Join us for a reception an artist talk, Thursday, February 16 at the Gallery at Whiskey Row Lofts, 131 W. Main St., Louisville. Free and Open to the Public.

Reception 6:00, Artist talk 7:00. Contact Skylar Smith for more information, 502-618-4600.

Karla Wozniak’s work depicts an American landscape defined by automotive culture and the social ramifications of suburban sprawl. Her paintings, inspired by road trips, depict places ranging from beach town strips in Florida to towns and suburbs in New Jersey, to big cities like Los Angeles, where buildings and brand names vie for space alongside the vanishing natural landscape.

Karla Wozniak (b. 1978 in Berkeley, CA), received her MFA from the Yale School of Art and BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Her recent exhibitions include two solo exhibitions at the Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2011, 2008), and the Rebecca Ibel Gallery, Columbus, OH (2010). Recent group exhibitions include Bronx Calling, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY (2011); Weasel, Inman Gallery, Houston, TX (2010); and Rhyme, Not Reason, curated by John Yau, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2010).

Wozniak’s distinctions include a NYFA fellowship (2011), participation in the Artist in the Market Place, Bronx Museum (2011), a Marie Walsh Sharpe Space Program Grant (2009-10), two MacDowell Colony Fellowships (2005, 2007). Her work has been noted in a number of publications, including the The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Village Voice, among others. Wozniak is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

“My recent paintings and works on paper are based on places I visit around the United States. The spaces I depict are typically in transition. One may pass by them, barely registering their existence beyond the barrage of advertising that floods one’s vision. I am fascinated by these in-between spaces, their architecture, strange juxtapositions, ironies, ugliness, and beauty.

My paintings are part documentary and part authored and imagined. When I travel I take hundreds of digital photos to use as a reference. From these I cull images for specific works. Each painting represents many different views, all taken from a certain geographic area. In this recent work there are also less representational passages that play with color, shape, and compositional and textural relationships. These abstract moments often teeter on the edge of representation, and evoke surfaces, graphic advertising, lighting, weather, and time of day. The complex compositions are meant to organize and synthesize disparate modes of depiction.

Taking visual information from landscape as a jumping-off point, the paintings become personal and almost hallucinatory reinventions of a certain highway strip, rest stop, or Main Street, rendering these mundane drive-by places specific and memorable.”

-Karla Wozniak

To read a recent review of Ms. Wozniak’s work in The San Francisco Chronicle, please visit:

http://gregorylindgallery.com/news/reviews/sfchronicle_wozniak_0611.html

For more information on Ms. Wozniak, please visit:

gregorylindgallery.com

karlawozniak.com

Public Events:

Public Reception and Artist Lecture, Thursday, February 16, 6:00pm, Whiskey Row Lofts, 131 West Main Street. Free and open to the public.

6pm – 7pm Reception: Food, Drinks, Live Music, and Kentucky School of Art Student Art Exhibit
7pm – 8pm Artist Lecture: “Location and Abstraction”
In this lecture, Karla Wozniak will discuss the way that artists have used abstraction to represent the American landscape. She will discuss her own paintings, which are based on imagery culled from urban and suburban environments, then combined with specific, painterly abstract elements. The talk will also touch on a variety of other artists whose work employs abstraction—both in terms of style and process—to help represent specifics of place.

For inquiry, please contact: Skylar Smith, skylar.smith4@gmail.com, 502.618.4600

KSA Students showing recent work at The Gallery at Whiskey Row Lofts

Friday, February 3
5:30 – 10pm

The Gallery at Whiskey Row Lofts 131 E. Market St.

Beginning Feb. 3, The Gallery at Whiskey Row Lofts will exhibit recent work by students at Kentucky School of Art at Spalding University.

The work on display this Friday will include Mixed Media, Drawings, Digital Photographs, Installations, and Large-Scale Sculptures.

In addition to the art exhibit, the night will include magic shows at The Magic Theater:
The Francis Menotti shows are at the Magic Theater @ Whiskey Row Lofts,  at 7:30pm, 8:15pm and 9:00pm.

