Vignette: Patricia Brock

“#6356” by Patricia Brock, Photography on Green Edge Acrylic, 20x20in, 2018, $550

The pastoral experience can play a role even in the formation of abstract art. In point of fact, it might be fair to say that most abstract work draws from nature. Photographer Patricia Brock describes a recent moment of inspiration:

“One morning this spring, after finishing some garden work, I sat in our swing on the deck to relax. Glancing around the yard I suddenly became hypnotized by the glass orb ornament slowly spinning at the edge of the garden. Sunlight fractured by the orb was scattering bright shards of reflected light and creating shadows within the orb. Bright vivid colors emerged from the glass shining through the prism the orb created. The longer I watched I began to see various shapes come alive.”

Inspired by this discovery Brock named her new photo series, Brightly Through the Glass.

“#6363” by Patricia Brock, Photography on Green Edge Acrylic, 20x20in, 2018, $550

Brock is a natural and available light photographer but she uses various materials such as archival photo paper, metallic papers, canvas, acrylic, and brushed aluminum to achieve her highly structured abstract images. The play of lights, shadows, and colors is organic, yet filtered through one artist’s sensibility.

“Naturally curious and observant,” is how the artist describes herself. “Consciously and subconsciously, my mind stays alert to discover images to photograph. Flickers of light and shadows, quick movements and intense colors catch my attention.”

Brock will be having a Solo Show at KORE Gallery in the Mellwood Art & Entertainment Center, December 2 through 30, 2018

Recent Exhibits: 

2018

Art Comes Alive, Purchase Award, Art Design Consultants, Cincinnati, OH,
Kentucky Visions at the Capitol Exhibit, Frankfort, KY 

2017
Artists in Our Midst, Kaviar Forge & Gallery, Louisville, KY,
Line, Form, Color, KORE Gallery, Solo Exhibit, Louisville, KY
Ways of Seeing Kentucky Arts Council Traveling Exhibition

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: BS,Education. Eastern Kentucky University; MA, Education, Eastern Kentucky University
Website: PatriciaBrockPhotography.com
Gallery Representation: KORE Gallery (Louisville)

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“#6349” by Patricia Brock, Photography on Green Edge Acrylic, 20x20in, 2018, $550

“#6373” by Patricia Brock, Photography on Green Edge Acrylic, 20x20in, 2018, $550

“#6297” by Patricia Brock, Photography on Green Edge Acrylic, 20x20in, 2018, $550

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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.

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

Vignette: Patricia Standard

“Explosive Volcano” by Patricia Standard, Acrylic on canvas, 11x14in, $45.00

“Rolling River” by Patricia Standard, Acrylic on canvas, 11x14in, $45.00

How an artist applies medium to a given substrate has grown over time to a state of freedom that allows virtually any approach – anything goes. Action Painting is, in fact, a rather old-fashioned method, “…a technique and style of abstract painting in which paint is randomly splashed, thrown, or poured on the canvas. It was made famous by Jackson Pollock, and formed part of the more general movement of abstract expressionism.”

Patricia Standard pours acrylic paint onto her canvas surfaces, and the control comes from color choice and a careful, tenuous manipulation of the canvas. It is a particularly intuitive process, and we can imagine no small amount of risk in the unexpected nature of this approach. Perhaps more importantly for Standard, there is a sense of discovery: “I never go into the studio with a plan, but respond to the spontaneous interaction with the colors.” 

“As I use acrylic paint on canvas, wood, or glass, I can create unplanned and fascinating colors on different material.” The naïve aspect of her practice can be received as a cross between a folk art aesthetic and a reconnection to the pure joy of making art as a child, before all of the roadblocks to creativity collectively known as adulthood get in the way.

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: Associate in Fashion Design from Academy of Arts University working towards BFA
Instagram: standardpatricia

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“Roaring River” by Patricia Standard, Acrylic on canvas, 14x18in, $55.00

“Creeping Willow” by Patricia Standard, Acrylic on canvas, 8x10in, $35.00

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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.

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

Vignette: Janis Kirstein

“Freedom Collage” by Janis Kirstein, Mixed Media, 24x36in, 2018, $1000

Janis Kirstein is a painter, photographer, and writer, but primarily a painter. She combines a mixture of media and collage, including acrylic, pastel, colored pencil, & Photoshop, Sumi-E Ink and Japanese Rice paper. In the work we see here, the energy is loose and spontaneous, at times nearly explosive, betraying the level of discipline required in both the composition and the technique.

“The Majestic Horse Race” by Janis Kirstein, Mixed Media, 20x32in, 2018, $750

“I love making collages,” states Kirstein. “Action painting has been my joy for more than 30 years and continues to this day, today, using Sumi-E ink and a Haiki brush. I add torn scraps of Japanese rice paper and combine a variety of media including paint, watercolor, graphite, ink, colored pencil - even glitter, all to capture the free flowing creative energy that surrounds me at any given moment.”

