#open studio weekend

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Friday Link Roundup: November 2, 2018

TONIGHT:

The Open Studio Weekend Juried Exhibition opens at the University of Louisville Hite Institute’s Cressman Center.

La Vida, la Muerte y el Amor (Life, Death and Love) opens at Craft(s) Gallery & Mercantile.

Creature: A Puppet Frankenstein Adaptation has performances tonight and tomorrow at Suspend.

CirqueLouis: Gravity’s Varieties is up at The Kentucky Center for the Arts.

WEEKEND:

OPEN STUDIO WEEKEND is happening ALL OVER the Metro Louisville area.

ONGOING:

Kentucky Cup: A tradition of excellence in Art is a group exhibit opening at The Brown Hotel Gallery. Kathleen Loomis Day by Day by Day: adventures in regular art has a reception Sunday at Pyro Gallery. IU Southeast just opened a Faculty Exhibition at The Ogle Center. Tiffany Calvert: Semper Augustus is at Moreman Gallery.

Elsa Hansen Oldham "Muses" is at KMAC through January 27, 2019.

Monster Mash - A Graveyard Smash by Harrison Fogle is at Revelry Boutique & Gallery. This and That, It’s All Abstract: new work by Karen Terhune is at Kore Gallery in the Mellwood Art Center. Susan Toliver: Menagerie is open at Craft{s} Mercantile and Gallery When Elements Collide, new work from Casey McKinney, at The Pigment Gallery at Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center. Aleksandra Stone has a new solo exhibit, Fruits of Labor, at garner narrative.                

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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.  

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:

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

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.

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Open Studio Spotlight: Page Penna

Portraiture walks a fine line in that it attempts to satisfy our own impression of ourselves. We may not be the artists, but it is often a commission, and so the demand is to be flattering in order to satisfy the client, yet the artist also must satisfy their own need for capturing the truth of the subject.

In her artist’s statement, Page Penna describes it this way: “Portraiture is an interpretive art which serves to capture the essence of the human spirit, a moment in time and a genuine likeness, to be enjoyed by family and friends for years to come.”

“Portraiture is a way of holding onto a place in time - a way to document a moment, an element or the persona of a subject. The art of creating portraits requires the ability to relate to and capture the subject in a way that conveys the features of their character.” 

Penna doesn’t only paint portraits, but it is clearly a passion, and one can see past the gloss of a flattering image to find sensitivity in the observation of details and facility for rendering emotion in a more understated fashion than might be expected. That there are so many children depicted in her commissioned work doesn’t detract from this quality. They are captured in a informal posture drawn from natural behavior (“Veith Children”) or in a deliberate fashion that harkens to an older, more traditional attitude once reserved for the privileged (“Kate Wittpenn”).   

“From the age of five, I was directly influenced by my great-grandfather’s stained glass studio. Louisville Art Glass Studio created a variety of figurative glass works portraying significant stories for religious organizations. From those experiences, I learned that art conveys a rich portrayal of life, of moments to hold on to, or stories that can be shared with all.” “After living and painting in Naples, Florida for eighteen years, I have recently relocated to my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. I have opened a studio in a pre-Civil War building in Old Louisville, which provides a large space with natural light — an ideal place to paint my subjects. I continue to work with clients in Florida, especially when families visit grandparents during the spring — capturing children on the beach. In Florida, the sunsets, light, and beaches are infinitely more conducive to painterly expression, yet I tend to thrive in this beautiful part of the world, Kentucky, and love to have a change of seasons.”

Page Penna is participating in the 2018 Open Studio Weekend, sponsored by Louisville Visual Art and University of Louisville’s Hite Art Institute. His studio, located in the Germantown neighborhood, will be open the weekend of November 3 and 4. Tickets for Open Studio Weekend will go on sale October 16. Click here for more information.

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky Education: Ringling School of Art, Florida Website: pagepennaart.com

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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.

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Open Studio Spotlight: Katie Castillo

There has been a lot of energy spent redefining “craft” for the 21st century, but in simple terms we might accept it is as the presence of art in everyday, functional objects. Furniture, vessels, and other household items that capture the spirit and quality of things made by hand when there was no other option. You made it because there was no mass-produced option available from a store down the road.

In the work of Katie Castillo, we find that individual handcrafted quality beneath our feet: “I have worked as a Speech Therapist for more than 14 years. I have no formal artistic training, but I have always loved playing with color. I was inspired into rug making by Emily Carr (1871-1945), while I was living in B.C., Canada. I chose rag rugs specifically because they originated in Appalachia, and I was missing my Kentucky roots.”  

“The process I use, called twining, is ancient and calming. I create my rugs on wooden looms which I built myself. My materials are old bed sheets and other fabric, which I tear into pieces and then re-assemble; no sewing required. I love to take a piece out into the community and work on it in public. When I am not in my Art Sanctuary studio, you’ll find me in Shelby Park or sitting down by the river with my friend Mr. Lincoln.” 

