Artists Talk with LVA: November 9, 2023

Julie Schweitzer will be exhibiting Fong Choo: An Artistic Journey in Clay at Bourne-Schweitzer Gallery in New Albany beginning Nov. 18, and both artist and gallery director come to talk about in the studio this week. Tune n to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Fong Choo is a Singapore-born American studio potter and teacher who creates diminutive, sculptural porcelain teapots. He is best known for his use of low-fire commercial glazes, firing them to Cone 6 to achieve luscious, jewel-tone effects. He has taught workshops both nationally at art centers around like Penland School of Arts and Crafts, Arrowmont School of art and craft, and internationally in countries like Israel, Canada and most recently in Singapore.

Over the years, he has also received numerous awards for his work at The Smithsonian Craft Show where he was awarded The Excellence in Ceramics Award in Washington DC. Others include Best of Show at the American Craft Exposition in Evanston, ILand The Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show in Philadelphia, PA.

"What is so exciting about looking at a sleeping tiger?"

"Nothing. But if you take a stick and poke at it, you will remember that tiger for the rest of your life!"

This is part of a conversation I once had at the Minnesota Zoo.

In many ways, this parallels my attitude towards clay: it requires poking to awaken it. One must push the limits, test waters, search, prod and explore its many boundaries.

For more than ten years my work has been focused on Miniature Teapots. The teapot form continues to challenge and fascinate me. The work shown in this gallery is the result of over a decade of evolution in color, design and form. I invite you into that place.

I feel blessed to be able to pursue the life of a potter -- especially when it requires poking the sleeping tiger…

Fong Choo: An Artistic Journey in Clay is at Bourne-Schweitzer Gallery in New Albany beginning Nov. 18, 2023

Vignette: Jaime Corum

It is the sport of Kings, but Jaime Corum paints horses as if they themselves are the royal subjects.

"Racing Frieze 1" by Jaime Corum, oil on wood panel

Where once a portraitist would depict a monarch in a controlled studio setting, Corum honors the horse with the same reverent approach, imbuing them with a similar lofty dignity. In these portraits, the supple but powerful forms are carefully positioned and lit, placed against deliberately artificial backdrops such as the tapestry in “Amando and Onne”. Corum cites George Stubbs as a key influence, and she has the same formality, the same thorough and complete observation of anatomy, and the same romantic point-of-view of equine nobility.

Corum also paints thoroughbreds in action, but the formal portraits are easily the more distinctive work. She sees the considerable range of expression in these animals; the contrast of mass, power, and speed against the impossible delicacy of the limbs and the graceful, fluid movement. For centuries the horse has worked for us, taken us into battle, and occupied the center of a multi-million dollar sporting industry.

The horse has also played a crucial role in culture, figuring prominently in human mythology and poetry. Symbolic of the force and beauty that are its natural attributes, it carries death, plague, pestilence - but also hope, purity, redemption in equal measure. They occupy our dreams and bear witness to our history:

"Ghost in the Darkness" by Jaime Corum, oil on wood panel

The black horse crooks his
forelegs, the hills split open,
his nostrils pour flame.
Snort, snort through miles,
O charger, through rock.

From The Black Horse Rider - by Pierre Loving

For the White Horse knew England
When there was none to know;
He saw the first oar break or bend,
He saw heaven fall and the world end,
O God, how long ago.

From The Ballad Of The White Horse - by G. K. Chesterton

Can any other animal claim as much symbolic importance in humanity’s understanding of itself? Corum, of course, is not alone in this understanding, but the manner in which her work locates a distinctly continental tradition in equine imagery exemplifies this idea without resorting to kitsch, and she shows restraint in her embrace of sentimentality. She sees the horse for what it is, and while companionship is recognized as vital, her horses resist precociousness.

Jaime Corum is based in Louisville, Kentucky. Her equine art is inspired and refined by her own experience with horses, especially her own horse Chesapeake. She is currently exhibiting in Poetry in Motion: The Equine Art of Jaime Corum and Richard Sullivan at The Brown Hotel through July 1, 2018

Photo: Leo Osborn

Hometown: Pineville, Kentucky
Education: Bellarmine University
Website: jaimecorumequineart.com
Gallery Representation: Kentucky Fine Art Gallery (Louisville), New Editions Gallery (Lexington), Tilting at Windmills Gallery (Vermont & Saratoga, NY)

Scroll down for more images

"Amando & Onne" by Jaime Corum, oil on canvas

"Her Treasures" by Jaime Corum, oil on gessoboard

"Engine" by Jaime Corum,  oil and gold enamel on wood panel.

