Painting

Vignette: Corie Neumayer

“August at the River” by Corie Neumayer, Acrylic, Latex on canvas, 16x20in, $275

“August at the River” by Corie Neumayer, Acrylic, Latex on canvas, 16x20in, $275

Corie Neumayer is an accomplished woman, but she has a soft-spoken and unassuming demeanor that doesn’t automatically claim much for herself. It is not an unusual quality to find in a visual artist, and even more common for women creatives. That painters tend to be introverts is a cliché, certainly, but the truth that is the foundation for that stereotype is that artists look inward and outward on different terms than others.

“Ripples Canvas” by Corie Neumayer, Torn fabric glued to canvas, then painted, 18x 24in, 2018, $400

“Ripples Canvas” by Corie Neumayer, Torn fabric glued to canvas, then painted, 18x 24in, 2018, $400

Neumayer describes herself as a painter, “…who creates abstracted paintings of the landscape that focus on open spaces: desserts, mountains, lakes, small towns as well as my local countryside. My current work reflects the now fleeting beauty of our environment and the uneasiness caused by the changes in our climate.”

So while she looks outward for her subject, the inward perspective is expressed in the that balance of abstract and representational, a tension born of the artist’s forensic examination of the environment. Breaking everything down into geographic elements and using color and texture less to define space and form than to suggest those relationships. It underscores that there is often a thin line between descriptions and categories in art. Neumayer’s paintings are representational, and thus traditional, but abstract and conceptual, intellectual and emotional.

“I work mainly in acrylic and latex because it is so versatile. It dries quickly so the surprises of layering paint, or paper, cloth or almost anything else can be experienced almost immediately, and it lends itself to endless experimentation.”

In that statement the artist confirms the itch for discovery, but there is also a great pleasure in the tactile surface quality that documents the painter’s hand. The impasto crafted from brush, knife, and perhaps other tools, give a visceral kick to the viewer – paint is always seductive, has recently given way to a collage-like layering of canvas material.. 

On September 29, Neumayer 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.

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Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: MA in Teaching, University of Louisville; BA, Georgetown College (Georgetown Kentucky); also attended Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, Georgia), California State University-Long Beach, and St. Cloud College (St. Cloud, Minnesota)
Gallery Representative: Pyro Gallery
Website: www.corieneumayerpaintings.com

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“Hot September” by Corie Neumayer, Acrylic, latex on canvas, 20x24in, 2018, $450.

“Hot September” by Corie Neumayer, Acrylic, latex on canvas, 20x24in, 2018, $450.

“Tree Line” by Corie Neumayer, Paper, acrylic, latex paint on canvas, 18x24in, 2018, $400

“Tree Line” by Corie Neumayer, Paper, acrylic, latex paint on canvas, 18x24in, 2018, $400

“River Snow Latex”, Acrylic on canvas, Paint applied with rollers and brushes 24x30in, 2018, $600

“River Snow Latex”, Acrylic on canvas, Paint applied with rollers and brushes 24x30in, 2018, $600


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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Painting

Vignette: Ewa Perz

“Blue River” by Ewa Perz, Oil on canvas, 48x36in, 2018, $2900

“Blue River” by Ewa Perz, Oil on canvas, 48x36in, 2018, $2900

Ewa Perz is from Gdansk, Poland, and her memories of her hometown and the surrounding landscape reaffirm some of the Cold War cliché. In an April 2018 interview with LVA’s Artebella On The Radio, she described growing up in Poland: “…(it) is very gray. There are not as many colors as you would think in the western world. And when I first moved (1989) it was to Mexico, and the primary colors were everywhere, I was surrounded by color.”

The sudden immersion into such a contrasting culture affected Perz deeply, and it would ignite a passion for painting, but not until some 15 years later, when she had relocated to Louisville, Kentucky and became involved with Susan Howe’s Mudpies Studio on the far-east side of the city. Her first paintings resurrected the love of primary color, but in the years since, she has developed a much more sophisticated palette, and although she still creates representational images, a good deal of her most recent work is a subtle exploration of the intermingling properties of light and space. Water surfaces fascinate her, the abstract, mercurial surfaces of lakes and streams revealed in diffuse sunlight.