Come and purchase your 2012 KSA calendar. Its full of colorful ark work from this years current students, ranging from paintings to sculptures! Enjoy the flip of each month to reveal a new and exciting piece of work. Each calendar is $10 and the proceeds are used to keep all supplies stocked for our students!

Please call for ordering information
502.618.4600

Open Studio Model Sessions with Aaron Lubrick

Tuesday, 6-8:30 p.m.

$15 per class

Open studio model sessions for those who want to draw or paint from the live figure.  A program manager will ensure the quality of each session. Instruction and feedback is optional. Open to advanced teens and adults. Bring your own supplies.

Vessel, 7” x 7 “, oil crayon and pencil on Birchwood panel, 2011

Rex Lagerstrom: Wood, Wax, Oil and Lacquer

January 8 – February 19, 2012

Reception: KSA Gallery, Sunday, January 15, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Mr. Lagerstrom graduated from Bellarmine College with a BA in Art and Organic Chemistry, studied under Bob Lockhart, attended Blackhawk Mountain School of Art in Colorado post-graduate then did a three year apprenticeship in Stained glass and design with Fenestra Studios in Louisville, studied under Peter Eichhorn. He is represented by B. Deemer Gallery, and is a former member of Zephyr Gallery. Lagerstrom has had over 30 shows in Louisville Area, and produced medical illustrations for more than 40 journal articles (including the Jarvik-7 artificial heart project and the second edition of Dr William Olsen’s Neurology text book). Lagerstrom is also an Internist, and has practiced for 23 years. He is married to Laura Lagerstrom, and they have four children, Michael, Matthew, Katie and Christopher.

Speaking on his work, the Mr. Lagerstrom states, “my work is principally about the inter-relationship between spirituality and nature. I keep my images as simple and focused as possible because I believe that is the most direct path to true spiritual insight and growth. Sean Sculley said that there were two basic types of art; art that dealt with the spiritual aspect of the human condition and it’s connection to the divine and art that Jeff Koons would be proud of… I believe that art is a sacred and ancient human gift from the divine, it informs us and defines us in many ways. Our most fundamental drive, other than survival, is to create. Van Gogh said it was better to have a child than to paint the greatest masterpiece ever created. He was right, but art is a close second. I consider myself to be incredibly lucky to be a part of two of the oldest clubs in human history, art and healing- to my way of thinking they are one and the same thing.”

KSA Newsletter, Fall 2011

Letter from the Dean

November, 2011

If you attended our Derby Party last May or, perhaps, more recently attended our Garden Party at the home of Babs and Lee Robinson, then you have experienced the Louisville community’s palpable enthusiasm for KSA. If you joined us for lectures, community art classes or visiting artists’ events, then you recognize the great aspirations of Kentucky School of Art.

In September 2010, Spalding University welcomed 10 new students into a program taught by Kentucky School of Art employees, who work as part-time faculty for Spalding University. Now, one year later, this same program attracted a new freshman class of 30, bringing total enrollment to 40 students. From a single floor in Teilhard Hall, we have expanded to three floors, including individual studio space for each student. Our recruitment efforts are in full swing for the coming year, with a goal of matriculating 50 new freshmen in Fall, 2012.

With the addition of our Director of Academic Affairs, a new curriculum advisor, superb faculty and a distinguished National Advisory Board, we are developing a 21st Century visual art curriculum.  And, all of this occurs within the context of our recently completed four-year Strategic Positioning Document.

Under the capable guidance of board member Gordon Brown, CEO and President of The Home of the Innocents, we have completed a four-year strategic plan. This document maps our future direction through four major action areas: Curriculum, People, Facility Needs, and Funding.

We greet each day with the enthusiasm and the expertise to make Kentucky School of Art at Spalding University a nationally recognized art school of excellence. By training creative people for the jobs we need, we will contribute to Louisville’s vibrant future. By all accounts, we have completed a strong first year. Our vision is bold.

Please feel free to call us for more information about

Kentucky School of Art at Spalding University. We invite you

to visit with us and take a tour of the school.

