"Art After Hours" Showcases 22 Local Artists

The Campbell County Library district of Kentucky holds numerous free events for the public as a matter of course. From computer and craft classes to live music and dance events and family movie nights, they have something for everyone. Tonight- July 31, 2009- the Newport Branch hosted "Art After Hours", a free art exhibit of 22 local artists from Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. The event took place from 7 pm to 10 pm.

The library was large enough to accomodate the event easily and each artist had ample room to exhibit. There were a variety of mediums represented, including oils, acrylics, trompe l'oeil work, pottery, clay work, metals and woodworking, and photography. Refreshments were served by McHale's Catering Company (http://www.kycater.com) and Stonebrook Winery (http://www.stoenbrookwinery.com).

Some of the outstanding artists exhibiting were Curtis Heuser (www.livingmurals.com/) who does remarkable outdoor and indoor trompe l'oeil, Beverly Erschell whose work struck me as the optimistic version of Van Gogh, and Chris Plummer (www.cplummerart.com/) who makes full color and black and white woodcuts.

Bob Ihrig (www.photocreationsbybob.com/) is a retired middle school principal who would shoot photography as an escape after work. Some of his photos reminded me of the early work of Jan McCullough. The most striking photos were infared shots of mountains and landscapes. Rick DeForrest made meditative clay figurines. Some bordered on the whimsical, but most reminded me of archaeological artifacts. DeForrest said he never knows what he is sculpting until it is finished and that kind of wild-card creativity certainly pays off for him. Mike Maydak is an illustrator. He had some samples of comic books on display that he had illustrated and he also paints using oil palette knives in a style that seems a cross between Dr. Suess and Tim Burton.

The best artist there, in my humble opinion, was Abdala Faye (http://www.akebuland.com/). Faye was born in Senegal and has travelled the world exhibiting his work. He paints in impressionistic styles that obviously include his soul. None of the works on display at "Art After Hours" are on his website for viewing, but those on the site are enough to give one an idea of what I saw. There were two in particular that stood out to me. One was of a woman, nude to the waist, carrying a water jar on her shoulder with an expression of deep sorrow and exhaustion and cold apathy at the same time. The colors and the woman herself were so striking as to make the image unforgettable. The other was a very large painting done in layers of burlap and sawdust in a variety of reds, browns, and oranges. In the center, these layers gave way to reveal part of a man's face in greys. Faye explained that that painting was his view of the grandfather he never met. Everyone had different stories to tell amd some of these would be confused in their particulars, but would always come down to "he was the great man." The painting illustrated his quest to find this man underneath the layers of different memories and his longing to one day finally meet him. It was the showcase piece of Faye's exhibit which was seperated from all the others in a room called the "Kentucky Room."

To background all this beauty, there was a live band with Saba as the vocalist, a Cincinnati native that specializes in Jazz, Blues, and R&B. We had the good fortune to run into a friend there who was once a selling artist himself. "Artist After Hours" was a rewarding evening well spent.