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

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Vignette: Jennifer Palmer

Mapping the Void, 4" x 3", Mixed Media on Poplar, 2017,  $300

The Act of Creating and Coping with Grief

The act of mapping connects the past with the future. It charts a journey into the unknown, providing a safe, or at least safer, passage for those that follow in our path, alleviating fear and superstition as we move into the larger world together. This was true for explorers traversing the globe hundreds of years ago in wooden ships, literally mapping the geography, and it is just as true for artists using the concept metaphorically today. The face of the earth has been prodigiously documented, but individual emotional experience is nearly always unchartered territory.

Jennifer Palmer’s new exhibit, Mapping Loss, features mixed media artworks that, in the words of the artist, “…create maps of thought that are about finding Zen in the chaos of loss; the search for balance amidst the process of grieving. The works feature a variety of materials that explore the meditative process of repetitive mark making juxtaposed against colorful, unrestrained shapes.”  

Between the Clouds, Mixed Media on Paper, 9" x 12", 2017, $400

“Through the process of finding the light in the darkness, the act of creating is helping to bring calm to the chaos of the grieving process and coping with the death of my mother.”

“I want to keep exploring the world and the objects it holds, and create personal maps out of memories. I am searching to find a balance and peace to what has happened and also trying to create something beautiful out of my experiences.”

Mapping Loss, is on display at Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast through September 22nd. In October Palmer will be the Collider Artist in Residence at the South Central Regional location of the Louisville Free Public Library.

At present Palmer is an Adjunct Professor at Bellarmine University, Louisville, teaching Drawing, 2D Design, and Art Concepts.

Name: Jennifer Palmer
Hometown: Simpsonville, Kentucky
Age: 36
Education: MFA in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design; BA in Art and Political Science, Cedar Crest College (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
Website: http://jenniferpalmer.tumblr.com
Instagram: jenniferlaurapalmer

Mapping II, Mixed Media on Paper, 9" x 12", 2017, $400

Mapping Above,  Mixed Media on Paper, 9" x 12", 2017, $400

Woven Into time, Mixed Media on Paper, 22" x 30", 2017, $800

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

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Vignette: Miranda Becht

"The sweet nostalgic sadness of something lovely and lost. (Order)" by Miranda Becht, 13x68x5in, tinted cast resin, flocking, lace, shelves (2016)

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“An imagination is a powerful tool. It can tint memories of the past, shade perceptions of the present, or paint a future so vivid that it can entice… or terrify, all depending on how we conduct ourselves today.”– Jim Davis, from Garfield “Alone,” October 23, 1989

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Artist, Miranda Becht

Miranda Becht is having a moment. One of only three students in the University of Louisville’s MFA program at the Hite Institute of Art, she is taking her three degrees and wasting no time positioning herself to have a positive impact in the Louisville and Southern Indiana arts community. This fall, she will be teaching foundation art courses as an Adjunct Professor at Bellarmine University, and be working as a instructor in LVA’s Academy program for high school students. She also has recently been offered an adjunct position at IUS. At the same time, she will a part of the St. James Court Art Show Emerging Artist Program and has been commissioned to create public art through the Jeffersonville Public Art Committee, Powering Creativity.

Becht’s work has largely been installation based, exploring how memory and nostalgia form our idea of the past: “I have always seemed to long for some sort of metaphorical home located somewhere in the past. Homesickness is defined as the longing for a particular home, nostalgia as a longing for a lost time. Nostalgia may carry with it a yearning for home, but it is a home faraway in time rather than space. Nostalgia, oftentimes used to refer to something sweet and pleasant, is bittersweet. It is the longing for something that is unattainable.”

"I can feel your sweet decay." by Miranda Becht, 38x73x73in, wood, sticker paper, acrylic paint, cast resiin, linoleum, found objects (2017)

“As a society we tend to idealize our vision of the past, particularly our vision of home. Our idealized notion of home presents itself as a supposedly traditional form of domestic life, but bears little relation to the way people actually lived. This concept of a cozy home full of family love is an invented tradition. Inevitable in our linear understanding of time, we are constantly being uprooted from home and from the past. Because of the fallibility of our memory, the past and home as we remember them, no longer exist. I mourn for a home that perhaps I never had.”

