“I continually look to the past to process the present.” – Jenny Zeller

*"Suckle" by Jenny Zeller, 8.5x8.5in, digital photograph, encaustic and modeling impasto waxes, oil pastels and image transfer on board*

Jenny Zeller is the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest’s first recipient of a ‘Regional Artist in Residence’ award, part of their Arts in Nature program, which includes residencies for artists from around the world.

On her website, Zeller expresses enthusiasm for the opportunity: “Bernheim is providing me a stipend and temporary living quarters in exchange for a work of art to be left to the Bergheim Foundation. This particular residency is also unique in that I have access to all horticulture and operations departments, as well as ecologists, scientists, naturalists and forest managers. I am also allowed admittance to most scheduled hikes and eco classes offered throughout the calendar year. I have literally been invited to become part of the entire ecosystem at this amazing place and I love how this program enhances the visitor experience through arts interaction.”

Zeller, who is primarily a photographer, spent the month of April at Bernheim, working at Lake Nevins Studio and shooting images for a planned multi-panel photography installation to be installed on the Bergheim grounds. Thursday July 6th, she will be speaking about her experiences at Bernheim at the Wildlands Social Club, an event hosted by Kentucky Natural Lands Trust at 21c Louisville, 6-9pm.

*"Through the Trees Comes Autumn" by Jenny Zeller, 30x40in, digital image transfers and oil paint on custom made aluminum substrate*

In 2017, Zeller was also awarded an Artist Professional Development Grant from the Great Meadows Foundation. The travel grant allowed her to attend CONTACT, the world’s largest photography festival, held in Toronto Canada each May.

Zeller has also been the Education Coordinator for the Louisville Photo Biennial since 2015, and is currently teaching a class at Zoom Groups' Studio Works in partnership with the Biennial, a 12-week course that will result in a Studio Works exhibition for the Louisville Photo Biennial in October.

The 2017 Louisville Photo Biennial is a regional festival occurring in over 60 venues throughout the Louisville, Lexington, and Southern Indiana area from September 22-November 11. Through exhibits, receptions, workshops and educational opportunities, the Biennial celebrates the medium of photography in all of its richness and variety, and its ability to touch and enrich our lives.

*"New (found) Harmony" by Jenny Zeller, 24x24in, dye sublimanation print on aluminum*

As an exhibiting artist, Zeller’s work will be seen in two 2017 Louisville Photo Biennial. The first, Altered Perceptions, an LVA Photo-Biennial Exhibit at Metro Hall, runs July 17 through January 12, 2018. Some of the images we see here are featured in that show, many shot using an iPhone with a macro lens. Zeller investigates nature as an explorer, introducing her full-size human self into a world of significantly smaller scale, momentarily shrinking her sensibilities to the task.

Then she will have a solo exhibition at Swanson Contemporary entitled Aluminature, which will run September 27th- October 28th, with an Artist’s reception the evening of October 6th, 2017.

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Age: 44
Education: BA in Art Administration, University of Kentucky; attended photography classes, Florida Keys Community College
Website: http://www.jennyzeller.com/

*"Fallen" by Jenny Zeller, 8.5x8.5in, digital photograph, encaustic and modeling impasto waxes, oil pastels and image transfer on board*

*"Florida Reflected" by Jenny Zeller, 30.5x31.5in, digital image transfers and oil paint on custom made aluminum substrate*

*"HerLand" by Jenny Zeller, 24x24in, dye sublimanation print on aluminum*

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Photography

Vignette: Kent Krugh

Josh Jenkins · April 21, 2017

“The tools of the trade, having faithfully imaged for decades, have themselves been imaged.” — Kent Krugh

"Univex Mercury I Model CC" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW — *"Univex Mercury I Model CC" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW*

Introspection, that ability for self-examination unique to humanity, is nothing new for an artist - It’s what lies at the core of many artists’ motivation. In these new images from photographer Kent Krugh, he goes Meta with the concept, deconstructing the camera and pondering the essential nature of his equipment instead of himself.

