Artists Talk with LVA: January 13, 2022

Tad DeSanto & Tia Wells are the newest members of Pyro Gallery and are exhibiting there together right now. That's what we talked about this week on Artists Talk With LVA, Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday @ 10 am.

Tad DeSanto is a 75-year-old self-taught artist who has been showing and selling his work since 2005. He has exhibited at the New York City Outsider Art Fair, the Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft, the Kentucky Folk Art Center, Craft(s) Gallery & Mercantile, Edenside Gallery, Gallery Hertz, Swanson Contemporary, the Good Folk Fest, and other venues. He has also sold work in Dallas, San Francisco, Phoenix, Ann Arbor, Lexington, Georgetown, CT, South Carolina, and Scotland! 

Tia Wells attended Governor’s School for the Arts in high school and graduated from UofL with a double major in Psychology and Fine Art where she studied with Mark Priest. The imagery in her large oil paintings is primarily naturalistic or hyper-realistic but she is beginning to explore digital painting and printmaking. 

THE TAD & TIA SHOW

January 7 through January 29, 2022 at Pyro Gallery
Gallery Hours: Fridays and Saturdays 12-6 pm, Sundays  1-4 pm
Closing Reception/Artist Talk: Saturday, January 29, 2-4pm

Artebella On The Radio: November 5

Sadly, we have had to postpone Open Studio Weekend until spring 2021, but we have one more interview with some of the artists talking about their work. Robbie Mueller, Chris Hartsfield, and Dru Pilmer are our guests this week, along with LVA Executive Director Kristian Anderson. Tune in each Thursday to WXOX 97, or stream on Artxfm.com to hear Keith Waits talk with artists.

Robbie Mueller is a mixed media artist working primarily with wood, paper mache, found objects, and acrylic paints; 3-D sculpture, bas reliefs, and assemblages. “Much of my work often gets labeled folk art, because of the more traditional themes that become my subjects , but as my work has continued to evolve, more contemporary themes involving found art, & salvaged art are being incorporated. Because I am untrained, I label myself a contemporary folk artist with "outsider" tendencies.” His work can also be seen at the Kentucky Folk Art Center (Morehead State University, Morehead, KY), Gallery 104 (Lagrange, KY), Meraki & Moon (Georgetown, KY),on Facebook (Robbie Mueller: Folk Art Kentucky), on Instagram (@folkartky), and on Twitter(@ibwhittlin).

Chris Hartsfield is a self-trained watercolorist who works primarily with bright, clean colors to achieve a realistic style of painting. His technique produces a complicated yet detailed scene revealing an understanding of depth and realism. He enjoys painting a variety of subjects, including still life, landscape, street scenes, and nautical scenes. His compositions are well balanced and flowing, keeping the observer's eye engaged. Since Hartsfield began his art career in 1988, he has had paintings accepted in national and regional watercolor competitions. Including The American Watercolor Society, The National Watercolor Society, Arts For The Parks, Georgia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma Watercolor Society shows.

Dru Pilmer’s art is in private, public, and corporate collections in New York state, Chicago, Massachusetts, Los Angeles, Utah, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi, Florida, North Carolina, South America, Canada, and Scotland. She was recently one of 46 artists in 13 states and Germany to win juried acceptance in ConTEXT III Exhibition at the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles, MO.  Her painting, “9 Millimeter Flowers” won Best of Show in KORE Gallery’s 2019 Black & White Show.  

She was a featured artist in March 2019 Today’s Woman Magazine, exhibited in Mariott and Hyatt boutique hotels, and executed numerous watercolor and acrylic commissions throughout the U.S.

LVA Executive Director Kristian Anderson has 15 years’ experience in the arts and culture sector, most recently as Senior Policy Advisor to the Mayor of Salt Lake City. In that role, he oversaw a variety of community, operational and political projects encompassing arts and culture as well as land use, urban design, economic development and more. Prior to his mayoral appointment, Kristian was for four years the Executive Director of the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art and Executive Director for the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries in Seattle.