“To achieve the atmospheric abstraction seen in my work, I make use of transparent layering. My canvases and paper works range in size, the scale of my pieces ranging from my use of the Nano image to images of outer space. That means all realities are visible simultaneously, which creates a paradox or sense perceptive omnipotence within you, the perceiver; much like being able to see all dimensions of reality within one gaze.” 

Kirstein speaks of her work using cosmic nomenclature suggesting a meaningful spiritual component. Abstraction opens the mind to welcome a subjective interpretation, and it can be fascinating to imagine the range of response, yet the calculated choice made by the artist even when they are giving themselves over to the organic experience of creative expression will usually be a guide for the viewer.

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: Master of Fine Art, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1981;
Bachelor of Arts, University of Louisville, KY, 1977;
Indiana University Bloomington, 1973-75
Website: kirsteinfineart.com
Instagram: janiskirstein

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All artwork is copyright ©Janis Kirstein 2015. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material in whole or part without express and written permission from this blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Janis Kirstein and http://www.kirsteinfineart.com, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

“Moment in Time” by Janis Kirstein, Mixed Media, 20x32in, 2018, $750

“Jungle Heat” by Janis Kirstein, Mixed Media on stretched canvas, 32x48in, 2017, $2000

“Frankfort Avenue” by Janis Kirstein, Mixed Media on stretched canvas, 32x48in, 2018, $2000

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.

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

Open Studio Spotlight: Hite Institute Grows West in Portland

On the outside, right now, it is a decidedly non-descript building. There is evidence of renovation, but no signage yet. Come closer to the building at 1606 Rowan Street though…press your face against the new glass windows and you will discover that the interior is much further along. Freshly painted drywall and track lights are visible and some random art paraphernalia is finding its way to these rooms.  

Helen Payne

The University of Louisville Hite Art Institute’s Master of Fine Arts program is moving into the historic Portland neighborhood of Louisville a little early because this Saturday and Sunday is the annual Open Studio Weekend, and Curatorial Studies professor and Director of Galleries Chris Reitz has been determined to see this location included on this 5th year of touring artist’s studios. Open Studio Weekend is a co-production of Louisville Visual Art and the University of Louisville’s Hite Institute, a fundraiser for LVA’s Children’s Fine Art Classes and the Hite’s Mary Spencer Nay Scholarship.

The inclusion of the Hite MFA studios represents a dramatic expansion of Open Studio Weekend participants in the Portland neighborhood, which includes artists Victor Sweatt and Tara Remington in the LVA building at 1538 Lytle Street, just 2 blocks from Hite, John Brooks’ Quappi Projects space next door to LVA, Billie Bradford’s woodworking shop across Lytle Street from LVA, sculptor Bryan Holden on Main Street, and the Dolfinger Building on Montgomery Street, which will include painter Julia Davis and fiber artists Colleen and Maggie Clines.

Occupying a renovated warehouse constructed in the 1800s, the Fine Arts Department will offer studio space for MFA students and faculty focusing on ceramics, drawing, fiber, glass, painting, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media, book arts, and design. Faculty and MFA program artists who are listed as participants in the 2018 Open Studio Weekend are: 

Mitch Eckert – Photography                         James Grubola - Drawing
Scott Massey - Sculpture                              Tiffany Calvert – Painting
Ying Kit Chan – Mixed Media                      Moonhe Baik - Fiber
Barbara Hanger - Drawing                          Mary Carothers – Mixed Media
Zed Saeed – Photography                            Megan Bickel - Painting
Helen Payne – Drawing                                Reid Broadstreet – Mixed Media
Che Rhodes - Glass                                       Rachid Tagoulla – Photography
Monica Stewart – Mixed Media                   Lauren Bader - Sculpture
Shae Goodlet - Drawing                                Katherine Watts - Printmaking
Todd Burns – Ceramics                                KCJ Szwedzinski - Glass
Tammy Burke – Mixed Media                     Meena Khalili – Mixed Media         
Karen Weeks - Printmaking                                                                                               

The building will also provide space for the Anthropology department’s Master’s program, with gallery space and outreach programs planned for the Portland neighborhood. Construction will continue for some time, but classes in the building are scheduled to begin in January 2019.   

