Announcing Artist Professional Development Grants | Round 25 Recipients
July 22, 2024ANNOUNCING
Artist Professional Development Grants | Round 26 Recipients
Great Meadows Foundation is pleased to announce the award of 11 grants to artists in the Kentucky region through the 26th round of the Artist Professional Development Grants program. These grants will enable recipients to travel to visit major exhibitions, conferences, and artist residencies, and connect with other professionals in the field whose expertise can help them develop their critical practice.
Learn more about the Round 26 Grant Recipients and their upcoming travels below.
Ada Asenjo
She / Her
www.freshpresseddesigns.com
@petalos_by_ada
Louisville, KY
Where will you be traveling?
New Orleans, LA
What will you be traveling for?
Prospect 6; New Orleans’ Triennial
Can you give a short summary of your art practice?
In my practice as a self-taught pressed flower artist, I use flowers, leaves, and elements thereof to represent the brief sojourn we call Life. The typical two dimensional arrangements I create are as minimalist as possible so that the essence of each element is highlighted. Designs typically represent aspects of my concerns: the future of our world, the search for belonging, the question of identity. When depicted with floral elements these concerns suggest that the solutions to the problem are within its essence and origin.
What are some of the inspirations for your practice?
I am inspired by Andy Goldsworthy, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Ebony Patterson, Cándido Bidó.
Ashley Brossart
She / Her
Louisville, KY
Where will you be traveling?
Palm Springs, Coachella Valley, Los Angeles, CA
What will you be traveling for?
I will be traveling to attend the Desert X Biennial, located in the Coachella Valley to experience large-scale, site-specific responsive artworks by artists from around the world exhibiting installations taking on social issues such as climate change, freedom, justice, and history of indigenous people within the land. I will also tour historic architectural sites throughout Palm Springs, California and surrounding areas.
Can you give a short summary of your art practice?
My three dimensional architectural collage assemblages depict a future-scape place at the intersection of our natural world and human-made buildings found in cities. I am influenced by visual and experiential systems, architecture, and the current forward moving socio-cultural trends of change focused on the development of people, place and rebirth between the systems that are part of our physical places and relationship to place and one another.
What are some of the inspirations for your practice?
I am curious about the synthesis of architecture, and the future connection of people to place. Viewed as a whole, the visual motifs generate an underlying system of elements with the intention of connecting each place individually and/or as a whole. My work reflects influences such as architecture, Suprematism, Spiritualism, Constructivism, Futurism, Op-art, Fluxus, and a foundation in Cubism.
Whitney Carpenter
She / Her
@whitsartworld
Jeffersonville, IN
Where will you be traveling?
Los Angeles, San Diego CA
What will you be traveling for?
I will be traveling to Southern California to view the exhibition “The Outsiders: Billy Shire and the Rise of Low Brow” at the The Torrance Art Museum in L.A. An exhibition tracing his trajectory that initially led to the rise of ‘low brow’ and insight into the evolution of this movement. As well as La Luz de Jesus Gallery, coined as the birthplace of Pop Surrealism, operating since 1986, and Thinkspace Gallery, who will be showcasing works by current leaders in the movement such as Amy Sol and Anjastama HP. Lastly I will visit The San Diego Museum of Art for the exhibition “Art of the Portrait”, which explores portraiture across various time periods and cultures.
Can you give a short summary of your art practice?
My acrylic and mixed media paintings focus on portraiture, exploring identity, emotion, and fantasy. I work in short bursts of inspiration, painting fictional characters I’ve conjured in my mind. I often include whimsical dreamscapes or animals as reflections of the inner lives of the person, and our connection to the universe. I aim to balance darker themes with playful elements that examine life’s absurdities.
What are some of the inspirations for your practice?
I draw inspiration from Figurative Expressionists and Pop Surrealists like Mark Ryden, Audrey Kawasaki, and Amy Sol, and Alice Neel whose work blends beauty and melancholy to convey vulnerability. I also co-run a small art gallery and boutique, a space where art is more accessible to the mainstream, fostering connections between people and art.
Clovers (Cooper L. Gibson & Perry K. Wesley)
Clovers she/her
Cooper they/them
Perry he/him
itscloversbitch.bandcamp.com
@itscloversbitch @notbritneyspearsofficial @_pkwesley_
Lexington, KY
Where will you be traveling?
