Vignette: Philip High

"City by the River" by Philip High, Acrylic and mixed media on wood panel - Painted paper collage. 40x29.75in, 2018, $1400

Even before he called himself “artist”, Philip High was a collector. It is such a common characteristic for artists for at least the last 100 years or so, certainly since Marcel Duchamp made us view seemingly ordinary and mundane objects through a different lens. Art makers were recycling materials long before it became fashionable.

For High, these items are both inspiration and medium: “Rocks, seed pods, scraps of metal and paper, thoughts personal and proverbial, and more, have all filled boxes and notebooks or been on display at some point. For me, they serve as objects of wonder and contemplation, reminding me that every form we perceive is a record of the unseen forces that created it.”

"Ethereal Picnic" by Philip High, Sumi-e and mixed media on aluminum, 24x18in, 2017, $700

“Similarly, my art combines collected visual fragments from nature and personal experience – both objective and abstract – in a search for relationships that activate the imagination and suggest meaning.”

“I prefer to work in mixed media - also reflecting my eclectic tendencies – incorporating conventional and unconventional materials and techniques such as: acrylic painting on Tyvec collage, sumi-e on aluminum, monotype, digital drawing, found wood, and concrete. Broadly, they fall into three categories: works on paper, wall-hung assemblage, and freestanding constructions.”

High’s works are dense visual constructions that incorporate all of these collected intelligentsia, highly personal assemblages of color, texture, and form that achieve a crucial balance of the cerebral and the visceral. The relationships are seductive but built upon a tight schematic foundation that echoes the discipline of Zen meditation. There is a profound sense of peace to be found there.

After graduating from the University of Kentucky, High moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he began a career in graphic arts. He returned to Lexington in 1989 and in 2012 moved to Louisville where he now lives. He is currently working on a Triptych commission for a medical center in Virginia, and four of his pieces have been added to the University of Kentucky Medical Center collection.

He has received regional, National and International awards for fine art and illustration in both traditional and digital media, as well as two Professional Assistance Grants from the Kentucky Arts Council.

On September 29, High will be part of the Louisville Visual Art’s Juried Exhibit in the 2018 Portland Art & Heritage Fair. The exhibit will be available for viewing at the Marine Hospital from 11am-5pm. Jury prizes will be awarded at 2:00pm.

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: University of Kentucky, Fine Art: painting, 3 years, degree uncompleted.
Website: philiphigh.com
Instagram: highphilip/
Gallery Representation: Main-Cross Gallery, Lexington, KY, Mulberry and Lime, Lexington, KY, New Editions Gallery, Lexington, KY, Zephyr Gallery, Louisville, KY

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"In The Shallows" by Philip High, Acrylic and mixed media on Tyvek, 21x26in, 2015, Sold

"The Labyrinth Makers" by Philip High, Mixed media assemblage, 31x50in, 2017, $2400

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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.

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In Memory of Bill Fischer (1917-2018)

2011 photo of Bill Fischer by John Nation for Louisville Magazine

Bill Fischer was an artist and collector his entire life, exerting no small influence on other artists through direct example and by endowing programs and scholarships through the University of Louisville’s Allen R. Hite Institute.

"Cookie Scheckles" by Bill Fischer, lacquer on board, circa 1970. Courtesy of the Hite Art Institute.

Fischer began painting at a young age, and displayed early work from when he was 14 years old in his home more than 70 years later. His first professional gig was as an illustrator for the Courier-Journal in 1936, but left the job over a pay dispute. Although he was a successful business owner throughout his life, Fischer never stopped making art, never stopped pursuing opportunities to grow as an artist. One particular story places Fischer at an historic moment in Mexican Art History.

Stirling Dickinson (from Chicago) founded Escuela de Bellas Artes, which would become one of the most significant cultural centers in Mexico, in or about 1936. It was located in an old convent in San Miguel de Allende. After World War II, the school qualified for students on the G.I. Bill and therefore attracted a good many U.S. veterans interested in studying art. In 1948, Dickinson hired renowned Mexican social realist painter David Alfaro Sigueiros to teach. It was at this time that Bill Fischer and his wife moved to San Miguel and rented a furnished house. 

Fischer, on the G.I. Bill, enrolled in Bellas Artes, working, along with a half a dozen other students, for almost a year with Sigueiros on an ambitious mural, doing mostly outline design. During 1949, the U.S. became convinced that, under Siqueiros, the art school had become infested with communists, (this was the height of the “Red Scare” and McCarthyism in the U.S.) and so the G.I. Bill accreditation was rescinded, and most of the students left. Dickinson and Siqueiros had an altercation, resulting in Siqueiros being knocked down a staircase and resigning, leaving the mural uncompleted. Fisher stayed on for a while longer, but then returned with his wife to Louisville, where he started his own business.

He continued to work as an artist, participating in the “Magnificent Mile” art exhibit in Chicago in the late 1950s and the “Interior Valley” exhibit at the Art Museum of Cincinnati. As his career developed he never restricted himself to any one style or medium. If you collected Fischer’s work, you are as likely to have a landscape as you are a cityscape, as likely to own a sculpture as a painting.

