Month of May, 2019 - Guest Artists
Potter Hoyt Childers and Printmaker Molly Kempson
Potter Hoyt Childers and Printmaker Molly Kempson
HOYT CHILDERS
Hoyt has been a maker of one sort or another – potter, professional writer/photographer, with brief detours into restoration carpentry and automobile restoration – since before the life-changing experience of studying ceramics under master potter and arts educator Walter Hyleck in the Berea College Ceramic Apprenticeship program beginning in 1970.
Work as a freelance magazine writer and photographer occupied the biggest chunk of the intervening decades (22 years) closely followed by ceramics, now at 20-plus years.
Since late 2014, Hoyt has maintained a pottery studio at his home in rural Alachua County, where he does high-fire functional and decorative stoneware while sharing a semi-empty nest with his wife, Kim, who is a professor at the University of Florida. They share their country home with a dog, a cat and two horses. They also enjoy sharing five acres of mostly woods with an unknown but significant and growing number of owls, squirrels and hawks, gopher tortoises, etc., who are being squeezed by the appalling development-fueled deforestation of western Alachua County. They enjoy frequent weekend visits from their sons, Ian, who is graduating from UF in May (2019) with a BFA in graphic design, and Aidan, who is a sophomore at UF, following his passion of fiction writing while tolerating, to one degree or another, all the other classes he has to take.
Hoyt formulates and mixes his own unique glazes and clay bodies. Much of the imagery in his larger pieces derives from – and is intended to draw attention to – at risk environments, such as marine ecosystems and polar ice caps. Many large pieces he considers primarily sculptural, but most are functional as well. All Hoyt’s functional work is microwave- and dishwasher and food safe.
Since 2016, Hoyt’s work has been in exhibitions at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lynchburg, Va., Del Ray Artisans Gallery, Alexandria, Va., the Shaped Clay Society at Syracuse University, the Victor F. Keen Gallery at Clay Arts Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada and in an invitational alumni show at Doris Ulmann Galleries, Berea College, Berea, Ky, his undergraduate alma mater.
Two of Hoyt’s pieces are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. https://americanart.si.edu/artist/philip-childers-861
Hoyt participates in the Gainesville Downtown Festival & Art Show, the Santa Fe College Spring Arts Festival, the Art Festival at Thornebrook, and the Winter Fine Arts Fair at Tioga. Locally, in addition to the Artisans’ Guild Gallery, his work is also sold at the Harn Museum Store, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, at the University of Florida, and at the Lanza Gallery in High Springs.
Hoyt has been a maker of one sort or another – potter, professional writer/photographer, with brief detours into restoration carpentry and automobile restoration – since before the life-changing experience of studying ceramics under master potter and arts educator Walter Hyleck in the Berea College Ceramic Apprenticeship program beginning in 1970.
Work as a freelance magazine writer and photographer occupied the biggest chunk of the intervening decades (22 years) closely followed by ceramics, now at 20-plus years.
Since late 2014, Hoyt has maintained a pottery studio at his home in rural Alachua County, where he does high-fire functional and decorative stoneware while sharing a semi-empty nest with his wife, Kim, who is a professor at the University of Florida. They share their country home with a dog, a cat and two horses. They also enjoy sharing five acres of mostly woods with an unknown but significant and growing number of owls, squirrels and hawks, gopher tortoises, etc., who are being squeezed by the appalling development-fueled deforestation of western Alachua County. They enjoy frequent weekend visits from their sons, Ian, who is graduating from UF in May (2019) with a BFA in graphic design, and Aidan, who is a sophomore at UF, following his passion of fiction writing while tolerating, to one degree or another, all the other classes he has to take.
Hoyt formulates and mixes his own unique glazes and clay bodies. Much of the imagery in his larger pieces derives from – and is intended to draw attention to – at risk environments, such as marine ecosystems and polar ice caps. Many large pieces he considers primarily sculptural, but most are functional as well. All Hoyt’s functional work is microwave- and dishwasher and food safe.
Since 2016, Hoyt’s work has been in exhibitions at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lynchburg, Va., Del Ray Artisans Gallery, Alexandria, Va., the Shaped Clay Society at Syracuse University, the Victor F. Keen Gallery at Clay Arts Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada and in an invitational alumni show at Doris Ulmann Galleries, Berea College, Berea, Ky, his undergraduate alma mater.
Two of Hoyt’s pieces are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. https://americanart.si.edu/artist/philip-childers-861
Hoyt participates in the Gainesville Downtown Festival & Art Show, the Santa Fe College Spring Arts Festival, the Art Festival at Thornebrook, and the Winter Fine Arts Fair at Tioga. Locally, in addition to the Artisans’ Guild Gallery, his work is also sold at the Harn Museum Store, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, at the University of Florida, and at the Lanza Gallery in High Springs.
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MOLLY KEMPSON
I make work about the complexities and frustrations of growing up and loving the American South - its flora, fauna, language, and vernacular architecture. Through my linocut and letterpress prints I hope to highlight habitats, species, and structures in peril and bring hidden histories to light. I believe we cannot embrace an identity as Southerners without confronting painful histories. There is no "Simply Southern" identity and there is no "heritage" without a history of hate. My recent work addresses this duality and the importance of historical preservation for marginalized communities, as well as illustrative linocuts of native Florida wildlife.
I am as much a teacher as I am an artist. I teach art at an elementary school, to pre-service teachers at the University of Florida, and create art with patients as an artist-in-residence at UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine.
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ARTWALK GAINESVILLE
Join us for Artwalk Gainesville. It is held the last Friday of each month from 7 to 10 pm.
Our next Artwalk will be Friday, May 31st, 2019
Featuring the Work of Alfred Phillips
Music by the Ukuleles
Enjoy Refreshments, Meet Artists and Listen to Live Music
Our next Artwalk will be Friday, May 31st, 2019
Featuring the Work of Alfred Phillips
Music by the Ukuleles
Enjoy Refreshments, Meet Artists and Listen to Live Music
Alfred Phillips is a Gainesville-based artist who specializes in acrylic painting. Educated at Louisville, Kentucky’s Art Center School, with a full scholarship four-year studio degree, Phillips had a long, successful career in commercial art that included stints at ad agencies, then at his own graphics design firm. In 2003 he closed the firm and took up acrylic painting full time when he relocated to Fort Lauderdale, earning multiple awards, and making sales on national and international levels. In 2013 he moved to Gainesville, FL, and became active in the arts community. Phillips helped establish the Gainesville Fine Arts Association gallery and served on the Board for over five years. He also served as volunteer Gallery Director and steered its direction for several years until a paid employee could be afforded by the association. His work can be viewed on his website: www.alfredphillips.com.
“I generally paint realistically but never to the point of photorealism. I call my work ‘contemporary realism’ to allow for the freedom to include abstracted areas or mixed media, or even palette knife work. I am interested in many subjects including landscapes, urban life and figurative work.”
Alfred Phillips
1325 NW 53 Terrace
Gainesville, FL 32605
alfredstudio@att.net
www.alfredphillips.com
954-326-3133
“I generally paint realistically but never to the point of photorealism. I call my work ‘contemporary realism’ to allow for the freedom to include abstracted areas or mixed media, or even palette knife work. I am interested in many subjects including landscapes, urban life and figurative work.”
Alfred Phillips
1325 NW 53 Terrace
Gainesville, FL 32605
alfredstudio@att.net
www.alfredphillips.com
954-326-3133
