of the church, his images “testify”.

Sweatt has often captured these characters inside of a church, but even when they are not, he paints them with reverence: a body bent over collard greens in the garden, or aged fingers at work repairing a pair of shoes. They are skills from the past, too often taken for granted or thought forgotten. But this artist understands and appreciates that they are the threads that bind a community.

"The Craftsman" by Victor Sweatt, Acrylic on mat board, 11x15.5in. 2018, $450

In 2017, 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.

Sweatt was born in Louisville. He has shown his work in group and solo exhibitions, and appears in public and private collections throughout the United States. Sweat is a signature member of the Louisville Visual Art, the Kentucky Artist Pastel Society, and the Kentucky Watercolor Society.

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

"Within" by Victor Sweatt, Oil on canvas, 8x8in, 2018 $350

"Love Letter" by Victor Sweatt, Watercolor paper and acrylic, 11x14in, 2018, $400

"The Power of Touch" by Victor Sweatt, Watercolor paper and ink, 11x14, 2018, $250

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

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Feature: Ewing Fahey

Ewing Fahey & Caren Cunningham in 2014. Photo: Rich Copley/Lexington Herald Leader

                   Based on material from Caren Cunningham and Suzanne Mitchell

When does an ongoing reality become a tradition? Enid Yandell’s Daniel Boone Sculpture dates from 1915, meaning the history of noted women sculptors in Louisville is more than 100 years old. Certainly that qualifies as a tradition?

But it takes more than the passage of time, it takes a chain of individuals who, whether aware of it or not, maintain an ideal through a continuous series of actions. For the tradition of women sculptors working in Louisville, the strongest and most vital link in that chain is Ewing Fahey.

Her mother was a pioneer in the field of special needs education, but her father died when Fahey was nine years old. Despite the hardship of the death of three other family members, they travelled to Chautauqua, NY for ten weeks every summer. Fahey grew up attending lectures, concerts, and exhibitions, and Chautauqua has remained a regular summer adventure.

"Ceremonial Object" by Ewing Fahey, Cow bone & painted wood base, 2011. 

Fahey graduated from the University of Louisville in 1942, at the age of nineteen, with a double major in Fine Arts (painting and drawing) and Art History. Her Art History professor was Justus Bier, a recent German emigre, scholar, and expert in contemporary art. He was an important influence on her, encouraging Fahey’s love of art, architecture, travel, and lifelong learning and thinking. 

It was during her senior year that Fahey became the editor of the University’s Cardinal newspaper, the first woman to hold that position. That journalistic experience led to her being hired as the first female reporter for WAVE Radio (television was still a few years in the future). She also taught art, first at the Louisville Girl’s School, and then at a middle school where she worked with approximately 750 students each week. It was 1946, and the classrooms were heated with wood-burning, pot-bellied stoves.

"The Turrets" by Ewing Fahey, The Highlands Island designed by Suzanne Rademacher, 1990

That same year, Fahey took off for New York City to work as a copywriter for McCalls Pattern Sales and later became an Art Director for Norcross Greeting Cards. When Fahey returned to Louisville, in 1953, it was to become the first female Advertising Manager at Louisville Magazine, and within two years she had become editor. She was still in her early 30’s. 

If Fahey was a trailblazer in breaking the glass ceiling for women in so many positions, was it because of the times, or was she destined to be an iconoclast? Her independence seems confirmed by her decision, on the eve of her marriage, to spend several weeks traveling through Europe by herself in order to see firsthand all of the art and architecture she has studied while in school. There are so many firsts in her history, and she returned to her fine art roots at the age of 56, becoming a sculptor of the most unforgiving materials, learning to carve wood and limestone and working outdoors in all climates.

In 1998, she helped form ENID, a collective of women sculptors named in honor of celebrated Louisville sculptor Enid Yandell (1869-1924), who studied in Paris with Auguste Rodin and Frederich MacMonnies and was only the second female to be inducted into the National Sculpture Society. The group shows about once every two years, and their most recent exhibition was at PYRO Gallery in 2017.

Eighteen members of ENID were featured in that exhibition, including Leticia Bajuyo, Gayle Cerlan, Caren Cunningham, Jeanne Dueber, Linda Erzinger, Ewing Fahey, Sarah Frederick, Fran Kratzok, Valerie Sullivan Fuchs, Mary Dennis Kannapell, Paula Keppie, Shawn Marshall, Suzanne Mitchell, Joyce Ogden, Jacque Parsley, Emily Schuhmann, Gloria Wachtel, and Melinda Walters.

