Carlos Gamez de Francisco is the winner of the 2021 Fischer Award for Visual Art and one of the Featured Artists in the 2021 LVA art[squared] Online Auction, so there was plenty to talk about! Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM, or stream on Artxfm.com Thursdays at 10 am.
Cuban-born artist Carlos Gamez de Fransisco is a painter, sculptor, photographer, and filmmaker who is interested in history and storytelling in his work. Gamez de Francisco uses a Baroque aesthetic with a sense of contemporary fashion to create portraits that blend historical references with a modern painterly approach. His work has been collected by the Evansville Museum, 21C Museum, the Fashion Resource Center at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cuba Ocho Museum and Performing Arts Center, Polanco’s Collection in Havana, Cuba, and Louisville’s Metro Hall.
Carlos is the winner of the 2021 Fischer Award for Visual Art, granted by the Community Foundation of Louisville and Louisville Visual Art. He is also one of the Featured Artists for the 2021 art[squared] Fundraiser
Kevin Ashford has taught for JCPS and with LVA's CFAC program for many years. He will be recognized as Visual Art Educator at the 2021 LVA Honors on March 11. This week he talks about his career. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM, or stream on Artxfm.com Thursday at 10:00 am to hear more about it.
After graduating from Kentucky State University with a BA in Art Education, Kevin Ashford attended and received his Master’s in Education from Spalding University after settling in Louisville, Kentucky. He has taught art at Crosby Middle School for twenty-one years and for (LVA) Louisville Visual Art for the last twelve years. Mr. Ashford is best known for his distinct hand-painted surrealistic floral paintings in watercolor. These works and others can be seen on his website, blessed-artist.com.
"Growing up as a black male, I was discouraged from pursing and developing my gift. I remember being told drawing would not put bread on the table." "I am blessed to be able to feed my family and share my love, my passion, my gift through teaching,” Kevin Ashford
"Intermission" by Robert Halliday, Plexiglass, Watercolor, 28x31in, 2005, $4000
“Intermission” is an installation of images that pay tribute to the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Louisville. The series of small blocks are presented in a grid-like configuration that echoes the glass-paneled architecture as well as the audiences that congregate within. The piece neatly encapsulates the varying strains in Robert Halliday’s work: the propensity for non-representational images shot through with a sense of playfulness, contrasted with an equally developed eye for naturalism.
"Late Afternoon at Monhegan Light" by Robert Halliday, Watercolor on arches paper, 25s35in, 1997, Private Collection
Halliday takes an organic approach to medium, avoiding easy categorization and keeping a fresh and open mind. “I let each new idea dictate my medium and the form it will take,” such as watercolor for the landscape “Late Afternoon at Monhegan Light”. Halliday’s paintings in this genre earned him a place in “The Artist and the American Landscape, an Historical Overview of American Landscape Painting”, by John Driscoll & Arnold Skolnick. (Published by First Glance Books, Cobb CA, 1998).
This dedication to exploring mediums has led to a “surprisingly diverse body of art. I work in watercolor both on site and in the studio, Acrylics on canvas, and I have produced a collection of conceptual artworks in a variety of forms and media.“ In his group of blocks cataloging art trends of the 20th century, “Modernist Movement”, the pieces are ready to handle and play with as a child might with alphabet blocks. As with all of his work, balance and harmony dominate.
"Modernist Movement" by Robert Halliday, Painted Bricks, 48x48in, 2011, $18,000
Halliday is a Signature Member of both the Kentucky Watercolor Society and the Taos National Society of Watercolorists.
