Keith Kleespies, Visiting Artist

One of our favorite things to do at StudioWorks is to invite artists in our community to share their art and story in our space.  Keith Kleespies was gracious in accepting our invitation and brought a box full of his art.  Keith is originally from the Cincinnati area and found much early success there before coming to Louisville.  His presentation was informal and our artists were eager to see what would come out of the box next!

Keith’s work is delightful and sophisticated and our artists enjoyed his imagery which is frequently humorous.  At all times Keith’s work is well drawn and designed.  Of late, he has been making gestural drawings and scanning them into the computer which then becomes further manipulated.  Keith shared that he is slowly losing his vision and the computer has become a tool that allows him to continue his art making.  Where his art ends up is usually far from where it began in his process.

Keith is an aficionado of the “Blues” which is evident from the above sculpture.  The Blues is a uniquely American musical form that speaks directly to life’s many experiences.  Keith’s sculpture combines the names of important Blues locations with some of its famous singers and musicians.

Here Jeremy checks out another Kleespies’ original that again acknowledges the Blues and the art of illustration.  Keith is an excellent cartoonist and familiar with that tradition as well.  To be a Blues man is to lead a wandering lifestyle and this is why shoes are such an important image to Keith.

After Keith finished his art presentation with some wonderfully designed graphic pieces in his portfolio…our StudioWorks artists wanted to show him what they have been making!  Here Keith takes in Eric’s latest drawing that is a montage of different dog breeds drawn in various sizes.

Bradley Bohannon couldn’t wait to show Keith his latest entitled “Heros”.  It’s a collage and drawing honoring the brave servicemen that help keep us safe.

We really thank Keith and his wife Suzi for stopping by and sharing a bit of themselves with us.  Suzi is a wonderful artist too and we look forward to her presentation sometime in the near future.  Both of these artists have become good friends and supporters of the StudioWorks mission and that means a lot to us.  To end, here is a small Kleespies’ sculpture made with cardboard, paint, and a pipe cleaner that displays Keith’s wit and humor.  Thanks Keith!!!

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Ongoing Projects at StudioWorks

While Ariana leads us through the knitting process, there are other, smaller ongoing projects that occupy the StudioWorks artists.  Each artist is encouraged to create their own original card series.  Pictured above is a newly created animal series by Natalie Lanier who used pastels for her work.

Here’s an example of one of Natalie’s cards with its bright colors.  The whole series was sold a day after it went on sale!  Congratulations Natalie!

A number of our artists also like to assemble jewelry items and have become very good at it.  Here Jeremy is working on a necklace using glass beads.  Jeremy in particular likes making items for personal adornment.

Lonnie Cundiff has other jobs he performs at Zoom Group, but likes to come to the studio once a week.  Lonnie has a very deliberate approach to drawing and especially likes to trace objects as a starting point.  In conversation with Lonnie, he mentioned how much he likes eating tacos.  After tracing a protractor, he noticed how the resulting shape looked like a taco shell!  Before long, he had a series of tacos with lettuce and ground beef only in the works.

The Kentucky State Fair is approaching and many of our artists have made pieces to enter this year’s exhibition.  I will show you those works in a future post.  This year, Dorcas wanted to try entering her photographs which are made using a Holga camera.  If you are unfamiliar with the Holga, it’s a plastic camera with a plastic lens and takes unpredictable images.  This is a good camera to use because it is so simple, but will allow you to make multiple exposures.  Dorcas has been photographing life on Louisville’s busy Fourth Street before the heat and humidity of summer makes that difficult to do.

Ceramic work is also ongoing and we are always working toward that next kiln load.  Here’s Natalie applying glaze to a ceramic bird planter she has made.  Natalie is very creative in the studio and wants to try most everything.  Part of our efforts with her are to try to get her to focus on projects to completion.  This is something that we work on with other StudioWorks artists as well.  There usually is no shortage of ideas flowing around here!

In closing, we love to celebrate birthdays and Julie had one this past week.  StudioWorks took Julie to lunch and afterwards had a cupcake party!  This portrait of Julie was taken on the big day and I like how she is connected to her artwork by the white blouse.  Both the artist and her subject matter seem to be also sharing the same “far away” expression on their faces.  I will post some of the state fair artworks in our next entry.  So long for now!

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Getting Ready

Our big sale was a couple days ago, but before we blog that we need to set the stage a bit.  Everyone was busy working up to the last-minute which is typical for a gallery.  We have a variety of Christmas ornaments for sale and the picture above shows a few that were painted and are now drying in the tub.  In addition to paintings, ceramic sculptures, and drawings, the StudioWorks artists also dyed silk scarves.  Here’s a view of a few ready for sale.  The leopard print purse on the right was made by Jeremy Smith.  He created his own company he calls “French Kitty” to produce similar fashion items!  Jeremy also made several leather wallets and coin purses too.

Of course, the gallery needs decorating and most of the artists helped set up our Christmas tree.  Julie, Sally, and Dorcas are getting in the spirit!  We plan to add a few lights to the window and use some of our Japanese lanterns as decorations too.  There are also tables to set up and food to prepare.  Labels with all the pertinent information also need to be made.

All the two-dimensional wall art needs to be reconsidered and reinstalled.  Our newest pieces will be framed and matted and offered for sale, but there will also be great deals available on works that have been in our inventory awhile.  If you are in the market for affordable original art than we might have something for you.  It should also be said that 80% of a sale goes to the artist.  The remaining 20% is retained by the gallery to help with art material costs.  Selling a work is great, but so too is the interaction between the artists and the art loving community.  Being able to talk and share the experience of creating a work of art is also a reward that generates a lot of personal pride as well.  We are big believers in the whole creative process.

Before ending this post and moving on, StudioWorks would like to thank our good neighbors at the Palace Theatre for inviting us to see their new “Nutcracker in a Nutshell” production.  All the artists had positive reviews of the show.  The tickets were an unexpected but welcomed gift!  For some, it was their first visit to this beautifully restored historic theatre.  To end this post, here’s a picture of Carol finishing her “Pinto” color ink drawing.

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