“This work uses x-rays to explore the microevolution of cameras and is a metaphor about the limits of evolution. While form and media may have changed, the camera is still a camera: a tool to create images by capturing photons of light. Today’s sophisticated digital cameras look and operate far differently than the first cameras of the nineteenth century, however the essentials have not changed. The photographer points a contraption with a lens towards the subject to encode its likeness on a storage medium, be it film or digital sensor. And this contraption has been manufactured in many wonderful and clever designs, the complexity usually hidden inside. While making these x-rays, I have been surprised and astonished by what I found inside the cameras. The lens, when imaged from the side, contains a multi-element train of perfectly shaped glass forms whose purpose is to collect and direct light towards the target.

"Speed Graphic" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW — *"Speed Graphic" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in,* *x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW*

Speciation is the process where new species can arise when populations are reproductively isolated. The can be due to random mutations and natural selection, or hybridization between closely related species. This process has been documented by many and is difficult to deny. Many insist that this is indeed evidence of evolution in action—given enough time this same process has given rise to all forms of life on earth. And many also insist that this process can indeed produce species and variation within species, but this is the limit of evolution—no one has ever seen a dog produce a non-dog. So, to close the loop—a camera is still a camera, though tremendous diversity exists.

"Keystone K-8" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW — *"Keystone K-8" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW*

In quite another sense, this project pays homage to the cameras I have owned, used, or handled. The tools of the trade, having faithfully imaged for decades, have themselves been imaged. The resulting images align with an inner desire to probe those unseen spaces and realms I sense exist, but do not observe with my eyes.”

Krugh’s work can be seen right now at the Cincinnati Art Galleries in the exhibit Return to Beauty: Asian Influence on Contemporary Landscape Art, March 3l April 22, and later this year at the Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, Colorado in Black & White, which will run July 7-August 19.

In 2016, he was a part of, Inside the Gate, Museo de Artes Plásticas Eduardo Sívori, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
Age: 61
Education: MS, Radiological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, 1978 BA, Physics, Ohio Northern University, 1977
Gallery Representation: Gallery on Wade, Toronto, Ontario; Costello-Childs Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ; Gallery 708, Cincinnati, OH
Website: http://www.kentkrugh.com

"Nikon D300" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW — *"Nikon D300" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW*

"Polaroid 440" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW — *"Polaroid 440" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW*

"Mamiyaflex C2" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW — "*Mamiyaflex C2" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW*

Vignette: James Bixler

Josh Jenkins · January 13, 2017

"15 More Minutes" by James Bixler, 14x11in, relief print (2015), $100 | BUY NOW — *"15 More Minutes" by James Bixler, 14x11in, relief print (2015), $100 | BUY NOW*

“My affinity for the color black started when I started growing into myself,” states James Bixler. “I realized recently that my attraction to the color noir was because it is a grounding, calming color. It should come to no one’s surprise that I utilize black in most of my artwork.”

"Self Portrait" by James Bixler, 12x9in, digital media print (2015), $100 | BUY NOW — *"Self Portrait" by James Bixler, 12x9in, digital media print (2015), $100 | BUY NOW*

Included here is a self-portrait that shows Bixler emerging from liquid black; inky, impenetrable, and leaving a film on his skin, the image recalls at least one famous portrait of an African American immersed in milk, - a negative reversal of sorts. It somewhat obfuscates racial identity, blurring the lines of pigmentation by removing color and forcing the viewer to rely on the supple tones and textures of the black, white, and gray tones of the photographic medium.

The play of the viscous black liquid on Bixler’s skin also reminds us that he is a Tattoo Artist at Uncle Bob's Tattoo Studio and Body Piercing in Clarksville, Indiana. It should not be surprising that a working tattoo artist would study fine art, since the medium, once considered, at best, subversive, or, at worst, cheap and trashy, has become more and more accepted in the mainstream culture, with 1 in 5 Americans sporting one or more examples of skin art, and tattoo parlors now as likely as not including a gallery space.

