Patrick has received the VSA arts of Kentucky Young Soloists Award each year from 2001 to 2005. He has performed throughout the country and has appeared on national television. People Magazine did a feature story on him. He has received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement from both President Clinton and President Bush. Patrick’s fascination with the piano began at the age of nine months when his father began teaching him how to play. He is currently a freshman at the University of Louisville, where he plays in the U of L Marching Band. He continues piano studies with Julliard graduate Hinda Ordman.
Cindy Paulding who is legally blind has been exploring photography for years. Pictures provide her a way to get a close look at what the world looks like. Digital photography and computers have made taking pictures easier. “I have begun to explore some pictures as statements,” says Cindy, “as sets to create feelings or impressions and as doorways or opportunities to visit a place of calm or wonder in a hectic world.”
“I had to fall into the darkness to see the light, and from the light came my art,” says Jimmie. He’s written poetry since the age of 12, but it wasn’t until he was 49, after a breakdown, that he discovered his gifts in visual arts. Dealing with chronic depression, he finds joy in his art and in his country living. “When the worries of today or tomorrow begin to weigh upon my soul, I drift to the places of my heart. I close my eyes and I am amidst the hills, cliffs, and hollows that have molded me into a man, I am at peace.”
Art has been a dominant factor in my life since childhood. I discovered as a child the great communicative potential of art and actively pursued perfecting various media from pencil drawing to painting to poetry to the study of violin to say what I could not with regular language. My heroes were DaVinci, Degas, Picasso and Mozart. Through observation of their work, I could see reflections of myself, my dreams and my aspirations. In 1985, I professed to be a visual artist and taught myself how to draw and paint. My chosen media are graphite, oil and photography.
Painting causes me to come alive and have a passion for what I am painting. This is what I want the observer to have when looking at my paintings. Finding subjects to accomplish this igniting of intense interest in the observer can be difficult at times. It is difficult because the picture I want to paint does not occur all the time in normal life. These moments can come from nature, human beings or animals. They may show intense interest, sadness or excitement. These expressions are spontaneous and can occur when not expected.
Melanie Sunbeam Smith turned to the visual arts when her arthritic condition halted her study and practice of music. She maintains a studio at her country home in Kentucky . Smith’s many interests and her versatility have led her to work in many mediums: printmaking, pen and ink drawing, collage, acrylic painting, pastels, and fiber. She believes that having to contend with a chronic disease has taught her that life is what you make it, and she chooses to make hers exciting and filled with positive energy. Her artwork has been exhibited widely throughout Kentucky and is in private collections nationally and internationally.
Ben Stroud Brighton, TN
VISUAL ARTIST:
Acrylic Paintings
Telephone:
901-837-0017
Sesto Calende (Verese), Italy
001 390 331 963003
Ben Stroud, who has schizophrenia, joined the U.S. Navy as an illustrator, later retiring and spending several years traveling in Europe . His artistic approach incorporates oil-on-wood or canvas bonded to hand-carved oak or walnut frames. Stroud's energetic and dynamic style combines great wit, irony, and social commentary –– a product of his curious and vivid imagination.
The Kentucky Arts Council, a state agency in the Commerce Cabinet, provides operational support funding for VSA Arts Kentucky with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.
© 2006 Cindy Paulding
Enlarge Picture
© 2006 Jimmie Pennington 
© 2008 Lukas de Saint-Clair
© 2006 John Seybold
© 2006 Melanie Sunbeam Smith 