New York City
What will you be traveling for?
We will travel to New York City together to meet with collaborators and forge new connections that will be foundational to our work in the region and Kentucky. We will conduct studio visits and attend exhibitions, exploring how other artists balance collaboration across various mediums, which will enhance our future projects. We will prioritize conducting studio visits with influences and collaborators. Additionally, we will visit both artist-run spaces, and larger art institutions.
Can you give a short summary of your art practice?
Clovers is a collaboration between artists Cooper L. Gibson & Perry K. Wesley. Both artists explore pervasive narratives about rural folks, and the ways in which our respective communities challenge these ideas. Clovers is a semi-fictional pop star whose work manifests as songs, pop performances, dance parties, photo, video, and collage. By traversing genre, gender, medium, and methodology, Clovers blurs the lines between pop and performance and operates in opposition to metronormative narratives about rural queers and reductive ideas about the creative output of southerners.
What are some of the inspirations for your practice?
Clovers is influenced by artists Kembra Pfahler, Yoko Ono, Wynne Greenwood (Tracy + The Plastics), Narcissister, Ren Hang, Stacy Kranitz and writers Jack Halberstam, José Esteban Muñoz, and Sarah Ahmed.
Forest Kelley
He / Him
forestkelley.net
@forest_kelley
Lexington, KY
Where will you be traveling?
Turin, Milan, & Genoa, Italy
What will you be traveling for?
I will travel to three cities in Italy—Turin, Milan, and Genoa—that are deeply connected to the tradition of Arte Povera. I will visit exhibitions related to the movement and its contemporary variants while concurrently conducting studio visits with local artists, viewing public works in churches, and exploring sites of public art and street-side shrines (edicole sacre). As my practice increasingly embraces interdisciplinary and expanded approaches to installation art, materiality, and public art, these creative traditions will inform my work by addressing viewer experience, material impermanence, and the relationship between art and life.
Can you give a short summary of your art practice?
Anchored in documentary traditions, my work explores narrative-driven visual art through increasingly experiential and time-based media. It seeks to comprehend events and experiences lost to the past, augmented by oral history and mythmaking, or dislocated from public view. By shedding light on marginalized social histories through photographs and interviews, and visualizing the stories of virtual workers in collaboration with imaging researchers and voice actors, my practice increasingly harnesses innovative techniques to illuminate vital stories.
What are some of the inspirations for your practice?
Unique approaches to narrative and documentary have been central inspirations to my art practice, particularly in exploring how stories and histories are embedded in objects, media, and even performance and reenactment. This includes influences from movements such as cinéma vérité, happenings, and sculptural practices that focus on the philosophical and material relationships of ephemeral forms to real histories. Recently, my work has drawn inspiration from the complexities of virtual and anonymous labor, social movements that challenge societal norms and amplify marginalized voices, as well as experiential approaches to art.
Nina Kersey
She / Her
@dirtgremlin
Louisville, KY
Where will you be traveling?
Tokyo & Tochigi, Japan
What will you be traveling for?
I will be visiting the Mori art museum, The National Museum of Modern Art, as well as the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art to attend the MOT annual. I will also be visiting Tochigi, Tokyo to visit Yoshitomo Nara’s private museum, N’s Yard.
Can you give a short summary of your art practice?
I am a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in painting, using text and sculptural elements, to create depth and texture. I use unconventional materials, i.e plaster and saw-dust, along with acrylic and oil paints. My creative process is primarily intuitive, I rarely plan and focus on emotions that arise while painting, until feeling fully expressed. I’ve shifted to working with canvas or paper on the ground, pushing my body through the work, with my shoes, hands and knees, which often results in damaging the work. The text, figures, movement, texture and damage combined, encourages a conversation about the fragility of innocence.
What are some of the inspirations for your practice?
I am inspired by anti-art movements and its influence on not only visual art but as well as other mediums, music, and culture.
Nick Netherton
He / Him
Louisville, KY
Where will you be traveling?
Tokyo & Shikoku, Japan
What will you be traveling for?
I am traveling in Japan primarily to observe the Ryuchi Sakamoto retrospective, “seeing sound, hearing time.” As an incredible composer and innovative installation artist, his work is directly related with the direction I wish to take my work. Additionally I am intending to see the collected works of sculptor Isamu Noguchi in Shikoku.