The dense black also dominates Bixler’s upside down Ouija board print, which, alongside his drawing of a gracefully ‘unraveling’ human skull, is suggestive of the occult, and a preoccupation with the ephemeral spirit that once resided in the latter, and may communicate with us through the former; themes of identity and mortality that never feel exhausted because there is never a definitive answer.

Age: 26
Hometown: Scottsburg, Kentucky
Education: BFA candidate, Painting and Drawing, Kentucky College of Art and Design (KyCAD), Spalding University, Louisville, Kentucky

"Untitled" by James Bixler, 19x15in, dypoint print (2015), $100 | BUY NOW — *"Untitled" by James Bixler, 19x15in, dypoint print (2015), $100 | BUY NOW*

Q&A: Sid Webb

Josh Jenkins · November 25, 2016

“Art is a creation that aptly describes its time and place.”
— Sid Webb

"Untitled #1" by Sid Webb, 6x18in, ash and honeysuckle (2016), $350 | BUY NOW — *"Untitled #1" by Sid Webb, 6x18in, ash and honeysuckle (2016), $350 | BUY NOW*

Sid Webb is a Lexington native who studied journalism at the University of Kentucky and attended the Atlanta School of Art. He came back to Kentucky to be the first art director at the Kentucky Educational Television network (KET), where he was an early advocate of using the digital canvas to create art and to make gicleé prints. He created a 13-part show for public television called Sid Webb’s Digital Studio, in which he demonstrated several ways to create art and paintings on a computer. After many years at KET, Webb turned to travel and editorial photography.

When did you first think you would be an artist?

I was convinced at a very early age that I would be an artist…maybe 10 or 12 years old. I had done some freelance work for the new IBM plant in high school and local TV stations plus some other work in high school. Sometimes clinging adamantly to such an idea can lead one astray, as it did me. I joined the Air Force after my freshman year in college. At that time the military was very sensitive to the criticism that they were assigning recruits to the wrong jobs and they had developed an elaborate test to discover one’s potential military vocation. I insisted that I wanted to be a graphic artist and passed the test with a near 100 percent score. No portfolio was required. Just several hours of reading questions and guessing at answers to questions like “Which Speedball pin tip would you use to letter a diploma?” Even though I had passed the test, there were few graphic artists needed in the Air Force. No openings were available. There were plenty of openings for cooks and cops, however, and those occupations were in the same category as graphic artists for some reason. I opted for cop.

"Urn" by Sid Webb, about 11in tall, cherry wood (2016), $1200 | BUY NOW — *"Urn" by Sid Webb, about 11in tall, cherry wood (2016), $1200 | BUY NOW*

If you could do anything else but make art, what would it be?

Fortunately, during my career I found several creativity roles that were very fulfilling. After college and art school, I came back to Kentucky to work for KET just as it was going on the air. During those early years I did set designs and construction, make-up, newsletters, ads, photography…you name it. Later, I became director of production, and then created and headed a department that sold and distributed KET programs to stations in other states. Surprisingly, that time was perhaps the most fun and productive. We were distributing GED and adult literacy programs and I tried to break new ground in reaching those who could benefit from KET’s creations. I had workbooks translated to Spanish and programs subtitled. I looked for ways to make the content work on computers and audiotapes. I looked for ways to help adult education centers. Perhaps most importantly, I explored ways to get the message of “help” to those who needed it. In the process I met some very talented and wonderful people and felt gratified.

You were an early practitioner of digital art and the use of computers for reproductions. What do see as the future of digital art?

I had one of those "ah-ha" moments sometime ago. I was thinking about the artwork and photography I have done over the last few years.

Early on, I became enamored with the possibilities for digital printmaking and the computer as an art-making tool. I also knew that inkjet prints would face stiff opposition from galleries and buyers. I thought the process needed to be elevated and legitimized, so I invented a new term for it: "digitography".

