Shape by Water

The Visual Arts Center of Richmond and Crafting the Future present “The Shape of Water,” a group exhibition featuring artists who explore the embodiment of the human form, connection to land, and the act of leaving impressions—both conceptual and tangible. Through dynamic installations, two-dimensional work, and functional objects, each artist transforms materials such as textile, glass, and clay, infusing their work with notions of storytelling, memory, and modernity. The exhibition title draws inspiration from the idea that water retains information. Much like personal memories, water has the ability to hold onto impressions and experiences, aligning with the exhibition’s examination of the imprints we make and those we leave behind

AquaVenture 2024

The AquaVenture 2023 exhibition is up at Artists Attic until Feburary 9th. The Kentucky Watercolor Society really draws forth some beautiful art from so many wonderful artists. This year 40 pieces were selected for the show from 92 entries.

Drawn By Color

A review by Kevin Nance

​There are at least two ways to interpret the title of “Drawn by Color,” Arts Connect’s winter group exhibit at Central Bank’s John G. Irvin Gallery. In the first, broadest and most obvious, the word drawn means attracted — and so indeed we’re pulled into this show’s vortex of swirling, vibrant color, as far from monochrome as it’s possible to be. In the second, somewhat narrower interpretation, a subset or outpost of the first, drawn could refer to drawing — the making of marks, with pens and pencils and brushes and palette knives, all of them, in this case, leaving trails of pigment. If this is overthinking it, forgive me. In any case, the title served as the prompt for these 23 Kentucky artists, so how they responded, however loosely, is worth noting.

The best of the first group here include Valerie Timmons’s exquisite oil painting “Variation on a Japanese Maple #1,” a series of overlapping angular shapes resting on a rich red background; two abstract acrylic works by Jimmy Hall whose intricately etched surfaces dissolve in shades of purple and mauve; a trio of slashingly energetic, all but violent untitled abstracts by John Bator that call to mind a series of smashed mirrors; and Shane Allan Smith’s untitled mixed media piece in which a number of eyeball-like shapes are linked by a red line of the sort I associate with evidence boards on TV detective shows. Someone’s connecting the dots.

Picture

​No less colorful but also more traditionally drawn pieces include wistful, sensitively painted portraits by Vinicius Alves Moura (“Blue Butterfly”) and Nick Walters (“Will You Wait for Me?”); Suzonne Bunch's delightful and hilarious acrylic painting of parachuting dogs (“Pipi Takes Flight”); gorgeous landscapes by watercolorist Connie Tucker (“Sky on Fire”) and fiber artist Kris Grenier (“Persistence — Star Lake, CA”); and two floral paintings, Adalhi Aranda’s vivid, surreal “Amapolas” and Yolanda Kennison’s eye-ravishing “Bouquet Bright,” which does a seductive tarantella on the line between abstraction and realism. If none of these works makes a big statement, they all are crave-worthy as decor; they would brighten and enhance any room in which they were displayed.

The curveballs in the show are thrown by Truman Miller, whose eerie photograph “They’re Everywhere” invites multiple interpretations, and Duane Keaton, whose medium of Lego bricks on wood (in “A Piece of Youth”) is drawn in a way that’s unlike anything else here.

Art by Nature

Exhibiting Artist Connie Tucker

The Art by Nature Program highlights ways to improve and enhance the natural world through a gallery of native landscapes and plants highlighted by local artists.

Spiritual Touchstones: The Joy of the Soul Through Art

Exhibiting Artist Connie Tucker

An exhibit curated by Alice Underwood Leininger and Kasandra McNeil featuring the work of 14 local artists on the theme “Spiritual Touchstones: The Joy of the Soul Through Art”.

AquaVenture 2023

The AquaVenture 2023 exhibition is up at the Lyric Theater until April 27th. The Kentucky Watercolor Society really draws forth some beautiful art from so many wonderful artists. This year 40 pieces were selected for the show from 92 entries. Last evening at the awards presentation the following pieces were selected for awards by our juror, Gary Edward Jennings.
1st place “Refining” by Dennis Albetski
2nd place “Catsura Glow” by Sherrie Graham-Greene
3rd place “Handmade” by Wyn Erickson
Honorable Mention “Peony” by Connie Tucker
Honorable Mention “The Golden Hour” by Jane Stoddard.

OH!kentucky, Arts Connect

OH! KENTUCKY, Arts Connect spring group show opens tonight with a reception at Central Bank, 300 West Vine 4:30-6pm. All are welcome.
38 artists and 50 artworks all celebrating the great state of Kentucky with their varied inspired artistic interpretations.