Churchill Davenport, Dean

Kentucky School of Art at Spalding University

In Memoriam
Owsley Brown II

The death of Owsley Brown II was a shock to all of us at Kentucky School of Art as it was to many across the country. He was a childhood friend who was one of the first to recognize the potential a first rate art school in this part of the country could have. He was a counselor and supporter.

His generosity and kindness, combined with his vision for the city was extraordinary. We will miss him.

C.D.

Garden Party for the Kentucky School of Art

By: Holly Houston
Published On: September 29, 2011
Reprint with permission nFocus Magazine.

There’s a new kid in town. It’s the Kentucky School of Art (KSA), and it’s right in the heart of SoBro (or south of Broadway for those of you who haven’t yet mastered the mashup). Lee and Babs Robinson hosted a party at their Malvern House Gardens to raise awareness, enrollment and money for the school. George Parker, a filmmaker and KSA board member, asked the audience of at least 150 to spread the word. Parker cohosted the party with Brandon Coan, a policy analyst for Mayor Fischer, and William Morrow, curator at 21c Museum and Hotel. Bonnie Prince Billy (Will Oldham and Danny Kiely) played a special set on a white trellised stage while guests gathered around the pond, strolled in the gardens and noshed on food from Wiltshire Pantry.

Teamed up with Spalding University and physically part of its campus, the art school is a joint effort sown from common values. Morrow believes KSA will create jobs for professional artists by attracting faculty from across the country. “This will truly change the artistic landscape of the city,” he said. Similarly, Churchill Davenport, the school’s director, believes “innovation is the future of economic prosperity.” That art innovation will lead to an influx of capital is an idea not lost on Ezra Kellerman, a sculptor, who left Louisville for 14 years and returned to teach at KSA, “The more diverse students that show up, the saying that Louisville is ten years behind will die. The key thing is the school is going to develop a lot of arts and an amped-up art scene.”

Tori McClure, Spalding’s President, who demonstrated her mastery of the presidential handshake (hearty laughter and palm up for a donation), said “The neighborhood around the university will be transformed by this relationship.” Morrow noted that KSA is unique in that it is an academy style program with a curriculum focused on contemporary art. KSA, which has more than doubled its enrollment for fall 2012, brought in top educators from around the country to lecture and administer portfolio reviews, Morrow said, including Judy Pfaff, a MacArthur Fellow and Co-Chair of Bard College and Beverly Fishman, Head of Painting at Cranbrook Academy of Art. “Both of whom were blown away by the untapped potential in Louisville,” said Morrow. “There is no way we could have done this without Spalding’s support, infrastructure and love.”

Who’s on Board?

Kentucky School of Art welcomes new trustee Charles Cash, who serves as Chair of the KSA Facility committee.

Following over 30 years experience, Mr. Cash retired from Louisville Metro Government in 2010 to establish a new consulting firm, Urban 1, LLC, a professional practice in Planning, Urban Design and Historic Preservation.

In 2003 Mayor Jerry Abramson had appointed Charles as Director of Planning and Design Services, a department of the newly merged metro government serving 700,000 citizens. His agency provided staff to the Planning Commission, the Board of Zoning Adjustment, the Landmarks Commission, as well as nine Overlay and Preservation District Committees, comprised of over 75 citizen members.

In the past, Charles worked for ten years within the Louisville Development Authority serving as Administrator of Urban Design, Assistant Director for Planning and Urban Design, and finally as Executive Director.  During that period of time, he was the Mayor’s designee on the Planning Commission for eight years. Also, he had project management responsibilities for multi-million dollar efforts, such as the West Main Street Cultural Arts District, the Riverfront Plaza and Belvedere, and the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory Complex. Prior experience included 15 years as architect to the Landmarks Commission, providing design assistance to over 2,000 projects in the City’s historic districts.

In addition, Charles chaired the Park DuValle and Liberty Green Design Committees since these Hope VI Plans were approved. The recipient of several national awards, Park DuValle represents the first New Urbanist project realized in Louisville.

A Registered Architect in Kentucky, Charles has served as president of the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He has presented at national conferences for the AIA, the American Planning Association, the Congress of New Urbanism, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Connoisseur’s Corner

In each newsletter, we will share news of the Art world with you – noteworthy publications, shows, exhibits, publications, apps, etc. that will deepen your access, insight and appreciation of art.