In 2019 Halliday will have a solo show at Kentucky Fine Art Gallery entitled "The Unexpected Landscape", and his work can be found in the following corporate collections:
PNC Bank Corp Brown Forman Corporation Makers Mark Distillery Stoll, Keenon, & Park Curtis, Baxter, Stevens, Broder, & Micoleau Fidelity Investments LG&E/KU
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky Education: English and Humanities Major, University of Louisville; also attended the University of Arizona Website: www.bobhalliday.com And www.hallidayart.com Instagram: bobhalliday.1 Gallery Representative: Kentucky Fine Art Gallery-Glenview Pointe, Louisville, KY
Scroll down for more images
"Bridge" by Robert Halliday, Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2008, Private Collection
"Network" by Robert Halliday Acrylic on canvas, 36x48in, 2013, $11,500
"Track" by Robert Halliday Acrylic on canvas, 30x30in, 2013, $3000
Amy Gue took Developing Concepts with Miranda Hale in the Fall 2017 semester, and just finished Drawing and Painting 1 with Leslie Shell. Both Academy at LVA classes were at the Holy Trinity/Clifton Community Center.
“I have been competing in speech and debate through the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (NCFCA) for the past 5 years, and I have placed in multiple events. I have gotten 2nd place in duo interpretation and 3rd place in illustrated oratory to name a few. Last year, my design won NCFCA Region 6’s t-shirt design contest.”
Amy has been accepted at John Brown University, Lipscomb University, Taylor University, Cedarville University, and the University of Louisville, and was awarded generous scholarships at Lipscomb, Taylor, and Cedarville. She will be attending Cedarville this fall, and is planning on majoring in graphic design.
“I have volunteered for the past 3 summers at a family camp for military families called White Sulphur Springs. That experience required me to interact with and welcome guests, clean the hotel, help serve meals, and work on a team to carry out certain tasks. It has been such a good and influential experience.”
“I walked into the Developing Concepts class not appreciating conceptual or modern art, and came out with a new understanding of those art forms. I no longer scoff at that type of art, but I am now able to appreciate it. Although modern art forms are still not my favorite, I can still appreciate them. Drawing and Painting 1 taught me all the little principles, and I learned a lot of practical tips. I made some of my best work in that class. I would definitely recommend LVA classes. Ms. Miranda Hale, the teacher of Developing Concepts, really helped me learn a lot about the art program at the University of Louisville. She contacted influential professors there, and organized a private tour of the Hite Art Institute for me! I really appreciated her help, and she taught me a lot about how to build an impressive portfolio.”
Amy's work will be included in The Academy at LVA exhibition, which will be on display May 9 - 16 at Louisville Visual Art, 1538 Lytle Street in the Portland neighborhood. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 12-4pm, or by appointment. There will be a reception Friday, May 11, 6-8pm.
"Between Collard Greens and the Sun" by Victor Sweatt, Watercolor on paper and mixed media, 11x14in, 2018, $450
The people we see in Victor Sweatt’s work are people he knows well. Whether or not they are, strictly speaking, portraits of actual people in the artist’s life may seem beside the point, they may very well be, but even if they are not -Sweatt knows them. They are found in his neighborhood on Louisville’ West side and in thousand of neighborhoods just like it all over America. Simple, hard-working folk, but seen through the artist’s eyes as people of innate dignity and humility. As he paints or draws them, Sweatt is bearing witness to the divine in humanity. In the parlance of the church, his images “testify”.
Sweatt has often captured these characters inside of a church, but even when they are not, he paints them with reverence: a body bent over collard greens in the garden, or aged fingers at work repairing a pair of shoes. They are skills from the past, too often taken for granted or thought forgotten. But this artist understands and appreciates that they are the threads that bind a community.
"The Craftsman" by Victor Sweatt, Acrylic on mat board, 11x15.5in. 2018, $450
In 2017, Sweatt completed two large scale paintings for the Slugger Museum in downtown Louisville that depict native son and World Champion Boxer Muhammad Ali on one, and Atlanta Braves legend and holder of the record for career home runs Hank Aaron on the other. Together the work is titled: “Ali & Aaron: United in the Fight”. He also won a design competition to paint an image for the Heritage West development in the Russell neighborhood of Louisville that will be displayed on a billboard.
Sweatt was born in Louisville. He has shown his work in group and solo exhibitions, and appears in public and private collections throughout the United States. Sweat is a signature member of the Louisville Visual Art, the Kentucky Artist Pastel Society, and the Kentucky Watercolor Society.
