“Daily People” by Kathleen Loomis, Fabric, Individual figures 3 to 10in tall, 2017, $20 each on wood base

Artists can and often do have many sides to their creative expression; writers paint, singers sculpt and sometimes it seems as if everybody takes pictures (doesn’t make them a photographer).

We have visited Kathleen Loomis previously as a maker of flag images that make political and social statements, but today she shares her version of a not uncommon artist’s practice: daily assignments. Of course, most any committed artist enters their studio every day, but in addition to whatever ongoing projects that might be taking up their time, the might set themselves the task of completing one self-contained idea each day, possibly in the morning. Like morning yoga or calisthenics, it gets the blood moving for the remainder of the day.

“I've been doing daily art since 2001,” Loomis tells us. “Each year the rules change; in different years I have worked with photography, collage, drawing, hand stitching, quilting, soft sculpture and mail art.

“Mask” by Kathleen Loomis, Paper, 10x10in, 2014, NFS

Loomis is a very active blogger, so the evidence of this strain of work is often evidenced there. In 2010 she took a photo every day and posted it: kathysdailyart.blogspot.com. In 2014 Loomis made a collage every day, but also challenged herself to expand on those ideas once a week for a bigger collage piece. A gradual increase in scale also followed her 2016 daily practice: “I did a drawing every day, filling five sketchbooks. Each new sketchbook was a bit larger than the previous ones as I gained confidence.”

“Once you've done it this long, the concept takes on a life of its own. Ask me why I do daily art, I'll tell you that I like the discipline and structure, that it makes me think about art every day, that the regular work improves my skill and focus, that the repetition allows me to explore ideas without the risk of a ‘real’ work. But I also do daily art because I do daily art. It has become a part of my life and I would feel bereft, missing an essential part of me, without it.”

Loomis’s solo exhibit, Day by Day by Day: adventures in regular art, will be at PYRO Gallery in Louisville October 25 through December 1, 2018. The artist will give a gallery talk November 3 at 12 noon.

‘Sad Guy (detail)” by Kathleen Loomis, Hand stitching on cotton, 4x4in (one 4x4 panel in assembly of 366 daily stitchings), 2012, NFS

Selected Exhibitions

Pyro Gallery, Louisville KY, Day by Day by Day, 2018; New Year, New Pyro Artists, 2017
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis IN, Dialogues, 2016
Dairy Barn, Athens OH, and on tour throughout the US, Quilt National ’15, ’11,’09 and ’03 (Quilts Japan Prize, 2009)
Jasper Arts Center, Jasper IN, Annual Juried Art Exhibits, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2015, 2017 (award of merit, 2011; best in show, 2015 and 2017)

Hometown: Saginaw, Michigan
Education: BA in Journalism, Syracuse University; MSJ Northwestern University
Website: http://kathleenloomis.com

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“Pinup Girl” by Kathleen Loomis, Paper collage on library catalog card, 3x5in, 2014

“Expanding Universe” by Kathleen Loomis, Ink on paper, 6x6in, 2016, NFS

“In the Alley” by Kathleen Loomis, Digital photo, 2010, $25 printed at 4x6" and matted

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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Drawing, Fiber

Open Studio Spotlight: Samantha Ludwig

Guest User · October 16, 2018

Open Studio Weekend 2016-Studio Visits-0168 (2).jpg

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.”

“717 E. Ormsby” by Samantha Ludwig, Graphite on Paper, 9x14in, 201 $150

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

“Voyuer” by Samanth Ludwig, Ink on Paper, 23x25in, $475

“Great Garrison Flag” by Samantha Ludwig, Hand Dyed Embroidered Cotton, 6x13in, 2017, Part of the Permeant Collection of Omni Hotel, Louisville, Ky

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Mixed Media, Painting

Vignette: Patrick Donley

Josh Jenkins · February 14, 2017

Where our army has gone and established a long-term presence, there has sprouted an interest in America’s game…” – Patrick Donley

*“Taijitu (South Korea)" by Patrick Donley, 20x26in, mixed media on arches (2016)*

Not very long ago, we were discussing the use of flags in art, and their importance as symbols. Patrick Donley is a painter, sculptor, and collage artist who uses found materials to a significant degree. In his artist’s statement for his new exhibit at Lenihan Sotheby’s International Realty, he provides insight into his process, but also illuminates how the weight of memory in reclaimed objects can raise the artist’s own awareness through discovery, in this case, tying in to themes of geo-political influence.

“The Flags series began as an excuse to use the imagery of ‘America’s Game’ in my art. For years, I have been fascinated by the gritty, rugged, glorious, and often tarnished visual lexicon of baseball, a game full of heroes, heroines, legends, myths, successes and failures.

The choice to use the flag as an inspiration was somewhat accidental. I had been making collage paintings on paper that were made up of horizontal bands like the strata of the earth, or like the stripes on a flag. The paintings being on paper seemed appropriate, more ephemeral - more flag-like. I came across a cache of baseball images I had saved including some torn up baseball cards found while walking my dogs (the source for much of my collage). So the Baseball Flags were born (however, I never understood why the championship is called ‘the World Series’).

“The Girl Next Door (Aruba)" by Patrick Donley, 20x26in, mixed media on arches (2016) — *“The Girl Next Door (Aruba)" by Patrick Donley, 20x26in, mixed media on arches (2016)*

The first pieces were mainly suggestive of flags: very colorful with lots of random collage, words and letters buried in the paint. After making about ten of these, I chose to leave the idea for a while and venture elsewhere, as is my way of working. Several years and several very different bodies of work ensued.