Open Studio Weekend Directories are being sold at the following locations:

Moonhe Baik, 33"x168" 100% cotton thread, 100% linen thread threadwork

AA Clay Studio & Gallery - 2829 S 4th Street, Louisville, KY
AC Hotel Marriott - 727 E Market Street, Louisville, KY
Artist & Craftsman Supply - 1002 Barret Avenue, Louisville, KY
CRAFT{s} Gallery & Mercantile - 572 S 4th Street, Louisville, KY
Cressman Center for Visual Arts - 100 E Main Street, Louisville, KY
Kentucky Fine Art Gallery - 2400 Lime Kiln Lane, Louisville, KY
Kentucky Mudworks - 506 Baxter Avenue, Louisville, KY
Louisville Visitor Center - 301 S 4th Street, Louisville, KY
Louisville Visual Art - 1538 Lytle Street, Louisville, KY
Nitty Gritty - 996 Barret Avenue, Louisville, KY
Preston Arts Center - 3048 Bardstown Road, Louisville, KY
Revelry Boutique Gallery - 742 E Market St, Louisville, KY
Silica Ceramic Studio - 222 W 6th Street, Jeffersonville, IN 

Juried Exhibition Opening Reception and OSW Launch Party

November 2, 2018
6:00pm–8:00pm
The Cressman Center (100 E. Main St.)

Open Studio Weekend Self-guided Tours

November 3-4, 2018
Saturday and Sunday 12 noon–6pm

“35 THINGS THAT HAVE ONCE TOUCHED EACH OTHER STAY UNITED” by Megan Bickel, c-print. Digital Collage of artist materials: glitter, holographic film, excerpts from "too nice"

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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.

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

Vignette: Debra Guess

“I am continually fascinated with the way that memories and impressions often rise -- sometime without any intention at all -- to the surface of the painting process.” - Debra Guess

“Daybreak Sifnos” by Debra Kay Guess, Acrylic on canvas, 40x30in, 2018, $1200

The abstract is open to interpretation. Although the concentration on surface, texture, and movement at the expense of the representational is executed with deliberate intention, the viewer’s ability to forge emotional relationships is always the final ingredient in the recipe.

Debra Guess has BA in Communications, so perhaps we should not be at all surprised that she places such importance on that dynamic in her paintings. But what exactly they will communicate is sometimes a mystery until she has completed the painting. The academic issues of composition lead her to a point of discovery in each new piece:

“St.Nicholas Beach” by Debra Kay Guess, Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2018, $1300

“I use acrylic paint on canvas to explore unplanned harmonies of color and form – much like those in nature that lie just under the surface of our awareness. Pigments and markings and spontaneity dictate, evolving into a combination of the organic and the imaginary, where shapes, strokes, and color come together to reveal a sense of time and place both familiar and open to interpretation. I paint with a deep appreciation for the value of spontaneity in abstract art and in individual paint strokes themselves -- of how intuition and accidents alike can embody the true and important qualities of beauty.” 

Guess made a career for more than 30 years in marketing, sales and desk-bound jobs. Painting was originally a creative calling outside the confines of the 8-to-5 routine that called upon her Minor in Art, but her return was a self directed experience, although she found particular inspiration in, “… the intuitive, expressionist work” of Krista Harris, Rick Stevens and Jonas Gerard.

Now retired, she paints full-time in her home studio in rural Shelby County, Kentucky, where she is, ”… surrounded by one of my primary inspirations: the random beauty of the countryside. Equally inspiring are travel experiences in the US and abroad. I am continually fascinated with the way that memories and impressions often rise -- sometime without any intention at all -- to the surface of the painting process.”

Most recently Guess exhibited at Periwinkle Studio & Gallery in Frankfort, Kentucky, in the juried SALI National Abstract Art Exhibition XIV in Indianapolis, Indiana, and in a corporate installment at CTM Financial Services in Frankfort, Kentucky. She is also a gallery artist at Greenwich House Gallery in Cincinnati, Oh.

Selected Exhibitions:

3 Square Art "New Horizons: Landscapes" Juried Exhibit, 2018
Greenwich House Gallery "Vistas", 2018
Grand Gallery at The Grand Theatre, Solo Exhibit, 2018
Dogwood Art & Gifts II at Wakefield-Scearce Gallery, 2018

Hometown: Frankfort, Kentucky
Education: BA in Communications (emphasis in Public Relations), Minor in Art, University of Kentucky
Website: www.debrakayguess.com
Facebook: @debrakayguessartist
Gallery Representation: Greenwich House Gallery (Cincinnati), Periwinkle Studio & Gallery (Frankfort). 

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“Road Trip, Summer” by Debra Kay Guess, Acrylic on canvas. 36x36in, 2018, $1300

“Wake Me When We Get There” by Debra Kay Guess, Acrylic on canvas, 48x24in, 2018,
$1150

“Wherever the Wind Blows: by Debra Kay Guess, Acrylic on canvas, 40x30in, 2018,
$1200

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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.

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