Artists Talk with LVA: September 26, 2024

Esther Callahan has juried the 2024 Ohio Valley Biennial for Louisville Visual Art (LVA) and talks about the exhibit with us this week. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

An independent curator, arts consultant, social and creative entrepreneur, Esther Callahan also organizes and manages various art projects around the Twin Cities. Over the past 20+ years, she has created and co-created various platforms for cultural production and dialogue rooted in interrogating the impact of racial and gender equity, and our future histories. Most recently, through her "Periphery of Power" exhibition in late 2023 at Gamut Gallery in Minneapolis, MN. She has held positions as Co-Director of the Emerging Curators Institute that builds the individual practices of emerging curators, Artistic Director of Arts and Rec US, Great Meadows Foundation Critic in Residence in 2021, and former Curatorial Fellow at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. From the beginning of her career, she has believed in working hand-in-hand with artists to facilitate their evolution, and in turn the advancement of their careers, growing together and finding common lines of investigation, reflected in a strong focus to create a space that builds dialogue among different communities. She believes in the power of art and in living a life that makes an impact.

The 2024 Ohio Valley Biennial is on view through October 24 at the LVA Gallery.

Vignette: Margaret Bromley

"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

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.

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

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

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