Paducah, KY, May 1, 2019—The Paducah Arts Alliance (PAA) is pleased to share that visual artist and teacher Adam Carlson of Brooklyn, New York, was the recent participant in the Paducah Artist-In-Residence Program. He arrived in Paducah with canvas and paints on April 16, and set up his studio with PAA board member and former classmate John Romang for his two-week residency.

Artists participating in PAA’s residency program are required to engage with the community through exhibitions, workshops, public lectures, or collaborative projects with local artists. During his residency, Carlson devoted his time interacting with students at the Paducah School of Art and Design (PSAD) and Paducah Tilghman High School (PTHS), conducting drawing and painting demos, sharing best practices skills for professional artists, and providing critiques on student work. He viewed the displays at AQS QuiltWeek and The National Quilt Museum and connected with various artists from Paducah and abroad. The remainder of his time was consumed preparing for an upcoming solo exhibit at Apartment Earth Gallery in Charleston, West Virginia.

 

 

Carlson attended The Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, where he was classically trained in traditional media. He is known for his stunning portraits and his ability to tell a story with paint as he boldly captures the emotion of his subjects. He has been featured in art publications such as L Magazine and CYMK, and online at CriminalElement.com and Tor.com. His work was recently featured in a solo exhibition at StudioMars in Paducah’s Lower Town Arts District.

Though Carlson is no stranger to Paducah, the residency was his first opportunity to be immersed in the community. “I saw and experienced so much here in my short stay,” said Carlson. “…From an impressive fire burning kiln, amazingly intricate quilts, incredible studios, a beautiful art school,
high school classrooms, to even a beautifully designed boutique cookie dough shop I found down the block!”

Carlson said the one characteristic that continued to resonate with him was Paducah’s welcoming spirit. “All these things were great to see, but the people behind them is where the real magic lies. The spirit of making is powerful here and it is absolutely infectious! I will be returning to New York with this awakened thrill to create and a new hunger to inspire as these amazing artists here have done for me these past couple weeks. I will always treasure this experience and these amazing new friends I made!“

John Romang, art teacher at PTHS, introduced Carlson to Paducah’s established and aspiring artists. “It is always great for students to meet artists, but it’s really beneficial when the artists interact with the students,” said Romang. “The students were intrigued with his demos and his quick instructional lessons. They walked away having information and an experience that should carry on with them through their art careers.”

Randy Simmons’ Drawing 2 class at PSAD gained insight on technique from Carlson. “We are in the life drawing component of the course and Adam did demos in gesture, 10-minute studies, and a portrait demo for the course,” said Simmons. “It was great having him working in charcoal and using the toned paper process like I do. His painterly approach to drawing struck a cord with the students, as it was a different way for some of them to work.” Carlson also demonstrated his painting technique for Tanya Gadbaw-Neitzke’s students at PSAD.

Adam Carlson’s illustrations and portraits can be found on his website at http://adam-carlson.com.

Paducah, KY, March 11, 2019—Two cities on different continents, Paducah, Kentucky, and Jingdezhen, China, share many cultural commonalities. These fellow UNESCO Creative Cities of Crafts and Folk Arts possess a passion for the development and enrichment of both ceramics and craft beer.

Paducah Arts Alliance (PAA) is pleased to announce that the father/son duo Ma Mingkui (craft beer maker) and Ma Xinkai (ceramist) of Jingdezhen, China, are participating in a two-week Artists-in-Residence Program in Paducah, Kentucky beginning March 15, 2019.

Ceramist Ma Xinkai’s relationship with Paducah began in June 2018, when art educator, and PAA chair Mitch Kimball attended The Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, a city famous for the mastery of white clay and home to the international ceramics center.

Kimball and the PAA team are enthused about the mutual cultural exchange. “The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) has opened new doors for PAA’s Artist in Residence program,” said Kimball. “While my stay at The Pottery Workshop was focused on learning about the history and culture of porcelain, it was also about making connections and sharing the vision of Paducah.”

Kimball’s China cohort Ma Xinkai graduated from Jingdezhen Ceramic University in 2014. Xinkai focuses on making Chinese tea ware in his design studio Shangjui. His father, Ma Mingkui, is a retired senior engineer who took up craft beer brewing as a hobby.