Legacy: Marvin Finn (1913-2007)

“A Flock of Finns” at the Louisville Waterfront

When I was a student at the long ago-defunct Louisville School of Art, the school gallery in the Cloisters building hosted an early exhibition of the work of Marvin Finn. I remember the gallery being filled with a menagerie of wooden animals (I purchased a small bull for $11), but also intricately tooled machines: monolithic cranes, personable bulldozers, and magnificent biplanes hung from the ceiling at daredevil angles. The retired African American gentleman making all of this within the confines of his tiny Shelby Street home in the Clarksdale housing “projects” was the talk of the town, and his work was collected by the wealthy and powerful.  

Finn embodies the meaning of the Folk Art aesthetic. His love of carving wood came from watching his sharecropper father whittle as a young boy in Clio, Alabama, and his lack of any formal art education and adherence to simple forms fits the concept perfectly. He spent many years making wooden toys for his children and grandchildren so that there was also a purity in the motivation.

Marvin Finn photographed by Geoff Carr.

“There were ten boys and two girls in my family, and most of them older than I was, so I didn’t have toys except I made them,” said Finn when recalling his childhood on the farm in Clio. “I thought my old man was everything. When I was little I stood right up under him when he was whittling, and I learned it from him. I always tried to make my own toys when I was coming up as a kid. Anything that looked like a toy I would go into the woods and find me a tree and make it. But I remember a lot of Christmases when I never even seen me a toy.” (1)

After first exhibiting at the Kentuckiana Hobby and Gift Show in 1972, Finn’s profile rose over the next ten years, even though his prices did not. In the 1980’s the show at LSA and attention from the newly formed Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation (now KMAC) cemented Finn’s status as one of the most beloved and respected artists in Louisville.

Eighteen years ago, Louisville Mayor David Armstrong and an advisory committee developed the concept for the use of Marvin Finn’s work as the inspiration for a major public art initiative.

“Public art is more than an amenity in the streetscapes and open spaces in our city,” said Mayor Armstrong. “It evokes pride and awe in our city from passers-by, and it is a gift to every citizen.”

Photo: Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft

Thus, the idea for the flock of Finn’s was hatched. Dozens of owners of Finn’s art presented their originals to the Mayor’s advisory committee and 32 pieces were selected as models for the public art project. Colorful steel renditions, some as tall as nine feet, were cut out of half-inch thick steel and painted with graffiti proof paint by a cadre of artists mimicking the unique colors and patterns of Finn’s work. In April of 2001, the “Flock of Finns” landed in Waterfront Park in downtown Louisville.(2)

Finn’s work bridges traditional distinctions between craft and art. Although there is little functionality in the work, they began as toys but were almost never vessels or implements, it always expressed the naivete often associated with folk art, with a balance of rustic imagery and polished finish that enabled him to be embraced as easily by the fine art culture. The bright patterns of color were also seen as evocative of West African art, a connection to ancestry that is another important thread found in most Folk Art.

Today, Finn’s inspiration continues unabated, as many Louisville art teachers’ curriculum includes a ”Marvin Finn” project, most often in which children make their own brightly painted cut out birds.

Louisville Visual Art Summer Camp - 2017

Wooden Rooster by Marvin Finn, private collection

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(1) (2) marvinfinnweebly.com

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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Vignette: Macel Hamilton

"Butterfly" by Macel Hamiton, Acrylic on wood, 6x12in, 2017, SOLD 

When someone picks up a brush and begins painting with no formal training or experience, are they hobbyist, amateur? In a time when art intelligentsia is either busy manufacturing new nomenclature to capture new trends, or rejecting all formal classifications (inter or multi disciplinary?) how do we describe the new artist who enters the fray motivated by curiosity or edification?