I have fun creating different color combinations and playing with themes, such as ‘Lobster in the Woods’, which is based on my time in the Northwest. ‘Evil Eye’ was inspired by my travels in Turkey. My rugs are available for purchase through 5-0-Lou and Craft(s) Gallery and Mercantile in Louisville, KY.“

All of Castillo’s rugs are 44x24in and typically weigh in at more than 5 pounds.

Katie Castillo is participating in the 2018 Open Studio Weekend, sponsored by Louisville Visual Art and University of Louisville’s Hite Art Institute. His studio, located in the Germantown neighborhood, will be open the weekend of November 3 and 4. Tickets for Open Studio Weekend will go on sale October 16. Click here for more information. 

Hometown: Covington, Kentucky Education: BS, Biology, University of Louisville, 2002; MS, Communication Disorders, University of Louisville, 2004.  Website: https://sagerugs.com

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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.

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Open Studio Spotlight: Samantha Ludwig

Samantha Ludwig is an artist who works comfortably in several mediums. In the work highlighted here, she draws houses in exquisitely rendered detail. They are executed in graphite, using a pencil. The richness of the mark making and modeled textures connect us to the sublime satisfaction of the most fundamental artist’s action: the simple act of drawing - observation through the eye and to the hand.

But Ludwig’s technique is far from simple, and the attention to detail is not just academic. She invests each structure with real feeling for the space they occupy, the life that has been lived with these walls. She forces such introspection by isolating the building and the yard from the environment. Stripped of that larger social context, it is surprising how much is still communicated through the immediate relationship of space and architectural form.

Ludwig also works with textiles, with a particular emphasis on flags that are variations on the United States of America “stars and stripes.”

Writing on her blog, Ludwig explains: “Most people are confused and are unsure of what I mean when I say, ‘I'm making flags,’ which is understandable. It's a long process that initials a lot of math and attention. From making color samples so that you can replicate colors, to making the dye into a paste, and then taping, masking, and embroidering the material that is to be the final piece, and even all that doesn't cover it.”

More recently, Ludwig has returned to wood block prints, making prints of a size that allows a very hands-on approach to process – her press is her feet: “…me alone in the studio dancing, sliding and shuffling on them on top of the plywood.”

“It’s been wonderful to revisit it (wood cutting), because there’s something incredibly enticing about carving. I remember when I was in elementary school I dreamed of becoming a master wood whittler.

Samanth Ludwig will be participating in the 2018 Open Studio Weekend, sponsored by Louisville Visual Art and University of Louisville’s Hite Art Institute. Her studio, located in the Germantown neighborhood, will be open the weekend of November 3 and 4. Tickets for OpenStudio Weekend will go on sale October 16. Click here for more information.

Recent Exhibitions: Quills, Introducing: Samantha Ludwig, Louisville, Kentucky. Great Flood, 4735 Peachtree, Louisville, Kentucky. St. James Juried Art Festival, The Work of Samantha Ludwig, Louisville, Kentucky. 

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky Education: BFA, Painting and Fiber, Kansas City Art Institute, BHA, Concentration Western Art History Website: samanthludwig.com

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“In Vogue We Trust” by Samantha Ludwig, Dyed cotton, 3x6ft, 2011, Private collection  

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.

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Open Studio Spotlight: Meredith Hayden

Color is a potent visceral expression of emotion in the work of Meredith Leigh Hayden. Ideas are communicated through the dynamic of specific mediums as much choice in subject matter, materials leading the artist as much as the artist leads the materials.

“Creating art has become an essential practice for refreshing my senses so I can enjoy being present,” she explains. “When I see something noteworthy I try to snatch it up and describe it with color. Art transforms the chaos of life into something tangible I can work with.  It gives me a chance to breathe.” 

“My favorite memories become crystallized on the surface with the medium I choose at the time. Currently, I use inks, chalk pastels, or crystals. I am usually seen wearing a crystal I wrapped. As much as I would like to feel I’m “in control”, there is no real way to control the bold Alcohol Ink. I did find I can move the ink with an air duster. The results amaze and delight me every time. My pastel flower series celebrates the impermanence of life and our universal connection to nature and each other. As flowers grow and change, they reveal their unique imperfections and lively character traits, just as humans do.“

“By showing the Alcohol Ink tiles and Chalk Pastel flowers together, I hope to provide a sense of hope and renewal for Spring through color. The rigidity of the tiles is a contrast to the flowing chalk pastel flowers. The wandering inks are carefree and mobile like the growth cycle of florals. The Chalk Pastels are a delicate and subtle contrast with the bright penetrating color of the ink. In any medium, daring color is the common thread to all my work. I choose to celebrate life’s majesty with the delicate and vibrant colors I choose.” 

Meredith Hayden will be participating in the 2018 Open Studio Weekend, sponsored by Louisville Visual Art and University of Louisville’s Hite Art Institute. Her studio, located in Art Sanctuary in the Germantown neighborhood, will be open the weekend of November 3 and 4. Tickets for Open Studio Weekend will go on sale October 16. Click here for more information.

On the the first Saturday of December, during Bardstown Road Aglow, Hayden will be showing at Safai Coffee, 1707 Barstown Road.