For our first edition, I would like to talk about Google’s Art Project. In early February 2011, Google partnered with 17 museums, national and international, to provide online access to some of the treasures and interiors of these partner museums.

Google’s Art Project gives you three options: you can explore the museum using street view technology, you can view a featured artwork in high resolution and use the custom viewer to zoom into the painting, and you can create your own collection.

There are viewing notes for each piece of art including history, artist information, and more. Google maintains that the high-resolution photos afford the viewer an opportunity to view the work in great detail, beyond that which is usually picked up by the human eye. This lens for engaging with the work reminds me of the Met Opera’s performances, projected in High Definition, available in movie theatres internationally. These broadcasts afford the viewer a different but exciting experience, much more detailed, intimate and cinematic than the audience member would experience at a live performance. Not the same, but worthwhile nonetheless.

If you are not already familiar with Google Art, I suggest you give this a try. The website is www.googleartproject.com
D.S.

Student Spotlight on…

Kristen Sharpe, 21, walked into my office ready to go, articulate and clear.

She attended St. Francis School and then graduated from Collegiate with a good background in art. Off she went to University of Kentucky where she stayed for one and one-half years. Then she left.  Kristen felt that UK really did not work for her. During her three semesters, she only got to take one art class. “It was just too big…I felt lost and didn’t get to do art.”  Both the size of the school and size of the classes (around 50) did not suit her. She said that she did not get to do artwork she was proud of.

Then, after she was back home in Louisville, her mother read about Kentucky School of Art at Spalding in the newspaper. Investigating further, they discovered that the class size was, on average, 15 students. Each student has their own art studio and the ratio of art classes to general studies classes fit her perfectly. She was thrilled at the opportunity to take general studies classes at Spalding and study studio art at the same time. After she graduates with her BA, Kristen wants to pursue a career in Art Therapy.

A member of the inaugural class of KSA at Spalding, Kristen has been a student here for over a year. I asked her to tell me how she likes it and how she would describe the advantages of being a KSA student.

“First,” she said, “it is in Louisville. It is a big town with a small community. Next, it is affordable…especially compared to the big art schools out of town. I can get a BA with a concentration in Art and take really good general studies courses. My art classes are intense. Then, let’s see, there are the teachers. They are so accessible, both in and out of class. They foster creative flexibility and there is a really close relationship between teachers and students. They are great teachers. They are nurturing and encourage creativity. How can you stand out when you are not taught to be creative and try something different?”  Oh, and the big comment was “This is the happiest I’ve ever been in school because I am doing art!”

D.S.

Meet New Staff and Faculty

LAURIE FADER, Director of Academic Affairs

BS New York University, MFA Yale

Laurie is a native of Pittsburgh and received her Masters degree from the Yale School of Art where she earned the Helen W. Winternitz Award for excellence in painting. She lived in New York City for 26 years where she taught at Pratt Institute. For nine years she lived in Baltimore where she taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art and Goucher College. She has shown widely, including one person shows at 55 Mercer and The Painting Center in New York.

Laurie moved to Louisville on August 1. She is teaching Light, Color and Design this Fall, and will teach Painting in the Spring semester. As Director of Academic Affairs, Laurie is responsible for faculty, curriculum and students. She is an active artist with a studio on Bardstown Rd.

Deborah Sandler, Director of Development and External Affairs

BA Temple University, MA New York University

Deborah moved to Louisville from Princeton, NJ when she was recruited to be General Director of Kentucky Opera in 1998. Prior to that she held the same position at Opera Festival of NJ. She has run arts organizations for over 25 years and worked with the Board Member Institute of NJ, conducting training sessions and designing workshops for nonprofits. Since 2005, Deborah has worked as a consultant in Resource Development, Marketing and Strategic Planning.

She has continued her studies at the Mandel Center for Nonprofits at Case Western Reserve University and at the Fundraising School. Ms. Sandler has served for many years as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and in similar capacities for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Connecticut Commision for the Arts and the Governor’s Walt Whitman Creative Arts Award.