“Reflection” by Ewa Perz, Oil on canvas, 48x24in, 2018, $2200

“Reflection” by Ewa Perz, Oil on canvas, 48x24in, 2018, $2200

“Color is very important to me,” explains Perz. “I paint a variety of subjects, but they are not as important to me as color. To me, color is what bares the essence of an object, and that is what I seek to portray.”

Educated as a scientist, Perz worked as a chemist, and one can only surmise how much theory lies behind her approach to painting. Does her scientifically trained mind deconstruct the chemical relationship in medium? Does she study the colors according to formula? The way Perz talks about her process, the answer seems to be that the analytical side of her brain has moved aside to make way for the artist’s intuitive journey of discovery. “Simplicity is definitely the direction in which I want to continue.”

On September 29, Perz 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.

Perz has also studied with contemporary masters Felo Garcia, David Laffel, Milt Kobayashi. Her paintings are currently on display in Revelry Gallery Boutique, European Splendor and Galerie Municipale (France). Her paintings have been featured in galleries in Miami, as well as Mexico, and France.

Currently, Perz is exhibiting The Kentucky I Love in the NULU AC Hotel, Louisville, KY, through November 2018.

Recent Exhibitions: 

April 2018 - Artist Showcase in Churchill Downs
April 2018 - Feature Artist in LVA SquareArt
November 2017 - “Water Strokes”- solo show at Reverie Gallery Louisville Ky
September 2017 - Ewa Perz at Butchertown Social solo show
December 2016 - Spectrum - group show at Art Basel Miami
October 2016 - First Place in “Metamorphosis” art completion by LVA
October 2016 - Mural for Holiday Manor Kroger
September 2015 – “Lush” solo show Ann Tower Gallery, Lexington Ky
September 2014-2016 – Revelry Gallery; Louisville, KY
December 2014 - Global Ties Miami Exhibition; Art Basel week; Miami, FL
May 2013 – ‘Dons d’Artistes’ exhibition; Antibes, France
2011-2012 – Un Oeil Ouvert; Loubet, France
May 2011 – Galerie Municipale; Antibes, France
Summer 2011 – Artist residency; Antibes, France
December 2, 2010 – La Dolce Art Gallery; San Jose del Cabo, BCS, Mexico 

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Hometown: Gdansk, Poland
Education: Masters in Plant Physiology
Website: http://www.ewaperzgallery.com
Gallery Representation: Revelry Gallery, (Louisville) Ann Tower Gallery, (Lexington), Gallery Municipale, (Antibes, France)

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“Women Head Idea” by Ewa Perz, study in oil, 2018, NFS

“Women Head Idea” by Ewa Perz, study in oil, 2018, NFS

“Bergman-unfinished copy” by Ewa Perz, OIl on canvas, 2018

“Bergman-unfinished copy” by Ewa Perz, OIl on canvas, 2018

“Run” by Ewa Perz, Oil on canvas, 48x72in (triptych), 2018, $2200

“Run” by Ewa Perz, Oil on canvas, 48x72in (triptych), 2018, $2200


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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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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Painting

Vignette: Pat Allison

"Louisville's Ohio", by Pat Allison, Oil on canvas, 28x22in, 2018, $500

"Louisville's Ohio", by Pat Allison, Oil on canvas, 28x22in, 2018, $500

As a student in Jefferson County Schools, Pat Allison was invited to participate in after-school, free, art classes in the fifth and sixth grades at Southern Junior High School.  We’re guessing that makes her an alumnus of Louisville Visual Art’s Children's Fine Art Classes. During one summer after sixth grade her parents paid for art classes at the Louisville Art Center, which was an earlier name for LVA.

"NYC’s Central Park” by Pat Allison, Oil, 12x16in, Private collection

"NYC’s Central Park” by Pat Allison, Oil, 12x16in, Private collection

Yet in high school, Allison changed direction, and studied Speech and Theatre at Indiana University Bloomington. In 2019 she retired from teaching at Louisville’s DuPont Manual/ Youth Performing Arts School where she founded its New Works Festival and the Young Writers Workshop. Since her retirement after 43 years of teaching, she began to devote more of her energies once again to painting.

So is Allison’s preoccupation with structural pattern in her work the natural result of a lifetime of teaching? The organization and routine of the classroom and developing new educational curriculum must have influenced her in this regard. The network of steel support in the bridge across the Ohio River is echoed in the freeway below and contrasted against the vertical lines of the architecture we see beyond, and the more subtle organic patterns of nature are present in the wintry trees and stylized examination of the lily.