Fischer also completed public work including several murals for churches and synagogues. Most notably, he created the stained glass windows for the Keneseth Israel Synagogue on Taylorsville Road.

"Marketplace" by Bill Fischer, oil on board, 1954. Courtesy of the Hite Art Institute.

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Written by Keith Waits.
In addition to his work at the LVA, Keith is also the Managing Editor of a website, www.Arts-Louisville.com, which covers local visual arts, theatre, and music in Louisville.

In Memory of Susan Moffett (1950-2018)

The picture is blurry, probably a "caught image" from a cell phone in the hand of a fellow contra dancer - there are many "better" pictures of her, in focus and more formally composed photographs, but it is Susan Moffett's last choice for the profile picture on her Facebook page, and we include it here because it seems to speak volumes about her energy and enthusiasm for life. Today we remember this artist who meant so much to the community, beginning with words from just a few of her many friends: 

"Susan was a wonderful printmaker, a fine arts educator, a musician, a world traveler and a great friend. She sought and found the experiences that make life vivid and meaningful. The lives she touched are a beautiful ripple expanding into the world. I will miss her for the rest of my life." - Wendi Smith, artist

"Susan was a creative force.  In the visual art community we knew her work mainly as beautiful, spiritual reflections on the natural world which are greatly admired. But the depth of her creative energy was vast and not limited by media. She was a loving and nurturing mother, a devoted teacher, a poet (especially of haiku), a musician and dancer. Susan was surrounded by loyal, loving friends who all knew her in one or more of her creative manifestations. As we are gathering and sharing our grief we are still learning from each other about her many talents." -Kay Grubola, artist and curator

"Susan was one of the building blocks of our program (at IU Southeast). Our fabulous print shop was built from scratch by Susan and Brian Jones – resulting in one of the best equipped shops in the region. Susan was a dedicated printmaker, who created beautiful prints throughout her career at IUS and after her retirement. She was active in regional and national printmaking organizations, a member of FACET, and a former Dean. For more than 30 years at IUS, she taught and inspired countless numbers of our students." - Debra Clem, Painting Professor at IU Southeast

"Moonlight in the Forest" by Susan Moffett, Relief Monoprint, 19x14in, 2016

The following is from our last Artebella post on Susan, in November 2016:

Music is so often, if not always, an integral part of the life of a visual artist. Besides being a highly respected printmaker and teacher, Susan Moffett is also a “Caller” for contra and square dances, and now is playing the fiddle. If we might characterize such pursuits as folk music crossed with precision of execution, it would be perhaps be a fair description of the work we see here.

"Seasonal Rhythms" by Susan Moffett, Relief Monoprint Installation, 42x54in, 2016

The tradition and protocol of printmaking includes labored technique, process, and the notion of limited editions of prints pulled by the artist to their exacting standards, but we find Moffett abandoning those for what she calls the, “the freedom and spontaneity of woodcut monoprints. Instead of a traditional series of perfected prints with a consistent image, I opt to use the block prints in an intuitive exploration of organic forms, creating rhythm within and relationships between the prints. Small prints are repurposed in relationships of color, density and repetition, to make a larger installation.”

Although Moffett is too educated and sophisticated in her sensibilities to be labeled a folk artist, there is an elemental quality in these latest images. Yet, because they are densely textured and highly detailed, they are also complex. We often find such tension at the heart of art that is compelling, a balance of contrasting themes and aesthetic that seems the honest, organic result of genuine discovery. 

With daughter Audrey at the Women's March in Washington, D.C., January 2017

Moffett was a founding member of PYRO Gallery in Louisville. She has exhibited throughout the United States as well as abroad in Ireland, Poland and Australia. Her work is in numerous public and private collections including:

Selected Collections
• Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, Evansville, IN
• Hyatt Regency, Louisville, KY
• Brown-Forman Distillers Corp., Louisville, KY
• The Kentucky Foundation for Women, Louisville, KY
• Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, Louisville, KY
• University of Dallas, Irving, TX
• The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
• Owensboro Museum of Art, Owensboro, KY
• The University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
 

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"Cool Flow, Fall" by Susan Moffett, Relief Monoprint Collage, 14x20in, 2016

"Approaching Symmetry" by Susan Moffett, Relief Monoprint, 16x6in, 2016

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Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2018 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

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Vignette: Curtis Uebelhor

"1894 World Geography Redacted" by Curtis R. Uebelhor, Mixed media, 12x18x1.5in, 2015, collection of Jeremy Efroymson

When Curtis Uebelhor was last on Artebella (July 2014), we described him as a “mixed media“ artist, but the word “interdisciplinary” has since gained usage and seems perhaps more apt. Like so many creative, Uebelhor seems to have a restless imagination that is not easily contained by any one medium. He is best known for his found-object constructions:

“I usually strive to utilize my fondness for ‘stuff’ by being very selective in the objects I pick for individual artworks.  An idea may lay dormant for quite some before just the right object(s) is found or decided upon. Such is the case for ‘Latchkey # 2’ and ‘1894 World Geography-Redacted’. The keys, faux marble blocks, photograph and textbook had been in my possession for quite some time.”