I pat myself on the back for seeing the need, and kick myself for not being outrageously inventive.

For my intended purpose, any word that too easily revealed its derivation like digitography did was destined for the scrape heap, where it soon found itself. The word that emerged and quickly claimed proper respect among the art community was "gicleé". It was a flash of brilliance.

"Untitled #2" by Sid Webb, about 11in tall, spalted maple and catalpa (2016), $800 | BUY NOW — *"Untitled #2" by Sid Webb, about 11in tall, spalted maple and catalpa (2016), $800 | BUY NOW*

It didn't matter that the true definition could be easily discovered, which is "to spit," or "to sputter". What mattered was that it had a nice ring to it. The beauty of the choice was that it is a French word, always nice sounding; and it helped that France was the birthplace of modern, avant-garde art. Also, it helped that the definition of gicleé, even when discovered, did not immediately reveal its connection to the mechanical and digital aspects of computers.

That leads me to the "ah-ha" about what I have been doing.

I have been doggedly creating "paintings" on the computer that looked as though they were created with traditional media. Again, I wanted to legitimize the computer as an art tool, and I have been trying to do it by demonstrating that my approach worked as well as other tools by inviting comparisons.

The epiphany was the realization that every new medium first gained legitimacy in this way. For instance, early films and radio productions "translated" books and theater before it found firm artistic footing of its own.

Even though I am someone who adopted the computer early on as an art tool, others have moved beyond "translations". I decided I would, too.

What advice would you give a young artist just out of college?

The challenge is how to pay off the student loan, pay the rent, and have enough money left over to create art the way you want to do it. Facing this reality is often shocking and overwhelming . . . and defeating. I have a lawyer friend who told me that in law school he learned the law but left school with no idea how to practice it or run a business. That’s so very true of young artists just finishing their degrees. How to sell art is the very first thing a graduate needs to learn. I suggest an internship with a successful artist or photographer. Working in a craft shop or gallery is also a great option.

Tell us about an important moment of transition for you as an artist?

Retiring from my day job freed me to explore the world around me . . . libraries, museums, friends, travel. I was usually free to spend as much as I wished on my art projects. I had no deadlines, self imposed or otherwise as a rule.

"Untitled #3" by Sid Webb, about 16in tall, wood (2016), $180 | BUY NOW — *"Untitled #3" by Sid Webb, about 16in tall, wood (2016), $180 | BUY NOW*

What's your favorite place to visit?

Tough question. I love France because I have an insatiable appetite for great food, and it is hard to find mediocre or bad food in France. France, like so many other places I have visited, is candy to the eye and fresh air to the inner spirit. I am able to see and feel that which has become too familiar to local people. I do love my home but there lives within me a need to see beyond the next horizon.

What's the most challenging part when starting on a piece of work of art?

How to create the next piece and push beyond my “style”. My style is like my shadow. It is glued to me and I have little control over it. I can walk around a room with a single light source in the center of it and my shadow will mutate, but I still own it. I can’t shake it. But I try.

How long do you usually spend on a specific piece of art?

It depends. I may spend less than an hour to several days. Sometimes the pieces that take less than an hour to create have taken shape in my head over days.

Does art have a purpose? If so what is it?

It defines us, our place in time. Our culture. Our beliefs. None of this is too obvious until we travel and become aware of what surrounds us.

A few decades ago, André Malraux wrote a little book titled “Museum Without Walls” and I used it to make a compelling case that art is dead. Malraux thesis was that the industrial age had made it possible to exactly duplicate fine works of art so that people no longer had to flock to the museums of the world to see and appreciate them.

In his view we needed to disconnect the ideas of “original,” and “art”. In other words the fact that a piece is an original or part of a limited edition may make it costly, but its cost doesn’t make it art.

This of course leads back to the question of “what is art?” To be candid, the answer is a moving target with philosophical overtones. The layman’s answer often is “I don’t know what art is, but I know what I like.” That usually puts an end to the discussion as the remark is often intended to do. But there is a measure of truth in it.