Allison has been studying oil painting for the past twelve years with Winnie Harrison at the Preston Art Center in Louisville.

She was selected for the Jewish Community Center’s 2010 Emerging Artist Exhibition, and was juried into the Louisville Woman’s Club Exhibitions in 2015, 2016, & 2017. She has written and illustrated two children’s picture books, Butterfly and Roberto Robot

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On September 29, Allison 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: Degree in Speech & Theatre, Indiana University
Facebook: PatAllisonPaintings

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"Exploring Maine’s Coast" by Pat Allison, Oil, 18X24, $650

"Exploring Maine’s Coast" by Pat Allison, Oil, 18X24, $650

"Lily’s Birth" by Pat Allison, Oil on canvas, 9x12in, 2018, $350

"Lily’s Birth" by Pat Allison, Oil on canvas, 9x12in, 2018, $350


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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Painting

Vignette: Margaret Bromley

"Where's the Belle?" by Margaret Bromley, Oil on Canvas, 19X30in (framed), 2017, $1000

"Where's the Belle?" by Margaret Bromley, Oil on Canvas, 19X30in (framed), 2017, $1000

The moment an individual begins creating is almost certainly the act of a child; picking up a crayon, or perhaps the sublime pleasure of slipping your fingers into finger paint for the first time, seeing the possibilities of line, shape, texture at its most elemental level. Pure instinct.

So many of us strive to recapture such instinctive pleasure again, after the process of becoming an “adult” has raised innumerable impediments, and it is not at all uncommon to find artists who retired from a professional career and then rediscovered that motivation to make art once again.

Margaret Bromley is just such an artist, taking her first drawing class at the local Preston Art Center in 2001, one month after retiring from the University of Louisville as its Media/Marketing Coordinator in the Development Department.

She has studied in workshops under Jerry Stitt of Sausalito, California, Nancy Nordloh Neville of Cincinnati, Ohio and went to Umbria, Italy with students under the leadership of Janice Russell Beck of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Locally she has studied with artists Susan Howe, Judy Warren, Sue Hinkebein, and Joyce Sweet-Bryant.

"Winning Trifecta?" by Margaret Bromley, Oil on canvas, 12X18in (gold leaf frame) 2009, $350

"Winning Trifecta?" by Margaret Bromley, Oil on canvas, 12X18in (gold leaf frame) 2009, $350

Bromley has tried her hand at many styles, techniques, and mediums, but landscapes with a natural style seem to be her strong suite. In “Where’s the Belle?” she gives us an unconventional perspective on an iconic event during one of the most festive, tourist-dominated weeks on the Louisville calendar. There is no shortage of artists painting or photographing Kentucky Derby events, horses, bourbon, and hats are common motifs - Bromley has not ignored these (“Winning Trifecta”), but there is an unexpected power in how she portrays this simple community of locals waiting to view the Belle of Louisville during the Great Steamboat Race, a signature event that takes place three days before the Most Famous Two Minutes in Sports. Far away from the concentration of fancy crowds, these ordinary Louisvillians have come down directly to the shoreline of the Ohio River to get an up close view of the old-fashioned steamboats as they move along the river. 

The unfussy approach employed by Bromley emphasizes atmosphere and a sense of place for any tendency to overwork the details. We can sense the camaraderie and easy understanding of local tradition that has brought these men together on a late spring afternoon.

Bromley has received Honorable Mentions for her work at the Kentucky State Fair on two different occasions and shows locally at Koi Gallery, Primo Oil and Vinegars’ Gallery, and has note cards at Regalo and Cartwells as well as the previous mentioned galleries.

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On September 29, Bromley 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:
Education: University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Website:

“Spello, Italy” by Margaret Bromley, Oil on canvas, 10x14in, Private Collection, Giclee available, $195

“Spello, Italy” by Margaret Bromley, Oil on canvas, 10x14in, Private Collection, Giclee available, $195

"Fisherman Bill" by Margaret Bromley, Oil on canvas, 8x10, (floating frame), $300

"Fisherman Bill" by Margaret Bromley, Oil on canvas, 8x10, (floating frame), $300

"Vermont Herb Garden " by Margaret Bromley, Oil on canvas, 8x8in, $225

"Vermont Herb Garden " by Margaret Bromley, Oil on canvas, 8x8in, $225