"Ancient Reliquary" by Ewing-Fahey, Gilded cattle bones and glass, 2011

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, www.Arts-Louisville.com, which covers local visual arts, theatre, and music in Louisville.

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In Memory of Bill Fischer (1917-2018)

2011 photo of Bill Fischer by John Nation for Louisville Magazine

Bill Fischer was an artist and collector his entire life, exerting no small influence on other artists through direct example and by endowing programs and scholarships through the University of Louisville’s Allen R. Hite Institute.

"Cookie Scheckles" by Bill Fischer, lacquer on board, circa 1970. Courtesy of the Hite Art Institute.

Fischer began painting at a young age, and displayed early work from when he was 14 years old in his home more than 70 years later. His first professional gig was as an illustrator for the Courier-Journal in 1936, but left the job over a pay dispute. Although he was a successful business owner throughout his life, Fischer never stopped making art, never stopped pursuing opportunities to grow as an artist. One particular story places Fischer at an historic moment in Mexican Art History.

Stirling Dickinson (from Chicago) founded Escuela de Bellas Artes, which would become one of the most significant cultural centers in Mexico, in or about 1936. It was located in an old convent in San Miguel de Allende. After World War II, the school qualified for students on the G.I. Bill and therefore attracted a good many U.S. veterans interested in studying art. In 1948, Dickinson hired renowned Mexican social realist painter David Alfaro Sigueiros to teach. It was at this time that Bill Fischer and his wife moved to San Miguel and rented a furnished house. 

Fischer, on the G.I. Bill, enrolled in Bellas Artes, working, along with a half a dozen other students, for almost a year with Sigueiros on an ambitious mural, doing mostly outline design. During 1949, the U.S. became convinced that, under Siqueiros, the art school had become infested with communists, (this was the height of the “Red Scare” and McCarthyism in the U.S.) and so the G.I. Bill accreditation was rescinded, and most of the students left. Dickinson and Siqueiros had an altercation, resulting in Siqueiros being knocked down a staircase and resigning, leaving the mural uncompleted. Fisher stayed on for a while longer, but then returned with his wife to Louisville, where he started his own business.

He continued to work as an artist, participating in the “Magnificent Mile” art exhibit in Chicago in the late 1950s and the “Interior Valley” exhibit at the Art Museum of Cincinnati. As his career developed he never restricted himself to any one style or medium. If you collected Fischer’s work, you are as likely to have a landscape as you are a cityscape, as likely to own a sculpture as a painting.

Fischer also completed public work including several murals for churches and synagogues. Most notably, he created the stained glass windows for the Keneseth Israel Synagogue on Taylorsville Road.

"Marketplace" by Bill Fischer, oil on board, 1954. Courtesy of the Hite Art Institute.

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

Vignette: Julio Cesar Rodriguez

"Infinity Wings" by Julio Cesar Rodriguez,  Oil on canvas, 18X14in,  2017, POR

Julio Cesar Rodriguez’ surrealism is pure, in that it derives from an openness bordering on out-of-body experience: “When I'm painting I feel my mind is opened as a theater stage and my staging begins to establish itself with its own lights and shadows, colors and strokes…and then going to bed trying to sleep with that huge dark hat is the night. It is in this process where I feel still perched at that stage - floating in my paintings.”

We also are tempted to describe these most recent paintings as moving more into abstraction. The traditional surrealist’s descriptive precision with objects, time, and space has not been totally abandoned, but the vigorous kinetic swirl of his compositions partially obscure those elements, and our eye focuses on the few instances of representational clarity. The bird’s head from “Infinity Wings”, for example, or the self-portrait from “The Saved Essence of My Soul”, which makes explicit the feeling of theatricality the artist mentions. The figure might be onstage, or he might be painting a scenic design backstage.

It all reinforces the concept of alternate reality that is a keystone of the surrealist aesthetic. But the images are more than that label would allow. Rodriguez describes his work as, “a mixture of figuration and expressionism with an air of surrealism.” So we also witness his abstraction regroup into suggestions of the representational, as in “Muse Face”.

"The Saved Essence of My Soul" by Julio Cesar Rodriguez,  Oil on canvas, 48X36in,  2018, POR

“When I am creating I feel locked up in a cage with clouds. They help me hold on to the tightrope of real life and it is then that I feel the exact balance with the doors of my intellect. My love for painting holds me, makes me play attached to a brush, and it is the only time where the magicians’ savor their perfect trick.”