“There are many international artists and people who work with art in Jingdezhen,” said Xinkai. “It is an excellent place to do something creative.” Xinkai’s parents moved to Jingdezhen and set up the city’s first craft beer pub in 2016. Now in its third year, their brand Southern Sloth brews nearly 30 kinds of craft beer. Southern Sloth won third prize in the First International Craft Beer Competition in China in 2018. “More people know about Southern Sloth, and we would like to share more about it with Paducah,” said Xinkai.

Though Jingdezhen has been famous for the mastery of porcelain and white clay for over 2000 years, ceramics and breweries have only recently made a strong resurgence in Western Kentucky. The Paducah School of Art & Design’s ceramics lab at Madison Hall was completed in January 2013, offering classes and expanding the clay making opportunities for students across the region. Paducah’s first craft brewery, Dry Ground Brewing Company was established in 2014; and Paducah Beer Werks, the brainchild of homebrewer turned grain master Todd Blume, was founded in 2015.

While in Paducah, the Jingdezhen artists will be building personal/professional relationships with craft brewers and ceramists. They will also be experiencing local artistic assets, attending business and cultural events and engaging with educators and students visiting Paducah from Three Rivers Educational Campus, UNESCO ASPnet School in Cleves, Ohio.

Mary Hammond, executive director of the Paducah Convention & Visitors Bureau, is thrilled to see global collaboration with PAA evolve. “Paducah has worked with Jingdezhen since their joining of the network in 2015. This reciprocal residency solidifies a valuable relationship with this like-minded city on the other side of the world.”

To learn more about Paducah’s role as one of the world’s UNESCO Creative Cities and ongoing engagement with the Creative Cities Network, visit paducah.travel/creativecity.

For more information or to set up interviews with Ma Xinkai, contact Mitch Kimball, mitch@mitchkimball.com, 252.412.4684 or Rosemarie Steele, rosemarie.steele@comcast.net, 270.331.5588

Paducah, KY, June 13, 2018—After years of coordinating an artist in residence program that brings visiting artists from across the globe to Paducah, Kentucky, Paducah Arts Alliance (PAA) Chair Mitch Kimball has reversed his role. Kimball is currently participating in a month-long residency that began on June 1 at The Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, China, a mutual UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art.

Kimball is the current chair of PAA and a member of the visual arts faculty at McCracken County High School, where he teaches alongside his wife, Shand Stamper. In addition to their careers as art educators, Kimball and Stamper make one-of-a-kind, hand crafted ceramics and jewelry, which can be found at Ochre, their co-op shop in the historic CocaCola building at 3121 Broadway.

Kimball specializes in functional pottery, creating original designs in tableware handcrafted from locally dug Kentucky clays. The appeal of the porcelain producing city Jingdezhen and its international ceramics center has long been of interest to him. “I have patiently waited for the timing to be right (over 18 years) to visit Jingdezhen, China,” said Kimball. “I am really looking forward to sharing Paducah’s vision and love of folk craft with the porcelain capital of the world as well as bringing that centuries old tradition back to our home–Paducah, Kentucky.”

Experiential learning is the core mission of The Pottery Workshop Jingdezhen, an international ceramics center focusing on the development and enrichment of ceramics in China and abroad. While in Jingdezhen, Kimball is being immersed in learning traditional Chinese ceramics techniques with local masters and experiencing life in Jingdezhen. James Chen, of the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, has been sharing the Chinese culture with his Kentucky guest. He recently facilitated bringing a television crew to interview Kimball. “This opportunity is worth recording as the friendship and cooperation between our cities continues,” said Chen.

“The CVB is delighted to facilitate these types of experiences for our local artisans through our participation in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN),” said Mary Hammond, executive director of the Paducah Convention & Visitors Bureau, local UCCN focal point. “Our designation generates new opportunities for global collaboration and exchange. Paducah has worked with Jingdezhen since their joining of the network in 2015, and Mitch’s residency solidifies a valuable relationship with this like-minded city on the other side of the world.”

A memorial exhibition, “Freda Fairchild: Beyond Expectations” opens at the PJC Gallery and Downstairs Alcove Gallery at West Kentucky Community and Technical College’s Paducah School of Art & Design (PSAD) 2D/Graphic Design Building at 905 Harrison Street on Thursday, October 12, with an opening reception from 5-7 PM. “Beyond Expectations” is running concurrently through November 8 with PSAD’s “Legacy 2–The Lower Town Arts District” exhibit, featuring a collection of artwork by previous and current Lower Town artists.