Hometown: Newtown, Pennsylvania Education: University of Louisville Liberal Studies major, minor in Psychology, and concentrations in Art, Theater, and Women's Studies. Some art study in Italy Website: mhayden.artspan.com Instagram: meresmuse

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.

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Vignette: Shawn Marshall - Open Studio Weekend Artist

“Painting is a restorative and meditative ‘practice’” – Shawn Marshall

When Shawn Marshall speaks about ‘restorative and meditative practice,’ it is a clue to what lies behind the simplicity of her paintings. Previous work has been more complex compositionally, but the spare and uncluttered landscape form that she is preoccupied with here seems less a document of a time and place and more about an internal mental or emotional state.

“For me, painting is an outlet to release intuitive energy and let go of preconceived notions of self-imposed rules or judgments of how I and my work interpret and portray the world. Though my architectural background and training often manifests itself in my work, it doesn’t constrain the freedom of expression. Using palette knives and sharp edged tools I create a three-dimensional surface on the canvas, always striving to create a balance between the built-up yet refined impasto and the underlying landscape beyond. Painting is a restorative and meditative ‘practice’ as I create what I refer to as ‘inward landscapes.’”

The harmony achieved belies the type training and experience we might assume for an artist coming from the exacting and technical architecture training, and the viewer must ask how much of Marshall’s work is a journey in the opposite direction; the training providing foundation but the action of painting a break away from that rigor and formal discipline to achieve a peaceful resolve.

Professionally, Marshall has worked as an Architectural Designer for several years, but most recently has taught at public schools in the Louisville area, including her current position as Visual Arts Teacher at North Oldham High School in Goshen, KY.

Marshall is a member of PYRO Gallery in Louisville, and recently was included in two group exhibits, Selfies & Self-Portraits: 21 C Artists… at Viridian Artists Gallery, New York, NY, and The Modern Landscape at New Editions Gallery, Lexington, KY. She will be having a solo exhibit at Craft[s] Gallery & Mercantile in March 2018.

Shawn Marshall will be participating in the 2017 Open Studio Weekend, sponsored by Louisville Visual Art and University of Louisville’s Hite Art Institute. Her studio in Downtown Louisville will be open the weekend of November 4 and 5. Tickets for Open Studio Weekend will go on sale October 16. Click here for more information.

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky Education: 1992, Bachelor of Architecture, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY; 1996, Master of Architecture, Minor Fine Arts, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; 2009, Master of Art in Teaching, Bellarmine University, Louisville, KY Website: www.shawnlmarshall.com Instagram: shawnmarshall

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

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Vignette: Jill Baker - Open Studio Weekend Artist

The Importance of Light

Jill Baker chooses many subjects, and her facility with a brush is informed by a lifetime of painting, but in the images captured when she is away from home we see a her most highly developed sense of composition. She travels to New York, France and Italy to paint and exhibit her work, and has exhibited her work throughout the world: Paris (Palais des Congres), Florence (Palazzo Strozzi), Seoul, South Korea (U.S. Embassy), New York (Goethe Haus, among others) and elsewhere.

In “Gondolas,” there is a confident exploration of the space, both expansive and intimate; a tight configuration of boats only one set of repetitious forms, nestled together in shadow, while the architecture fills out the frame with other shapes stacked up in the distinctive Italian sunlight.

“My Room in Arles,” despite the change in location, feels like it could be the inside of one of those windows. Perhaps the light is more diffuse, but she once again captures the pattern and relationship of shapes within the room.

Betraying the restless itch of creativity that is characteristic of so many artists, Baker is also a writer who has been a journalist, a travel writer (“Elba Journal”). a novelist (“My Turn”), and a poet (“Poems of Accord and Satisfaction”).

As an artist, Baker has done numerous illustrations for publishing houses and major magazines and has worked in production for newspapers and for Institutional Investor magazine on Madison Avenue, in New York. She has illustrated several books, including eight by Lee Pennington, including his “Appalachian Newground,” published in 2016.

Jill Baker will be participating in the 2017 Open Studio Weekend, sponsored by Louisville Visual Art and University of Louisville’s Hite Art Institute. Her  studio in Middletown will be open the weekend of November 4 and 5. Tickets for Open Studio Weekend will go on sale October 16. Click here for more information.

"I am very proud of my new studio, which is a Department of Energy Net Zero building, the first one in Louisville, with 22 solar panels on the roof, radiant heated floors, all LED lights within, passive solar heating and cooling (I took inspiration from Bernheim Forest buildings), with huge windows on the north for indirect light. I designed it myself."

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky Age: 74 Education: BA in Fine Arts, Baylor University (Waco, Texas); studied at the Academia di Belle Arti (Florence, Italy); MFA in Painting, Pratt Institute (New York City) Gallery Representative: Manhattan Arts (New York City); Contemporary Arts Gallery (New Harmony, Indiana) Website: http://www.jillbaker.com

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 "Lavaski" by Jill Baker, Watercolor, 18X24in, 2017, $600

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

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