"Untitled #4" by Sid Webb, about 16in tall, wood (2016), $180 | BUY NOW — *"Untitled #4" by Sid Webb, about 16in tall, wood (2016), $180 | BUY NOW*

The German word “gestault” describes that measure of truth. But the best way to think about it may be by using music as an analogy. Most people know when a singer or an instrumentalist hits a sour note or is off key. The ability to detect harmonic sounds is built into our physical make up, at least in most of us. We are painfully aware of singers who are off key or hit a bad note and we know when the rhythm is not quite right. But being aware of the correctness of those essentials of music doesn’t determine the kind of music we enjoy or make us good critics.

In a general way, what most of us think of as good music has to do with lots of other things. If we play an instrument or sing in a group we are certain to pay closer attention to music than others who don’t. The music we grew up listening to affects our appreciation of it and how we feel about music outside of that genre, too.

As with music there are physical attributes we humans have that determine our feelings about art. Perhaps surprisingly, one is in our inner ears that keep us balanced and on our feet. Gravity and that liquid in our inner ears keeps us keenly attuned to weight and what’s up and what's down.

The physical mechanics of the way most of us see color is another factor. Some people are color blind or “tone deaf” to color, but most of us know when colors clash. It takes only a little experimentation to sharpen ones sensitivity to the harmonies of color, but as with music, our taste in color has much to do with our cultural background and where we live.

So in both music and art we humans share common tools for creating and appreciating them. From there, defining what is good or bad, great or worthless becomes a stroll in the wilderness of philosophical thought that leads to questions like these:

"Untitled #5" by Sid Webb, about 16in tall, spalted maple and walnut dowels (2016), $325 | BUY NOW — *"Untitled #5" by Sid Webb, about 16in tall, spalted maple and walnut dowels (2016), $325 | BUY NOW*

— Is craftsmanship important or necessary?
— Can utilitarian objects like knifes and forks, pottery, etc., be considered art?
— What’s the difference between arts and crafts?
— Is folk art really art?
— Is performance art, art?
— Should commercial art be considered as worthy?
— Does museum ownership make it art?
— Must an artist know art history to create “real” art?
— Should photography be considered art?
— If a sculptor creates a model that someone else casts into bronze, should the piece be considered art?
— What if the sculptor intends that only one piece be cast but two are actually made. Is the second piece art?
— Must a work have lasting value to be considered art?
— Are movies to be considered as art?

Twenty-four images a second pass the shutter of a movie projector. Should we select only a few of the frames to consider as art or are each of the frames to be considered art?

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Music is also exposed to these same sorts of questions when trying to separate “great” music from the commonplace, but the answers are usually less vague and troubling. We all know what music is; because, it seems, we trust our ears more than our eyes, and because the word “music” never took on a double meaning as the word “art” has. It makes the discussion about great music easier. Music is also less complicated in other ways. Utilitarian items crafted by a master can be considered art, but elevator music remains merely utilitarian.

Art critics will say that you cannot know what “art” is until you have immersed yourself in it. On the other hand I suspect many artists would tell you the process is more important to them than the product.

In Kurt Vonnegut’s book, “Man without a Country,” Vonnegut, in his usual direct and pithy style, cuts to the chase on the subject. An artist friend told him the way to recognize great art is to look closely at a million pictures. Then he would know what art is. He told his daughter this and she agreed. She told him that after working as an artist for years she could roller skate through the Louvre going “yes, no, yes, no, no, yes,” confidently assessing the value of the works as art.

I have my own definition of what “art” is that’s fairly encompassing but leaves a few corners uncovered. I choose to think of it as a creation that aptly describes its time and place and sometimes foreshadows its successor.

I fill in the blanks from the gut.