"Willard Carpenter Home- Drive-by Archeology" by Curtis R. Uebelhor, Mixed media, 24x30x1.5in, 2017,  $350.00

“With the recent Drive-By Archeology Series I have departed from that work plan somewhat by limiting the objects used in a specific collage to only things collected at a specific site on a specific date. The series started in 2012 when I filled in as interim director of the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art and was staying in town during the week at a private residence, and then at the USI guesthouse. I collected bits of ephemera from the yard of those houses and took photos of both places. Being in that historic town and revisiting the Historic New Harmony sites and the Working Men’s Institute and its plethora of odd and interesting collections became a starting point for this series that continues to evolve. The element of chance is an important part of these pieces; how to interpret what is found to make a cohesive composition shifts my role as curator from judiciously selecting items from an existing collection of objects to quickly jurying objects in or out of a collection as they present themselves ‘in the field’. “

“Willard Carpenter Home” and “Willard Library”, both seen here, are the most recently completed works in this series.

The artist here shares two pieces, “Focus, Please Focus,” and “Le Grande Bicentennial Tribute,” that are distinctly different from his sculptures, 2-D works that use intense color and patterns of shape in a whimsical manner.

“A sense of humor or playfulness is pervasive even when tackling serious topics like climate change, gender issues and our current political scene.”

"Focus, Please Focus" by Curtis R. Uebelhor, Acrylic on canvas, 24x30in, 2017, $300.00

Uebelhor currently has a one-person exhibition: Hunting and Gathering, at St. Meinrad Archabbey Library Gallery in St. Meinrad, IN that continues through February 20, 2018. He also has two sculptures in: The Chair: writ small - Invitational Exhibition, University of Southern Indiana, McCutchan Art Center, which runs through February 19, 2018

Hometown: Ferdinand, Indiana
Education: BS, Art, University of Southern Indiana; MFA, Sculpture, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Teaching Certification, University of Southern Indiana
Gallery Representation: New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana

"Latchkey II" by Curtis R. Uebelhor, Mixed media, 15x12x1.5in, 2015, $300.00

"Willard Library-Drive-by Archeology" by Curtis R. Uebelhor, Mixed media, 24x30x1.5in, 2017, $350.00

"Le Grande Bicentennial Tribute" by Curtis R. Uebelhor, Acrylic on handmade paper 26x36x1.5in, 2016, $400.00

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

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Vignette: Cori Hills

"I've chosen to use my (negative voice) as an artistic tool for healing and self-discovery.” - Cori Hills

"Never Let Go" by Cori Hills, Acrylic paint, spray paint on hand-carved woodcut, 4x2ft, 2014, $2500 (Prints unavailable)

Visual art in the 21st century is constantly merging, different trends and mediums of expression connecting or even sometimes colliding into one another. In the work of Cori Hills we see a print maker embracing the bold, graphics of graffiti art in hand-carved woodcuts that are then worked into with acrylic and spray paint.

“My work is a psychological exploration of traumatic events faced as a child,” explains Hills. “Through word and image, I personify the co-dependent relationship between my inner demons and inner child. Each plank of wood is a conquest, one of which I have complete control. We all have that negative voice inside us. I've chosen to use mine as an artistic tool for healing and self-discovery.”

The “demons” Hills makes reference to manifest themselves in the images we see here, a satyr-like species that crosses a tiger with a ram, the figures seem more maternal than carnal, trading the satyr’s sexual appetite for an unsettling combination of bestial nurturing and violation. The facial detail is unique, a saddened visage carrying religious symbols that is filled with portent and dread, if not actual evil.   

In 2017 "Don't Bite the Hand that Feeds You" was included in Image & Word: A Text-based Art Exhibition at Kaviar Forge and Gallery. The pieces "Never Let Go," and "Meat," are currently at the Tim Faulkner Gallery as a part of their winter show.

Hills, a Florida native, moved to Louisville in 2009. Cori graduated from the University of Louisville with a B.A. of Fine Arts in 2017. Her specialties include printmaking, painting and illustration.

Hometown: St. Augustine, Florida
Education: BA, Fine Arts, University of Louisville, 2017
Facebook: Original Artwork by Cori Hills

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"Don't Bite The Hand That Feeds You" by Cori Hills, Print series of 10,  black ink on Asian paper, 4x3ft, 2017, $400

"Don't Bite The Hand That Feeds You" by Cori Hills, Acrylic paint, spray paint on hand-carved woodcut, 4x3ft, 2017, $3500 (Prints unavailable)

"Meat" by Cori Hills, Acrylic paint, spray paint on hand-carved woodcut, 4x3ft, 2015, $3000 (Prints unavailable)

"Natural Perversions" by Cori Hills, Print series of 10,  black ink on Asian paper, 4x2ft, 2017, $350

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

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