Biographies of Transitions Exhibition Artists
Eriko Whittaker is an artist and she is passionate about bringing art to local communities. Her paintings include rich color and depictions of people set in an environment. She creates narrative pieces, often using paper and collage to further instill meaning. She is also a member of IAVA (International Association of Visual Artists) since 2019 and is on the production team of Printed., a Louisville-based zine. Originally from Zama, Japan, she has also received her B.F.A in Studio Art with Enhanced Art History at Murray State University. She currently resides in Louisville, Kentucky and works at a custom frame shop, Bluegrass Frames. She aspires to continue reaching her art to a wider audience and to continue staying involved with the local art community.
Questions: How does the idea of transitions play into your studio practice? Recently undergoing great life changes, she takes her experience from the past year and reflects them through imagery of personal experiences. In her studio practice she thinks of the past and present, often using color, light, and subject matter to convey the complex emotions and physical reactions created by life transitions. She expands her studio practice by exploring themes such as doubt, anxiety, fear, excitement, and hope. Her paintings consist of self portraits, either in specific environments or close up images. By painting herself in environments, she reflects on the physical spaces she inhabited while navigating through a very temporary time. By depicting close up images, she creates an intimate look into physical symptoms of transitioning. In these depictions, stress and fear are shown in a way that conjures emotions to the viewer. What does the idea of transitions mean to you or how does it apply to you? She has undergone major environmental changes, such as graduating from college, living under quarantine, moving to California, and then transitioning back to Louisville, Kentucky. She also underwent emotional transitions, such as loss, heartbreak, rejection, and trauma. The idea of transition means to trust and to keep faith in the process, especially in the face of great uncertainty. This also includes the will to be flexible and to pivot whenever necessary. Graduating from college in the thick of quarantine, she was awarded a grant to continue her studio practice and to travel abroad. However, due to Covid-19, any international travel became next to impossible. Though it was one of the most difficult decisions of her life thus far, she decided to decline the grant for her mental health. She pivoted, forging a new path instead and deciding to pursue her artistic career in Louisville, Kentucky. 
Irene Reed is an incoming sophomore at the School of the Art Institute, where she is predominately studying ceramic arts, painting, and art history. She hopes to graduate and begin a career in object conservation, hopefully focusing on Ancient Greek and Roman artifacts. Irene’s childhood in rural Kentucky affects her work greatly, with many pieces revolving around her relationship with nature, conservative upbringings and culture, Irene hopes to create a humorous environment for her audience to contemplate and critique histories’ erasure of queer culture in ancient - or not so ancient - histories. In this show, Irene focuses on her own personal transition between life in Kentucky as a subdued, queer woman, to her more flamboyant, uncloseted life in Chicago.
How does the idea of transitions play into your studio practice? As someone who mostly painted throughout high school, transitioning from a majorly 2D process to a majorly 3D process has been interesting so far. My love for surface decoration stems from my love to paint, and finding a perfect blend between a sculptural object and a painting has been a challenge so far! What does the idea of transitions mean to you or how does it apply to you? Not only does my transition between country and city life apply in this show/in my life, but so does the idea of a gender transition. I have been open to my close friends about my changing gender identity, and how I find myself craving a more angrogenous form, or to erase my surplus femininity. Part of this show has hidden messages as to my own gender transition, moving from being a “woman,” (which now I don’t think I ever was a woman) to identifying as non-binary. But since I don’t think I’m ready to come out, this is not the “main point” in my work. 
Ali Wine is a visual artist from Louisville, KY. After graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2019, she moved back to Louisville. The return to the familiar setting, as well as the relative isolation of the last year under quarantine, has led her process to turn inwards to create a personal narrative landscape. Her current work is primarily painting and drawing, though weaving is also an important part of practice. How does the idea of transitions play into your studio practice? Since graduating with a BFA in painting in 2019, my studio has been shifting away from academic work towards a professional practice. Largely, this transition has led me to reevaluate why I make art, and how I make it. Working out of my apartment in relative solitude has led me create more personal work, looking to my own set of inspirations and drawing from my own memories and dreams. What does the idea of transitions mean to you or how does it apply to you? When I think of the artists represented in this show, we are all in new stages of our lives. Our work reflects how these personal changes interact with the changes in the studio, and vice versa. The work shows how a practice moves and grows with an artist throughout their lifetime, rather than staying stagnant. |
Diana Taylor Being raised in a military environment with an African American father and German mother has instilled in me the characteristics of open-mindedness, tenacity and resilience. The United States Army blessed me with the opportunity to live abroad and having that nomadic lifestyle has strengthened my ability to accept change. My bi-racial identity and experiences have taught me the capacity to empathize with others different than myself and live a life of compassion and acceptance instead of intolerance. Seeing my minority and immigrant parents’ fight to reach their dreams has taught me tenacity when striving for my goals. I see myself as a role model and so it is of the utmost importance that I model the behaviors I learned from my parents and refuse to let anything stand in the way of attaining success in life. It is like the late Nelson Mandela said, “A winner is a dreamer who never gave up”. Questions: How does the idea of transitions play into your studio practice? It wasn’t until my undergraduate education that I began to fully learn and understand the history and treatment of African Americans in the United States. Information was omitted from the Department of Defense and public school educations I received. America cannot expect to transition to true equality without first acknowledging the atrocities that have and continue to happen. The method of cruelty may change from generation to generation, but the oppressive nature remains the same. What does the idea of transitions mean to you or how does it apply to you? I’ve spent the last twenty years in a confining corporate environment and recently transitioned into beginning a career in art education. Finally stepping outside of the box, my metamorphosis has been a freeing experience as I have been able to nurture my creativity and visually communicate things that have weighed on my heart and mind, but have not been able to fully express verbally. 
Kat McCadden
It has been 2 years since I have graduated college with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. Finding the reason why I create art or finding a theme for my art to follow has always been tough for me to put into words. I create art because I enjoy it, there is no rhyme or reason but if there was a reason why I create my art, it would be because I find joy and comfort in creating works of art. How does the idea of transitions play into your studio practice? My ever changing ideas and use of materials embodies the very idea of "Transitions". I am always using different materials to create my artwork and with ink as a main medium I use, the artwork is transformed each time ink is pressed between two pieces of paper. What does the idea of transitions mean to you or how does it apply to you? Transitions means to me that transitioning from college to the "real world". Creating art in a college setting with peers and a set guideline on what to create for the week, to creating my very own creative direction with little to no guidance. And that's a bit terrifying. 
Shamia Gaither currently works in Louisville, Ky, where she primarily works with paper, chalk pastel, and oil pastel to create drawings to explore fears stemming from generations of censor.
How does the idea of transitions play into your studio practice? Transitions play into my studio practice through daily tasks within the studio. It continues with the conversations with materials and spirits that occupy the space. What does the idea of transitions mean to you or how does it apply to you? The idea of transitions, to me, is the practice. And my work is the continuation of that practice. |