Name: Sid Webb
Hometown: Lexington, KY
Age: 74
Education: Majored in journalism and political science, University of Kentucky; Atlanta School of Art (High Museum)
Website: http://www.sidwebb.com/

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Photography

Vignette: Patricia Brock

Josh Jenkins · November 22, 2016

“Bathed in Sunlight” by Patricia Brock, 20x20in, photography on brushed aluminum, $320 | BUY NOW — *“Bathed in Sunlight” by Patricia Brock, 20x20in, photography on brushed aluminum, $320 | BUY NOW*

In the work of Patricia Brock we see how versatile the camera can be as a creative tool. Brock shoots a broad range of images, including work of a distinctly commercial sensibility. The intimate close-ups of flora capture the grace and delicacy of nature in representational terms, yet “Bathed in Sunlight” also allows the recognizable forms of flower petals to begin a shift into abstraction. The overwhelming light of the sun subtly blinding the detail at the very moment it clarifies it.

And then the high contrast of her recent exploration of the newly opened Lincoln suspension bridge stands apart from the flowers; expansive in their composition, Brock pushes the color into extremes through digital manipulation, now emphasizing the geometric abstraction of the vertical cables through deliberate choice. The older bridge we see through those dissecting vertical elements establishing context and even further contrast.

*Patricia Brock taking a photo with her camera.*

Brock had used her mother’s box camera as a child, and returned to photography after retiring from teaching elementary school 18 years ago, embarking on a new career and opening her own photography business. She has printed on various materials such as photo paper, metallic papers, canvas and brushed aluminum recently introduced a new creative line for the home or garden with her photographs printed on brushed aluminum or acrylic, which can be used in outdoor spaces.

Brock is a juried participant of the Kentucky Arts Council’s Kentucky Crafted Program, The Architectural Artists Directory, and a juried exhibiting member of The Louisville Artisans Guild. Her work is represented by KORE Gallery in Louisville, KY. Currently her work is on exhibit as a part of At the Rivers Bend: Our Place on the Ohio, at the Evansville Museum in Evansville, IN. It runs through November 27.

“Riveted (Big 4 Pedway Bridge)” by Patricia Brock, 16x20in, photography on brushed aluminum, $275 | BUY NOW — *“Riveted (Big 4 Pedway Bridge)” by Patricia Brock, 16x20in, photography on brushed aluminum, $275 | BUY NOW*

PUBLISHED WORKS
2015 BLINK, Art Design Consultants, Cincinnati, OH
2008 Kentucky Quilt Trails
2007 Saint Paul’s Art on The Parish Green, New Albany, IN, advertising material
2006 The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, Vol. 72-4
2006 The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, Vol. 72-3
2006 Promotional Materials, KY Crafted: The Market, KY
2004 Botanica Fleur de Lis Poster, Louisville, KY

COLLECTIONS
Owensboro Health Regional Hospital, KY
Saint Joseph Hospital, KY
Private collections, Louisville, KY
Private collections, The Villages, FL

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Age: 68
Education: BS in Education, MA in Education from Eastern Kentucky University
Gallery Representation: KORE Gallery (Louisville)
Website: http://www.PatriciaBrockPhotography.com

“Suspension I (Lincoln Bridge)” by Patricia Brock, 36x22in, photography, triptych on acrylic, $575 | BUY NOW — *“Suspension I (Lincoln Bridge)” by Patricia Brock, 36x22in, photography, triptych on acrylic, $575 | BUY NOW*

“Bermuda Hibiscus” by Patricia Brock, 36x24in, photography on brushed aluminum, $454 | BUY NOW — *“Bermuda Hibiscus” by Patricia Brock, 36x24in, photography on brushed aluminum, $454 | BUY NOW*

“Suspension V (Lincoln Bridge)” by Patricia Brock, 16x20in, photography on archival photo paper (matted and framed), $225 | BUY NOW — *“Suspension V (Lincoln Bridge)” by Patricia Brock, 16x20in, photography on archival photo paper (matted and framed), $225 | BUY NOW*