Vignette: Sid Webb

“Ohio River” by Sid Webb, Print, mixed media, 12x18in, 2018, $125

Sid Webb is an artist who moves in many directions. He pioneered the use of digital design and graphics with Kentucky Educational Television, is an accomplished photographer, and knows his way around a paintbrush.

Much of his photography is fairly straightforward and observational, but this image of Porta, Portugal bridges the mediums with the precision of a photograph joined with the color and surface textures of a painting.

“Easy Chairs” by Sid Webb, Print, mixed media, 12x18in, 2018, $125

In the two oil paintings shown, Webb injects fresh perspective into commonplace settings along the Ohio River by emphasizing their intimacy. Instead of a grand view of the landscape, the point-of-view is from the ground, and there is a distinct sense of people in residence along the river – those two Adirondack chairs indicate privileged moments shared over a lifetime. It feels like a community separate from the defining civic boundaries of city and county. The geography, the elements, and the flow of the water shape life here.

Webb’s mark making is disciplined yet spontaneous. The brushwork communicates the action of painting: the loose yet intentional movement of the brush and the connection between what the eye observes and what the hand will render. The light is subdued, diffuse, an overcast day in the dog days of summer before the leaves begin to turn.

On September 29, Webb 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: Lexington, Kentucky
Education: Majored in journalism and political science, University of Kentucky; Atlanta School of Art (High Museum)
Website: http://www.sidwebb.com/

“Porta, Portugal” by Sid Webb, Photograph, 12x18in, 2018, $125

“Bridges” by Sid Webb, Photograph, 12x18in, 2018, $125

---

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. 

 Are you interested in being on Artebella? Click here to learn more

Vignette: Margaret Bromley

"Where's the Belle?" by Margaret Bromley, Oil on Canvas, 19X30in (framed), 2017, $1000

The moment an individual begins creating is almost certainly the act of a child; picking up a crayon, or perhaps the sublime pleasure of slipping your fingers into finger paint for the first time, seeing the possibilities of line, shape, texture at its most elemental level. Pure instinct.

So many of us strive to recapture such instinctive pleasure again, after the process of becoming an “adult” has raised innumerable impediments, and it is not at all uncommon to find artists who retired from a professional career and then rediscovered that motivation to make art once again.

Margaret Bromley is just such an artist, taking her first drawing class at the local Preston Art Center in 2001, one month after retiring from the University of Louisville as its Media/Marketing Coordinator in the Development Department.

She has studied in workshops under Jerry Stitt of Sausalito, California, Nancy Nordloh Neville of Cincinnati, Ohio and went to Umbria, Italy with students under the leadership of Janice Russell Beck of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Locally she has studied with artists Susan Howe, Judy Warren, Sue Hinkebein, and Joyce Sweet-Bryant.

"Winning Trifecta?" by Margaret Bromley, Oil on canvas, 12X18in (gold leaf frame) 2009, $350

Bromley has tried her hand at many styles, techniques, and mediums, but landscapes with a natural style seem to be her strong suite. In “Where’s the Belle?” she gives us an unconventional perspective on an iconic event during one of the most festive, tourist-dominated weeks on the Louisville calendar. There is no shortage of artists painting or photographing Kentucky Derby events, horses, bourbon, and hats are common motifs - Bromley has not ignored these (“Winning Trifecta”), but there is an unexpected power in how she portrays this simple community of locals waiting to view the Belle of Louisville during the Great Steamboat Race, a signature event that takes place three days before the Most Famous Two Minutes in Sports. Far away from the concentration of fancy crowds, these ordinary Louisvillians have come down directly to the shoreline of the Ohio River to get an up close view of the old-fashioned steamboats as they move along the river. 

The unfussy approach employed by Bromley emphasizes atmosphere and a sense of place for any tendency to overwork the details. We can sense the camaraderie and easy understanding of local tradition that has brought these men together on a late spring afternoon.

Bromley has received Honorable Mentions for her work at the Kentucky State Fair on two different occasions and shows locally at Koi Gallery, Primo Oil and Vinegars’ Gallery, and has note cards at Regalo and Cartwells as well as the previous mentioned galleries.

On September 29, Bromley 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:
Education: University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Website:

“Spello, Italy” by Margaret Bromley, Oil on canvas, 10x14in, Private Collection, Giclee available, $195

"Fisherman Bill" by Margaret Bromley, Oil on canvas, 8x10, (floating frame), $300

"Vermont Herb Garden " by Margaret Bromley, Oil on canvas, 8x8in, $225