Shand Stamper, Fairchild’s niece and art teacher at McCracken County High School, was thrilled when Paul Aho, PSAD Dean, offered the gallery space for a memorial exhibition. “We had a very short turn around to make a show of this scale happen but it is an accurate representation of the breadth and scale of Freda’s work,” said Stamper.

Fairchild, who passed away on June 29, was an enthusiastic and prolific multi-media artist who maintained a studio/gallery at Studio Miska, 627 Madison in Paducah’s Lower Town Arts District. She worked primarily in fiber arts, costume design, and a non-toxic printmaking process, which she enjoyed sharing with other artists.

“Preparing the work [for the exhibition] has been a cathartic experience,” said Stamper. “I think the hardest part of her passing is that she has been a mentor to me my whole life. So much of the person I am, as a maker, has been influenced by Freda. More than her talent, I deeply admired her commitment to her work. She worked every single day. She worked until she couldn’t anymore and then she cried because she couldn’t work.”

A Kentucky native, Fairchild earned a bachelor’s degree in Art at Berea College. After attending graduate courses in art at San Francisco State University, she remained in California studying printmaking and teaching before eventually devoting herself entirely to making art. She returned to Kentucky in 2001 to participate in the “At Home Project” with Judy Chicago at Western Kentucky University. She ventured to Paducah one weekend during that time, bought a home, and became one the first participants in the city’s Artist Relocation Program.

Fairchild has a rich and lengthy exhibition history. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including shows in Austria, Sweden, Japan, Cuba, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, France and United Kingdom. Her work can be seen locally in private collections and at the chapel at Lourdes Hospital. She was a founding member and chair of the Paducah Arts Alliance, which facilitates an artist-in-residence program involving artists from across the globe.

Since Fairchild’s death this past summer, Stamper has been sorting, matting, mounting, pricing, and inventorying her aunt’s extensive body of work. All artwork on display as well as individual original prints are available for purchase throughout the PSAD exhibition.

In the spirit of Fairchild’s passion for collaborating with other artists, a second event, “Freda Fairchild: Beyond Life Collaboration” is being planned by family and friends for Spring 2018. “Freda delighted in the process of making and in sharing. Her work both finished and left in progress should not be abandoned to turn to dust on shelves and in boxes,” said Stamper. Small bundles of Fairchild’s unfinished printed papers will be available for artists to purchase and “respond” to for the Spring 2018 exhibit. “Help me cast her net farther into the future with this show.”

More information on how to become involved in this collaborative project will be available at PSAD’s October 12 opening reception.

When music lyrics and cartoon monsters become the muse for a young father and elementary art teacher, you never know what unexpected personal art project will evolve. That’s exactly what happened to Paducah Arts Alliance (PAA) member and Massac County Art teacher John Romang.

Romang presentsMonster Lyrics, a one day solo art exhibit, Saturday, June 10, from 4-8 pm at Studio Mars, 418 N 7th Street in Paducah’s Lowertown Arts District. The exhibit is the result of a school project to have students illustrate a song lyric using monsters.

“I thought that the concept would be a fun challenge for them,” said Romang. “I had to do a couple of examples so they could see what I was looking for in the project.” As the effort progressed, Romang did not think the students were choosing good songs, so he started making his own set of drawings. “I couldn’t stop…I created three full sketchbooks during my lunch breaks.”

The more he worked on creating new drawings, the more Romang got serious about the Monster Lyrics project and began making water color paintings. “I love creating these,” said Romang. “I constantly am thinking of what lyric I will hear so I can create another.”

Romang also printed a book to compliment the exhibit. The Monster Lyrics book will be available for purchase at the exhibition on Saturday.

Romang is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University. He is employed at Massac Unit 1 School district, where he has been teaching art to grades 1-8 for the past 11 years. His ink, resin, and light works have been featured in publications and in exhibits and galleries in Kentucky, Illinois, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. He was one of the recipients of the 2015 Tanne Foundation Awards (Boston, Massachusetts) and received the People’s Choice Award at Yeiser Art Center in 2011.