Can you give a short summary of your art practice?
I am a visual artist whose work is primarily in painting with explorations into sculptural and kinetic works. The core of my work relates to human relationship with industrialization and the modern world, often taking form as abstracted paintings with recurring figures, symbols, and associations from historical events and literature.
What are some of the inspirations for your practice?
Katie Romano
She / Her
sugarmaplephotographic.com/art
@climbkatieclimb
Lexington, KY
Where will you be traveling?
Kyoto & Tokyo, Japan
What will you be traveling for?
I am traveling to Kyoto, Japan to attend the KyotoGraphie International Photography Festival. The exhibitions are intentionally formatted to compliment their physical environment and the festival spans many unique venues across the city. I am interested in exploring the connection between the physical environment and the work produced and displayed in it. Afterwards, I will relocate to Tokyo focusing on visiting artist-run galleries including Totem Pole Gallery and Place M known for their active photography communities. I aim to connect with local artists and works with an interest in analog street photography and surreal works.
Can you give a short summary of your art practice?
I am a film photographer and my work consists of street photography with a streak of the surreal. My work aims to find intriguing moments that break away from the banality of routine and force a sense of curiosity for otherwise ordinary occurrences. I’m interested in how physical and social environments can produce unique stories and circumstances. I scan my film myself and enjoy showing my hand in my work by including film borders and imperfections from the process. I mainly shoot color film, but have been increasingly enjoying black and white.
What are some of the inspirations for your practice?
I am greatly influenced by the work of Vivian Maier and her ability to find and capture fascinating moments as they unfold. Even though most known for her black and white work, I have an immense appreciation for her color pieces and how her visual elements are balanced. I am also inspired by John Sypal, a street photographer in Tokyo – I am drawn to the playfulness and intrigue in his work. I enjoy surrealism and the option to hold different interpretations of reality as well as the expression of dreams, memory, and the subconscious.
Skylar Smith
She / Her
www.skylarsmith.com
@skylar_smith_art
Louisville, KY
Skylar Smith in her Louisville, Kentucky studio.
Where will you be traveling?
Los Angeles, CA
What will you be traveling for?
I will travel to the Los Angeles area to see PST ART: Art & Science Collide. This art event is happening in collaboration with thematically linked exhibitions across the region with exhibition themes that range from climate change and environmental justice to the future of artificial intelligence and alternative medicine.
Can you give a short summary of your art practice?
I work with binaries in an effort to find an equilibrium in opposites. I use literal and metaphoric references to mundane and profound phenomena – such as the orbital patterns of the sun and the moon, the warp and weft of weaving, and the interplay of order and chaos in the universe – to create abstract compositions on paper and canvas.
What are some of the inspirations for your practice?
I am endlessly inspired by the natural world and all of its forms, colors, and cycles. I am inspired by many artists and a few I’m looking at now: the artists associated with the Bauhaus Weaving Workshop (who were banned from painting classes) and artists such as Hilma af Klint and Agnes Pelton who used abstract imagery to convey their intuitive and esoteric interests.
Roy Taylor
He / Him
paperworkfilms.com
@paperworkfilms
Louisville, KY
Where will you be traveling?
Niigata & Tokyo, Japan
What will you be traveling for?
I will be attending The Niigata International Animated Film Festival where independent animators meet, premier new feature films, give master classes. It is the only such event that focuses on feature length films. Also in Niigata, I will visit the Manga & Anime Museum. In Tokyo I will visit The Studio Ghibli Museum, Ryuichi Sakamoto: seeing sound, hearing time at the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, as well as Machine Love: Video Game, AI, and Contemporary Art at the Mori Museum.
Can you give a short summary of your art practice?
I am a self taught animator and sound designer working primarily with paper-cut and hand-drawn 2d stop motion techniques to create fables of the imperfect alliance between humans and the natural world.
What are some of the inspirations for your practice?
My earliest inspirations were Road Runner and Gumby on Saturday mornings. They inspired me to make Super 8 films on the kitchen table. After a crazy life in the music business I rediscovered animation 10 years ago. I love the films of Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki, Lotte Reiniger, and Yuri Norstein.
Natalie Tyree