Artists Talk With LVA: February 3, 2022

Margaret Archambeault & Carter Brown join us to discuss their work on exhibit at Tim Faulkner Gallery. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Keith Waits talk with artists.

Margaret Archambault is an abstract painter and the Gallery Director at Tim Faulkner Gallery in Louisville. She describes her work as three distinct approaches: Direct Experience: or what I call “Depictive Abstraction” Straight Expressionism, and Historical Collage Paintings. She has exhibited widely in Louisville and the surrounding area and in 2021 exhibited as a part of Purely Primary, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York, NY.

Carter Brown is a Louisville-born abstract expressionist artist working various mediums trying to “invite as many people in as possible His work is positive and full of whimsy. He has a studio space on East Market Street.

The February exhibit at Tim Faulkner Gallery will feature new paintings from:
Carter Brown
Grant Goodwine
Joshua Bleecker
Mark Zanni
Margaret Archambault

This show will run through February 28th.

Artebella On The Radio: August 19

Geoff Crowe is a painter of what might be described as abstract expression. He works in a variety of mediums including, acrylic, watercolor, dip ink pens, charcoal, and sometimes a mix of these. 

“I began my formal training as a visual artist in Puerto Rico. My first exhibition, En Accion (2004), featured a series of paintings capturing the movement and enthusiasm of children playing soccer. The Latin influence of my early training continues in the often dramatic use of color and light.

My exploration into how to express my art began with impression-like paintings. Most recently I have begun exploring abstract expressionism.  Over the years my subjects have included figures, ballet dancers, horses, pets and other animals, cityscapes, and children’s book illustrations.

I have had the luck of painting and sculpting while living in multiple countries. I grew up in California and have lived in Indiana, Puerto Rico, Ireland, and most recently Louisville, Kentucky”.

Crowe’s new exhibit "STONE & CANVAS--In Abstract" is at Kore Gallery. The reception for this exhibit, which also features the work of sculptor Mike McCarthy will be August 21, 6-9 PM

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: 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.

Vignette: Andrea Alonso

Geometry has always been important in Andrea Alonso’s painting. She uses it to construct a nearly abstract cityscape of buildings crowded in upon each other. It is the urban atmosphere of Mexico, Spain, and other Spanish language societies, but it is not unlike many American cities where low-income residences have been grouped in claustrophobic proximity.

"Night Smoker" by Andrea Alonso, Oil on canvas, 31x39in, 2018, $3000

“My main focus is the visual representation of low-income cities and towns,” explains Alonso, “since in those places urban solutions are more spontaneous and less rigid. I try to recreate the feeling a spot gave me. I use vibrant and striking colors to emphasize the emotion and the space within these geometric arrangements.”

Whereas in the past those compositions have been dense arrangements of line, shape and color, of late, Alonso has pulled back her point-of-view to view smaller communities situated away from the over-populated cities. The buildings are still close, but the shift on the emotion of the color changes our perception. The bold, saturated yellow of “Sunny Town” captures the hot climate but it also imbues the image with hope and perhaps even joy, and the relationship of the buildings suggests a different, more old-fashioned sense of community: a small town in which we imagine life unfolds at an unhurried pace that might be the envy of the city dwellers.

Yellow is also the dominant color in “Green Roofs”, an example of the tighter urban images, but this group of paintings seem to capture this shift in a particularly logical, linear progression, from the deep blues of “Nightsmoker”, repeated as the composition begins to open up in “Town at Night”, then the introduction of warmer hues in “Green Roofs”. The green of those roofs then flows into the landscape of “Village in the Fields”, the former resting above the heads of the residents while the former surrounds the community with agricultural fertility.

"Sunny Town" by Andrea Alonso, Oil on wood 12x12in, 2018, $300

It is a simple, almost naive contrast of the different environments but a vivid expression of Alonso’s stated mission of blending the sensibility of abstract expressionism with an understanding of social problems.

In December 2018, Alonso will have a show at Studio Oh in Chicago. Currently Alonso is one of the many Louisville artists featured in the Alley Gallery public art program sponsored by the Louisville Downtown Partnership.

Alonso was one of the five finalists in 2017 ArtPrize Pitch Night in Louisville, and she has paintings featured in Art Yellow Book #2, by CICA Museum, South Korea.

Hometown: Monterrey, Mexico
Education: Architecture degree University of Monterrey, Mexico; MBA in Administration, Rioja University, Madrid, Spain.
Website: art-ark.com
Instagram: art_ark_

Scroll down for more images

"Green Roofs" by Andrea Alonso, Oil on canvas, 31x39in, 2018, $3000

"Village in Green Field" by Andrea Alonso, Oil on wood, 12x14in, 2018, $300

"Town at Night" by Andrea Alonso, Oil on wood, 12x12in, 2018, $300

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.