Letters from Germany: 1966-1968

Letters from Germany:1966-1968

The latest show at the Awesome Inc Art Gallery, Letters from Germany, has officially concluded but not without making an impact. The Artist, Kristin Richards says this about her work:

“The works in this show are based on letters written by my father between 1966 and 1968. Each painting is a product of my own personal and emotional response to an individual letter. These non-objective works explore a variety of texture and mark that are expressive and contemplative.”

2011
03/09
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FrameWork

Awesome Gallery is hosting an art show from November 19th to December 30th entitled FrameWork. This exhibit is a chance for artists to express the ways in which they view the world around them. The art should answer the question: what is going on in the world today? Artists can interpret this any way that they see fit. Early entries are due October 10th and are $10 for three entries. All other entries are due November 7th and are $15 for three entries. This is a juried exhibit. First place receives a solo exhibit. To register, go to: http://bit.ly/dxm9en. For more information check out the prospectus  https://awesomegallery.wordpress.com/calls-to-artists/ or please e-mail Gallery Director Stephanie Gavin at Stephanie@awesomeinc.org.

2010
10/01
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Kentucky Showcase Featured Artist: Thomas Cox

Photo by Thomas Cox

Photographer Thomas Cox originally came to Lexington 8 years ago to attend Architecture School at the University of Kentucky. He ended up switching his major to psychology and graduated in 2007. He started working with photography on a trip to England for a study abroad course during his junior year of college.

While he started taking photos simply to document trips, it eventually became a hobby. He is drawn to photography because of the beauty and emotion that can be captured in just a split second. “I feel like the ‘Tree in Slade’ does well at conveying my emotion that early morning in the Gorge (about 5:30 am a day or two before my wedding) when it was just a bit of quiet time before the festivities began,” Thomas said.

Thomas is just getting his start as an artist. He is self-taught in photography and continues to learn new techniques and continues to improve his work. “Now I am just trying to display my work to as many people as I can,” Thomas said.

To learn more about Thomas and his work, please visit www.thomascoxphotos.com.

2010
09/21
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Kentucky Showcase Featured Artist: Tammy Wampler

Painting by Tammy Wampler

Although painter Tammy Wampler had a love of drawing at an early age, she did not pursue art until she had her first child eight years ago. She found that she suddenly wanted to paint and so she took an oil painting class. She is a predominantly self-taught artist and has been working as a professional artist for the last two years.

Tammy has always been drawn to portraiture and the range of emotion in a person’s eyes that can be captured by the artist. She spends a lot of time painting the eyes of her subjects, as they are the main focus of her work. “I concentrate on the feminine form for the obvious reason of capturing beauty, and because my art often reflects some subconscious part of myself,” Tammy said.

Tammy studied anthropology, archaeology, and mythology in college. She has a great passion for ancient cultures and their mythical stories. She draws a lot of inspiration from studying myths from all over the world. “I enjoy combining ancient myth and archetypal imagery with more modern looking women in a semi-pop surrealism fashion,” Tammy said.  She also draws a lot of inspiration from the environment and from different animals, particularly birds. Most of her paintings include birds in some form and they usually represent the soul of the woman in the painting. Many artists in the Pop Surrealism movement, including Lori Early and Sylvi Ji, have influenced her work.

The main underlying theme in all of her work is the inherent connection between the human psyche and nature. She believes that the health of the collective human psyche is often reflected in the health of the environment. In ancient myth the human psyche was often represented by the goddess or was in feminine form. “I want my work to speak the language of archetypes, and to rattle the viewer’s subconscious memory.  I believe one of the main roles of an artist is to create myth for today,” Tammy said.

Please visit Tammy’s website at http://www.moonspiralart.com/ to see more of her art.

2010
09/16
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Kentucky Showcase Featured Artist: Carl Ryan Overton

Photo by Carl Overton

Photographer Carl Ryan Overton first became interested in photography at a young age when he had a fascination with the camera as an object. He spent hours as a child looking at boxes and boxes of his father’s Kodachrome slides from the 1970s. Carl found that it was incredibly enchanting to see photos that were mostly taken before he was born. “Being able to see what they saw while traveling through Europe, while camping in the American southwest, while sitting through a blizzard in Boston was something both mysterious and utterly familiar,” Carl said. He feels that this interest in the photo’s before his time has had a significant influence on the way he works artistically today.

“Ultimately I think I started to consider art as an occupation or a lifestyle for social reasons, which is to say that it’s a good way to meet girls,” Carl said when asked about his start in photography. Carl considered himself purely a photographer at one point. However, he learned that photography is merely a starting point for expression and exploration. Carl also does animation, film, interactive pieces, and even a bit of printmaking, which is all reliant on photography.

Carl finds it difficult to find good inspiration. His inspiration always comes from a different source. He likens the act of being inspired to that of stepping in gum, only in a good way. “As long as I am always walking around there’s a pretty good chance of getting something awesome stuck to my shoe sooner or later,” Carl said.

All of Carl’s work is linked to loose gathering of ideas about how the ‘lens’ affects our perception. Other than that tying all of his work together, Carl’s style and subject tends to change from project to project. He enjoys experimentation and is rarely satisfied.