One day last year, I decided to revisit the flags, but this time I thought to use flags of the world as the platform. I had done a large commission piece for Kentucky Refugee Ministries here in Louisville, and while cleaning the studio I came across the images of all of the flags that represent the refugees who have been resettled into our town, and thus, these were my initial inspirations. After completing several, though interesting conceptually, something just did not feel right about the flags I was using, other than their graphic nature. Where was the connection to baseball?

*“8 Men Out (Venezuela)” by Patrick Donley, 19x26in (framed), mixed media on arches (2016)*

So I researched how many countries are actually represented by players throughout the major leagues. The number varied, but twenty-something is the rough tally. From that point on, the flags became about countries that have contributed players to the sport.

One of the fun challenges of using ‘real’ flags as the departure point is that there is not a huge diversity of colors used in national flags. It is a fairly basic palette, which allows me the license to explore layering, variation, and texture.

*“Daddy-O” by Patrick Donley, 8x8in, mixed media on wood (2015)*

At this point, I began to connect the dots between our military presence throughout the world and the growth of baseball in many of those places. It made sense. Where our army has gone and established a long-term presence, there has sprouted an interest in America’s game: Japan, Korea, Germany, Cuba, and Vietnam. But the list extends well beyond that to some places that honestly I could not guess why players would come from there: Australia, the Netherlands, Aruba, Venezuela, Columbia, Greece Baseball, Taiwan, Curacao, Brazil. And the list goes on.

It fascinates me that although Soccer is the ‘World’s’ game, Baseball has ‘the World Series’, and now, for me, that phrase finally makes a little more sense.”

Flags: A World Series, New Work by Patrick Donley, is now on exhibit at Lenihan Sotheby’s International Realty at 3803 Brownsboro Road in Louisville. There is an Artist Open House Thursday, February 16, 5:00-7:30pm. On March 3, Donley will open The Memento Series: Travel and Leisure at Craft(s) Gallery in Louisville.

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Age: 54
Education: BA in Painting, Davidson College in Painting; MFA in Painting and Drawing, Northwestern University
Website: http://patrickdonley.wix.com/donleyart

*“Beer Is Food” by Patrick Donley, 8x8in, mixed media on wood (2016)*

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Fiber

Vignette: Kathleen Loomis

Josh Jenkins · January 17, 2017

***“My flags are somewhat the worse for wear.”* — *Kathleen Loomis***

"Fading" by Kathleen Loomis, 59x99in, fiber (2016) $8000 | BUY NOW — *"Fading" by Kathleen Loomis, 59x99in, fiber (2016) $8000 | BUY NOW*

Political art can be a misnomer; on some level all of art is, by its very existence, ‘political’, and more overt statements are often best realized in simple terms. In her most recent work, Kathleen Loomis has been working with the American flag, appropriate both in that she is a fiber artist, and that there is arguably no symbol that carries more emotional and thematic weight than the Red, White, and Blue.

"Flagging" by Kathleen Loomis, 98x54in, fiber (2016) $7000  | BUY NOW — *"Flagging" by Kathleen Loomis, 98x54in, fiber (2016) $7000 | BUY NOW*

“The flag is a stand-in for our country, so flags in distress convey feelings about the state of our democracy. Even beyond the disturbing recent elections, it seems that so many things in government and our legal system are going downhill. Maybe our nation and its democratic ideals aren’t as crisp and bright as they used to be; as a nation we are getting weary and have lost our mojo, so my flags are somewhat the worse for wear.”

Loomis’ statement may reveal a particular position, and the images are equally straightforward, yet they do not limit themselves by pointing to cause or solution. There are protocols for flying the flag that reinforce that it is also a vital tool for communication – flown upside down it is a symbol of distress to approaching forces, so co-opting it as a motif in visual art feels natural. “Kentucky Graveyard” and “Postage 3 Memorial Day” powerfully comment on the cost of freedom by echoing the flag-draped caskets of deceased military returning from foreign wars, while “More Equal Than Others” speaks to the inequity that has always been a struggle in American society. Loomis may have current events on her mind, but these themes are forever with us.

You can keep up with Loomis through a lively and informative blog on her website. Loomis joined Pyro Gallery in 2016, and is currently a part of the New Year, New Pyro Artists exhibit that runs through February 18, and will be participating in an Artist’s Gallery Talk there on Saturday, January 14, at 12:30pm.

Recent Exhibitions:
·     Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, Dialogues, 2016
·     Dairy Barn, Athens, OH, and on tour throughout the US, Quilt National ’15, ’11, ’09, and ’03 (Quilts Japan Prize, 2009)
·     Jasper Arts Center, Jasper, IN, Annual Juried Art Exhibits, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2015 (award of merit), 2011, Best in Show, 2015).

Hometown: Saginaw, Michigan
Education: BA in Journalism, Syracuse University; MSJ Northwestern University
Website: http://kathleenloomis.com

*"Kentucky Graveyard (Iraq)" by Kathleen Loomis, 71x60in, fiber (2006) NFS*

*"Postage 3: Memorial Day" by Kathleen Loomis, 86x100in, fiber (2008) NFS*

flags

Vignette: Kathleen Loomis

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Open Studio Spotlight: Samantha Ludwig

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Vignette: Patrick Donley

Where our army has gone and established a long-term presence, there has sprouted an interest in America’s game…” – Patrick Donley

Vignette: Kathleen Loomis

“My flags are somewhat the worse for wear.” — Kathleen Loomis

***“My flags are somewhat the worse for wear.”* — *Kathleen Loomis***