Category: News

2017 Great Meadows Foundation Artist Professional Development Grant Recipient

2017 has already started off on the right foot!!  It brings me great pleasure to announce that I have been awarded an Artist Professional Development Grant from Great Meadows Foundation!

Great Meadows Foundation is a grant giving foundation, launched in 2016 by contemporary art collector and philanthropist Al Shands.  The vision and purpose of Great Meadows Foundation is to strengthen and support the visual arts in Kentucky.  There are accomplishing this by empowering artists and visual arts professionals to research, connect, and participate more actively in the broader contemporary art world.

Examples of professional development grants awarded include travels to attend conferences, major exhibitions, art fairs and biennials.  These experiences will enable recipients to connect with professionals in the field and help them develop their practice.  In pursuit of their proposals, grantee artists are traveling to American cities such as Boston, L.A,, Chicago and New York, as well as to countries as diverse as Cuba, Dubai, Greece, Iceland, and Korea to name just a few.

So where am I headed?  I will be attending CONTACT, the world’s largest photography festival in Toronto during the month of May 2017.  Each day of this week long trip will be devoted to exploring the broad spectrum of programming presented at this internationally respected photography festival, with the ultimate goal of initiating meaningful interaction and exchanges with the individuals who are making, presenting and viewing these works alongside myself.

CONTACT is a photography festival that is committed to advancing knowledge, creativity and innovation in photography.  As a photographer whose heart lies beyond the click of the shutter, I too seek ways to advance knowledge, creativity and innovation in my work.  The impact of this deeply educational experience is sure to be present in my output for years to come, not only by inspiring new ways of creating but also incorporating conceptual ideas in my practice.  It could also be the impetus that broadens my audience and advances my career.

It was a true pleasure applying for this grant.  The wide parameters and narrow time constraints of the application made me super aware of current and upcoming exhibitions as well as potential development opportunities worldwide, several of which I have already submitted too!

Thank you Great Meadows Foundation!!

The Great Meadows Foundation region encompasses the 120 counties of Kentucky, and the Greater Louisville area of Clark and Floyd counties in Indiana. The next deadline for applications is midnight on Sunday March 19, 2017.  Travel in this cycle must be carried out between May 1 and October 31, 2017.  Click HERE to learn more and apply!

~jz

“Ways of Seeing”, a statewide traveling exhibition

Artwork that depicts an alternate reality is the feature of the Kentucky Arts Council’s traveling exhibit titled “Ways of Seeing.”  The work is abstract, conceptual, fantasy-based and experimental.  Some pieces imagine an alternate reality by exploring the unknown or by re-envisioning the known world.  Each work is by an artist in the Kentucky Crafted program or a recipient of the Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship and will travel to 5 venues around the Commonwealth of Kentucky through December 2017.

Looking Backwards 2 (from Attempting Utopia series), Dye Sublimation on Aluminum, featured in “Ways of Seeing” exhibition.

As a 2014 Al Smith Fellowship recipient, it’s a real honor to be a featured artist in this exhibition and I’m also very grateful for the opportunity to have my work travel across Kentucky.  I must admit that the show is traveling to places in the state I have yet to visit.   And I love going to places I have never been before…even if it’s vicariously through my artwork!

Check out the exhibition in the following locations: (I will update this page with specific dates for shows in Williamsburg, Somerset and Madisonville when that information becomes available)

Appalachian Artisan Center, Hindman October 3rd – December 22 2016
Eastern Kentucky University Center for the Arts, Richmond January 9th – February 26th 2017
Whitley County Fine Arts, Williamsburg March – May 2017
Center for Rural Development, Somerset June – August 2017
Glema Mahr Center for the Arts, Madisonville September – December 2017

 

“‘Ways of Seeing’ transports the viewer to a different time and place and gives them a sense of otherworldliness,” said Lori Meadows, Kentucky Arts Council Executive Director.  I’m ready to transport myself to some of these smaller towns, check out areas of Kentucky currently unfamiliar to me and see these works in person!

Road trip anyone?

~jz

 

Member Monday Featured Artist at Louisville Visual Art

Loved being a recently featured artist on the Member Monday portion of the Louisville Visual Art blog!  Thank you again LVA!!  Member Monday is a fun and informative segment, which asks selected artists the same 10 questions, with wildly varying results depending on whose answering.

**Please note, this is the entire interview featured on the LVA website and all photos affiliated with this post are taken by Sarah Katherine Davis Photography.  She ROCKS and so does LVA!!  Check out other featured artists on Member Monday by clicking HERE.

 

How did you first get involved with LVA? 

Joining LVA was one of the first things I did upon my return to Louisville in 2011. I first showed my work in Louisville that winter at LVA, for the Month of Makers exhibition in conjunction with Makers Mark.

When did you first know that art was going to be a big part of your life?

I was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to art.   I didn’t connect with a particular medium until my last semester at University of Kentucky when I took my first photography class.  It was my first job out of college at the Haitian Art Company in Key West that solidified my life with art!

What does LVA add to your life?

LVA has been a huge source of support to me for many years.  They have promoted and exhibited my work, and provided teaching opportunities to me.  LVA continually educates and inspires me with the introduction of new artists, concepts, and ideas.  I love my weekly sessions with Artebella and PUBLIC radio!

How else are you involved in the community? 

Currently I’m working with the Louisville Photo Biennial, teaching photography classes at underserved community centers throughout the Louisville Metro area.  I am also a fixture in the local yoga community.

Describe your perfect Sunday afternoon.

My perfect afternoon contains little yoga, a lot of cooking with my NPR Sunday shows in the background, some quality time outdoors as well as with my stack of library books. The day would end watching a film that I think about the next day!

   

 

Who is your favorite local artist?

I love the work of collage and assemblage artist Caroline Waite.

Where would you like to see Louisville 10 years from now?

I would like to see Louisville competing on a national level for creative, artistic, and entrepreneurial opportunities.

What neighborhood do you live in? What are some of your favorite things about it?

I live in Irish Hill.  It’s a quick bike ride to most places I want to be in the city.  While the area is in a constant state of transition, many of my neighbors have lived in Irish Hill for 30/40 + years!

What three items would you bring to a desert island? 

A rain barrel, lacinato kale seeds and my citrus press.

What advice would you give your past self if you could? 

Trust your intuition.