View Carl’s work at http://www.carlryan.net/. Contact Carl to purchase a piece, ask him a question, or just chat about art at chadhumblib@gmail.com.

2010
09/16
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Kentucky Showcase Featured Artist: Tara Campbell

Photo by Tara Campbell

Photographer Tara Campbell was raised in the midst of an artistic family. Her mother had a passion for painting and raised her to think outside of the box. Tara found herself wanting to capture every moment, particularly the rare ones that stood out to her.

Tara started in photography three years ago. She draws most of her inspiration from her family and her sons, which are the most important things in her life. She is always trying to see life and the world through their eyes and capture that with a camera. She loves capturing a person, place, or animal with “a history or thought hidden within the frame.” Her love and primary focus is black and white photography.

Tara does not necessarily have a particular theme in her art. Rather, when photographing a subject, she wonders what may be going through their mind or why they are in that particular situation. She is always looking for answers even when it seems that there aren’t any.

“I would love for everyone to know that without my family, I would be nothing,” Tara said. She would like to thank her sons, her mother, and Paula for their continuing support.

2010
09/16
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Kentucky Showcase Featured Artist: Danielle Napier

Drawing by Danielle Napier

Danielle Napier is a painter and drawer who has been creating ever since she can remember. “My parents joked that I came out of the womb with a crayon in my hand,” Danielle said. She is completely self-taught and therefore goes through a lot of trial and error while creating. It is a process that she enjoys as it has helped her to discover her own distinct style as an artist.

While Danielle has always enjoyed art as a hobby, she eventually learned that there is nothing more she loves than art. She has been to different colleges and has had many different majors but she eventually came back to art.

As an artist, Danielle goes through many different phases and themes. She finds that the more she experiments, the more her personality comes through in her art. Danielle does not want people to have to decipher abstractions in her art or get lost in complex, impersonal, or pretentious compositions. “I just want people to see my art, take it easy, and enjoy themselves,” Danielle said.

Danielle will be moving to San Francisco at the end of September to complete her degree in advertising.

2010
09/15
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Kentucky Showcase Featured Artist: James Burgett

Photo by James Burgett

Photographer James Burgett got his start with a Kodak Instamatic camera that he was given when he was 7 or 8 years old. He spent all of his spare change on film and getting it developed and “the rest is history,” James said. He has always been interested in art and has studied many different mediums in courses and workshops. His studies have included drawing, oil and acrylic painting, pastels, printmaking, and ceramics, among others. While his main focus is his photography, James has admitted to daydreaming about someday getting back into painting.

Everyone and everything around him provides James with inspiration for his photography. “Responding to my surroundings–colors, lines, gestures–creates a desire to capture something about that interaction and to turn it into a snapshot that distills the moment,” James said. He hopes that his photographs will find their way to those who enjoy them.

While James photographs mainly landscapes and subjects of nature, he strives to be open to all possibilities as he encounters them through the lens of his camera. He believes that “art” is in the doing, especially for the artist. All that matters to him is that creating art is fun and brings pleasure. “If others like it, that’s icing on the proverbial cake!” James said.

2010
09/15
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Kentucky Showcase Featured Artist: McKenzi Raleigh

McKenzi Raleigh

McKenzi Raliegh is the Young & Awesome artist in the Kentucky Showcase. She is a painter who got her start when she could first pick up a pencil and a paintbrush. When she was in the first grade she was chosen for gifted and talented art. Her art teacher inspired her to keep up the work as an artist. McKenzi sold her first painting when she was in second grade.

McKenzi draws her inspiration from her feelings when she is painting, her past, and her friends. She never sticks to one particular subject when she is painting. Rather than getting discouraged if someone doesn’t like her art, she is just encouraged to keep trying.

She does not have a particular theme in her work. She can go from painting log cabins in the woods to glow-in-the-dark splatter paintings. She has painted everything from plastic flowers and Christmas ornaments to seashells, pop bottles, glass panes, and records. She has even done self-portraits.

Unlike most painters, McKenzi never cleans her paint palette. She gets a new one every year on her birthday. “I always have one piece of every painting at once,” McKenzi said.

2010
09/15
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Kentucky Showcase Featured Artist: Kyle Keener

Painting by Kyle Keener

Painter Kyler Keener got his start in high school art classes. He disliked the projects that were assigned and instead spent class time working with paint on scrap pieces of paper. That eventually led him to experiment with different mediums. He started to make pieces that he liked and received class credit for them despite the fact that they had nothing to do with the assignments. As Kyle began to enjoy art more from an artist’s point of view he came appreciate the work of Basquiat and Pollock. He also gained an appreciation for street art.

Kyle draws his inspiration from ideas and images that come to him throughout the day. Rather than thinking a painting out before he puts brush to canvas, he prefers to draw from his subconscious. “Usually I’ll just jump right into painting and see what comes out,” Kyle said.

Kyle strives for viewers to know that he has not always looked at things the way he does now through art.  Art has helped him to see more beauty in the world through a different perspective. Through his art he wants to show a “microcosm of that worldly beauty/energy,” whether it is positive or negative.

2010
09/15
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