For more information about the artist, visit his Instagram; for interviews, contact Romang direct by phone or email at 217.341-6015 or johnromang@gmail.com.

The Paducah Arts Alliance is please to announce that the artwork of internationally recognized artist Paul Lorenz is on display at in two prestigious galleries–one in North America and the other in Asia. Manifest Creative Research Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio, opened the Kentucky Regional Showcase on March 10 and Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA) Museum in Gyeonggi-do, near Seoul, South Korea, opened Abstract Mind on March 31.

In late 2016, Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio, launched a call for entry for an ongoing series of exhibits focusing on works by artists in its own three-state region. Eighty-five artists from across Kentucky submitted 274 works for consideration for the “Kentucky Regional Showcase,” which is on display through April 7. In addition to being juried into the exhibit,Lorenz’s work entitled Opening with 1300 Lines, graphite and oil on panel, is one of eight works by seven Kentucky artists that were selected to be featured in the Manifest Exhibition Annual Publication.

“Manifest Gallery is extremely diligent when choosing art, so I am very happy to have one of the eight pieces chosen,” Said Lorenz. “There is a lot of great art in Kentucky, so I am fortunate.”

CICA Museum in South Korea had its beginning as the studio of sculptor Czong Ho Kim in 1994. It has become an unique cultural space that fosters projects of experimental artists. CICA invited artists worldwide to participate in “Abstract Mind.” Lorenz’s work “Penetration 02-22-17 #3” has been juried into this prestigious exhibit which closes on April 16. “Abstract Mind sounded like an exhibition I could show some work in,” said Lorenz. “It’s the first one I am showing a digital piece.”

With an education in Bauhaus architecture and fine art, Lorenz has carved an intriguing niche in the international art world: bridging the principals and immediacy of painting, drawing and sound with the logic and detail of architecture. He exhibits with numerous galleries in the United States and Europe. His work has been on display in Australia, Singapore, Austria, England and Sweden to name a few. As a member of Pintura Fresca, an international group of abstract artists, Lorenz has been instrumental in fostering and sharing relationships with artists across the globe through the Paducah Arts Alliance Artist in Residence Program and enhancing Paducah’s reputation as an UNESCO Creative City.

For more information about the artist, visit paullorenz.com. For interviews, contact Paul Lorenz at 270.243.1054 or email marsarc@msn.com.

Paducah School of Art and Design (PSAD) is pleased to present Legacy, an exhibition of works by and tribute to past and present middle and high school art educators within the region served by West Kentucky Community and Technical College.

Legacy will open with a reception event from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. on January 19, 2017 and run through February 23 in the Bill Ford Gallery, located within PSAD’s new 32,000 square foot 2D and Graphic Design Building in the Lower Town Arts District.

“Our intent in organizing Legacy is to honor the contributions individual art teachers have made within their respective communities over the years”, says PSAD dean Paul Aho. “This exhibition shines a light on their work as artists and spotlights their role as mentors. Each of the participating artists, and their regional peers who are not represented here, have been significant figures in the lives of many young people in west Kentucky.”

Exhibiting artists include Ruth Baggett, Paducah Tilghman High School; Cindy Bazor, Massac County High School; Jinny Bittner, Ballard Memorial High School; Jennifer Bowles, Livingston County Middle School; Juanita Gilliam, Reidland High School (retired); Mitch Kimball, McCracken County High School; Lynn Pesoat, McCracken County High School; RAN (Miranda Meeks), Caldwell County Middle School; Craig Rhodes, Paducah Tilghman High School (retired); John Romang, Massac County Junior High School; Sandy Sasso, Calloway County High School (retired) and Shand Stamper, McCracken County High School.

The exhibition was co-curated by Lily Liu, PSAD’s community education and public programs coordinator, and Shane Ward, PSAD’s new sculptor instructor.

The Legacy exhibition is complemented by Bright Futures, a selection of high school student works which will be on display in PSAD’s alcove galleries at the same time. Participating schools include Ballard Memorial High School, Community Christian Academy, Graves County High School, Livingston County High School, Massac County High School, McCracken County High School, Open Door Academy, Paducah Tilghman High School, and Truitt Homeschool.

The Bill Ford Gallery is located in PSAD’s 2D and Graphic Design Building at 905 Harrison Street in Lower Town, Paducah, KY. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

---

Originally published by Paducah School of Art & Design