Aaron Lubrick

MFA Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, BFA Columbus College of Art Design

Aaron joined KSA in July 2011 as a full-time teacher with responsibilities in Recruitment and the KSA Community Art Program. He is an active artist and teaches an Open Studio class every Tuesday night at KSA.

Emily Wilcox

BA in Fine Art, Western Kentucky University

Emily joined KSA in July 2011 as Admissions Counselor. She recently returned from a Fulbright Scholarship in Indonesia, and is a painter in her free time.

Curriculum Updates

Faculty and staff are working intensively on curriculum with Spalding to develop a BFA program with 5 majors: Drawing/Painting, General Fine Arts (including Art Therapy and Art Education), Digital Arts/New Media, Graphic Design, and Interdisciplinary Sculpture. Currently we are part of Interdisciplinary Humanities with a concentration in Art.

One of the most challenging and central offerings of the proposed curriculum will be Digital Arts. Introducing the subject in the Foundation year is an important key to shaping students’ grasp of a wide variety of digital technologies and define their use as an expressive tool.

To help us join the vanguard in digital media teaching strategies and courses, we have invited Jenna Frye to consult with the curriculum committee at Kentucky School of Art at Spalding. Ms. Frye is a professor in the Foundation Department at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and has helped to develop their Digital Media program. She holds an MA/MFA In Digital Art and Sculpture from MICA and will be presenting at the 2011 NASAD conference.

Ms. Frye is a community artist in Baltimore and incorporates projects in her curriculum that get students engaged with the community in a variety of ways. The proposed BFA curriculum at Spalding, taught by KSA faculty, will include a concentration in Community Art.

Students in the community

Kosair Mural Project

In August of this year, three students volunteered to design and paint a mural in the Teen Room of Kosair Hospital’s cancer ward. After meeting with hospital staff and patients, the students designed a mural that is fun and inspiring. Kudos to Chris Austerman, Kaelin Steinrock and Maggie Cassaro!

“We rely on many outside resources to help us provide some of the extra touches that can really help children during their stays at Kosair Children’s Hospital. Thanks to this talented group of artists (KSA), the teens who must spend countless days at the hospital for cancer treatment now have a friendlier place to stay.” Lynnie Meyer, MSN, R.N., CFRE, Executive Director of Children’s Hospital Foundation

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

William A. Blodgett, Jr.
Gordon Brown
Laura Lee Brown
Owsley Brown, III
Charles Cash, Jr.
John H. Clark, IV
S. Brandon Coan
Churchill Davenport
Luckett Davidson
Michelle Staggs Doninger
Charles G. Middleton, III
Edwin Middleton, Jr.
William Morrow
George Parker, Jr.
Vertner Smith, III
Roanne Victor
Brad Williamson
Don Vish

KSA FACULTY

Churchill Davenport: Maryland Institute College of Art; BA-Rhodes; MA-Indiana University; MFA-Yale
Laurie Fader: BA-New York University; MFA-Yale
Ezra Kellerman: BFA-University of Kentucky; MFA-Louisiana State University
Aaron Lubrick: BFA-Columbia College Art and Design; MFA-Pennsylvania Academy of Art
Skylar Smith: BFA-Maryland Institute College of Art; MFA-School of the Art Institute of Chicago
SPALDING REPRESENTATIVE
Joyce Ogden: BFA-University of Louisville; MFA-Indiana University

KSA Staff

Churchill Davenport, Dean 502.873.4367, churchillgd@aol.com
Laurie Fader, Director of Academic Affairs 502.873.4360, lcfader@aol.com
Kasey Maier, Director of Administration, 502.873.4368, kmaier@kentuckyschoolofart.org
Deborah Sandler, Director of Development and External Affairs, 502.873.4353, developmentksa@gmail.com
Skylar Smith, Programming 502.873.4369, ssmith@kentuckyschoolofart.org
Emily Wilcox, Admissions 502.873.4184, emilywilcox87@gmail.com

Parent Information Session at 2:00

Part of Spalding University’s Fall Preview Day, which starts at 12:00 in the Egan Learning Center, corner of Fourth and Breckinridge streets.