"Cow" by Macel Hamilton, Acrylic on wood, 10x12in, 2017, SOLD

Consider Macel Hamilton. The designation Folk Artist connotes a lack of education and primitive technique, but Hamilton is an educated professional, and her skill after a very brief time painting is estimable, and "hobbyist" foreswears the dedication she has put to the task. Her subjects are simple: animals and insects, but she has also painted portraits of people. All of it indicates an innate skill of observation and the controlled manipulation of a brush and medium. That Hamilton often paints on unfinished wood introduces a rustic quality certainly, but compare the delicacy of her color in this butterfly and the rougher, more spontaneous marks in the image of a savage rooster improbably named “Cow”.

Clearly some of Hamilton’s work finds its roots in her rural upbringing: “I was raised in the hills of Eastern Kentucky and now live in the knobs of Casey County. I am mostly self-taught and have taken a few day classes at a local community art center. I have been painting for about a year and a half. I began doing art approximately two years ago, teaching my self to draw portraits.”

So if there must be a designation, perhaps Rural Artist would be apt in this case, a reflection of both Hamilton’s background and the sensibility expressed in her work.

 Age: 55
Hometown: Liberty, Kentucky
Education:  BS, Psychology, ADN Nursing
Facebook: Macel’s Art

Scroll down to see more images

"Untiltled" by Macel Hamilton, Acrylic on canvas, 16x20in, 2017, $200

"Sarah's Love" by Macel Hamilton, pastels, 12x16in, 2017, NFS

"Hummer" by Macel Hamilton, Acrylic on wood, 10x12in, 2017, SOLD

"Dogs" by Macel Hamilton, Acrylic on canvas, 16x20in, 2017, SOLD

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

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Vignette: B.G. Lewis

“Painting is a journey where I can explore color and textures, play with brush strokes and create my ‘perfect’ version of the world." - B.G. Lewis

"Twigs and Twine" by B.G. Lewis, acrylic, 11x14in, 2017, $175

B.G. (Bobbie Gayle) Lewis is a self-taught Kentucky artist finding her passion in painting after a professional career in the medical field. The Garrard Community resident enjoys teaching painting classes to children and adults at the Community Arts Center located in Lancaster, Kentucky. 

Although she didn’t formally study art, Folk Artist, Janice Miller, was an early mentor for Lewis, as were painters Jerry Yarnelle and Pat Banks. Currently she is studying portraiture with Chantel Barber.

“It started with just one painting. From the beginning an empty canvas stirred my creative juices. Once begun, the painting takes on a life of its own, leading me from hobby to art. Painting fills me with a sense of accomplishment and integrity, and has proven a most amenable vehicle for translating inner vision into outer reality.”

“Although I work quite deliberately, consciously employing both traditional and innovative techniques, my unconscious is the undisputed project manager.
The creative nature of painting frees my imagination and provides many opportunities for happy accidents and grace to influence the finished product.”

“The world around me inspires and invigorates a renewed sense of creativity. Awed by the mystery of how creation occurs, I strive to produce art that represents the world in a ‘perfect’ state.”

"Cardinal Knowledge" by BG Lewis, acrylic, 8x10in, 2017, $150

Even as she develops, Lewis’ work still display her roots in the primitive aspects of Folk Art. In “Cardinal Knowledge” her use of vintage newspapers from 1930's in her background is an individual connection to an aged and nostalgic sensibility, one that connotes pre-World War II America and the Great Depression.

Lewis’ art is on exhibit at Maple Tree Gallery, Boyle County Arts Council in Danville Kentucky as well as the Grand Theater and Garrard Community Arts Center, in Lancaster Kentucky. She has exhibited in multiple shows in Kentucky and has sold her artwork to collectors across the country. 

Hometown: Lancaster, Kentucky
Education: Self-taught
Website: garrardarts.com

"Morning Melody" by BG Lewis, acrylic, 11x14in, $175

"Showers of Blessings" by BG Lewis, acrylic, acrylic, 10x24in, $175

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

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