"The sweet nostalgic sadness of something lovely and lost. (Order) (detail)" by Miranda Becht

Becht cites “The pleasant, nostalgic sadness of something lovely and lost. I would sit and play with an odd, white vessel, full of wonder about its use and its origin. This vessel seemed so big, so white and pure, so curious. My grandmother told me it was a bedpan, but it wasn’t until much later in life that I realized just what a bedpan was. My most cherished childhood memory is soiled with urine and feces. Lost innocence often takes the guise of idealized memories. My work is a vehicle for my fetishized, fragile memories. I am pressured to be the object of desire… this untrue illusion, the ideal.”

Becht’s work is filled with mid-20th century design layered with a cotton-candy colors (she seems especially fond of pink), which adroitly captures the unique collective memory of what is arguably the most idealized period in modern American history, the 1950’s. The artist reminds us that what seems too good to have been true, often is.

Age: 31
Education: MFA Sculpture, University of Louisville, 2017; BFA Ceramics, Indiana University Southeast, 2012; BA Printmaking, Indiana University Southeast Minor Psychology, 2012
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Miranda.indiana/

"I can feel your sweet decay (detail)" by Miranda Becht

"In Hiding" by Miranda Becht, 119x64x24in, wood, cast resin, acrylic paint, shag carpet, embroidery floss, light fixture (2017)

"Underside" by Miranda Becht, 96x96x66in, wood, screenprint, cast resin, rug, embroidery floss (2016)

"What’s a dream and what is real? (Entropy)" by Miranda Becht, 84x54x6in, wood, cast resin, hydrocal, embroidery floss, lace (2016)

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

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

Vignette: Jennifer Palmer

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“Life changes have caused me to realize the importance of place.“ — Jennifer Palmer

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"A Story Beyond Me" by Jennifer Palmer, 59x42in, mixed media on paper (2016), $1500 | BUY NOW

Artist, Jennifer Palmer

An artist is never one thing. When last we heard from Jennifer Palmer, we were discussing her sojourn through the countryside in her prized 1951 Chevy Pickup, “Barbara Jane”, drawing and photographing along the way, a story that emphasizes the journey over the destination.

Palmer still travels in Barbara Jane in summer, but today we focus on new abstract work that carries the theme of the movement of history while still telling another entirely personal story:

“The pieces are multimedia drawings with a focus on history and creating maps out of memories. The drawings are created using layers of media and incorporating maps. Exploring is about life. It starts as soon as we enter the world we start creating maps of our surroundings. And we keep building from there.  This is why maps intrigue me. I loved that the maps I used were from family trips and I could see my Dad’s handwritten notes and the highlighted route for each adventure. These memories have become even more precious since my Mother’s passing from cancer. These life changes have caused me to realize the importance of place.“

"Detail of A Story Beyond Me" by Jennifer Palmer, 59x42in, mixed media on paper (2016), $1500 | BUY NOW

So much art is about identity, and Palmer’s quest for greater understanding of physical location is just one route to realizing self through a sense of place. In this way, the maps she incorporates into her imagery represent past, present and future. “I am searching to find a balance and peace to what has happened,” explains Palmer, “and also trying to create something beautiful out of my experiences.”

At present Palmer is an Adjunct Professor at Bellarmine University, Louisville, teaching Drawing, 2D Design, and Art Concepts.

Hometown: Simpsonville, Kentucky
Age: 36
Education: MFA in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design; BA in Art and Political Science, Cedar Crest College (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
Website: http://jenniferpalmer.tumblr.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferlaurapalmer/

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

"Detail #2 of A Story Beyond Me" by Jennifer Palmer, 59x42in, mixed media on paper (2016), $1500 | BUY NOW

"Mapping I" by Jennifer Palmer, 11x15in, mixed media on paper (2017)

"Mapping I" by Jennifer Palmer, 11x15in, mixed media on paper (2017)

"Mapping II" by Jennifer Palmer, 11x15in, mixed media on paper (2017)

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