Rodriguez’ new solo exhibition Divine Shadows, opens on April 7th in the Revelry Boutique Gallery, with a reception that evening 7:00 to 10:00 pm, and will continue through the month of April.

Hometown: Holguin, Cuba
Education: BFA, Fine Art Academy, Holguin, Cuba
Gallery Representation: Revelry Boutique Gallery
Website: www.juliocesart.com

 

Scroll down for more images

"Muse Face" by Julio Cesar Rodriguez,  Oil on canvas, 15X15in,  2018, POR

"Spring Call" by Julio Cesar Rodriguez,  Oil on canvas, 16X20in,  2017, POR

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

Q&A with Lynn Dunbar, 2018 Kentucky Derby Poster Artist

Lynn Dunbar is a nationally recognized painter who has participated in, and won awards for plein air competitions all over the U.S. Her artwork is featured on the 2018 Kentucky Derby and Oaks Posters available at Churchill Downs, and will be featured on the 2018 Holiday Edition of Woodford Reserve Bourbon.  She has received the Award of Merit 2016, Owensboro Museum of Art, Science and History, Grand Prize Portland Heritage Arts Show 2014, honorable mention at the Salon International 2013, the 2012 Purchase Prize from the Owensboro Museum of Art, and the 2011 Grand Prize from the Louisville Women’s Club. Dunbar’s work has been featured most recently in the September 2017 Plein Air Magazine, and in American Art Review.

In the upcoming weeks there are multiple opportunities to meet the artist and acquire a signed copy of the artist’s Derby poster. A full schedule follows the Q&A.

How did you come to be chosen to paint the official 2018 Derby poster?

I was contacted spring of 2017. I was in New Orleans visiting my daughter when I got the phone call. Needless to say I was surprised. Churchill Downs liked my expressions of Kentucky, especially the riverboats, and asked me if I could send them a few images. I said, give me a couple hours and I will paint a race house too, so that's what I did. I sent them Belle and horse paintings. They were pleased and asked me if I would paint the images for the poster.

How much time did you spend at Churchill Downs?

I visited Churchill Downs to collect information and photograph scenes. I probably worked with Churchill Downs a good 6 months.

You are renowned for your landscapes, but none of your recent work had featured horses. Had you painted them earlier in your career?

I have painted animals including horses, cows and dogs. Now I am really getting into racehorses!

There is an element of the working life on the Ohio River in many of your paintings. Did you see your time at Churchill Downs as documenting another working environment that defines Kentucky?

Yes I do! And I am happy to be “Capturing the Spirit of Kentucky!” I hope to paint more racetrack scenes along with some more of our state’s Bourbon Industry.

"Horse Shoe Bend" by Lynn Dunbar, Oil on canvas, 24x72in, POR

A few years ago, you started painting aerial views, taking in the landscape in a particularly expansive way that really highlighted the Ohio River. Do you plan on returning to that approach?

Yes. I have some new aerials in the works. Craft(s) Gallery will be featuring a show for me of aerials of Kentucky and the Ohio River June 2018.

How has this experience inspired you?

I am so happy to call Kentucky my home! I have so many more paintings to paint on the land and activities in Kentucky. I am proud of the products from our beautiful state.

"Number 4" by Lynn Dunbar, Oil on canvas, 12x9in, 2017, POR

Lynn Dunbar will be signing copies of the Derby poster at the following:

March 23, 12:00 - 2:00pm: Norton Women’s and Children’s Hospital. 
4001 Dutchmans Ln, St. Matthews KY. Proceeds benefit the Women’s Breast Cancer Resource Center.

April 12, 12:00 - 2:00pm: Middletown City Hall. 11803 Old Shelbyville Rd. Middletown KY.

April 19, 6:30 - 9:00pm: Derby Divas event at Rodes For Him and For Her. 
4938 Brownsboro Rd, Louisville KY. Proceeds benefit the Norton Cancer Institute Breast Health Program.

April 28 & 29, 10:00am - 6:00pm: Cherokee Triangle Art Fair. Louisville KY

May 4 & 5: Kentucky Oaks & Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. 
700 Central Avenue, Louisville KY. Dunbar will be signing posters in a booth on the main level near Grandstand and in Millionaire’s Row.

"In The Lead" by Lynn Dunbar, Oil on canvas, 36x24in, 2018, POR

"1964 Derby Glass" by Lynn Dunbar, Oil on canvas, 12x8in, 2017, POR

"Oaks Preliminary Skecth" by Lynn Dunbar, Oil on canvas, 12x8in, 2017, POR

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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.

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