FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Suzanne Čada
PO Box 2506
Knoxville, TN 37901
(865) 523-7543
sc@knoxalliance.com
www.knoxalliance.com

Arts & Culture Alliance Presents “Art Awakenings”

(05/13/2010/Knoxville) – The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present a new exhibition entitled “Art Awakenings”, featuring works by Shawn Kincaid, Dina Loukota, Wes Loukota, and Rufus S. Morgan, MD. The exhibition is coordinated by Shawn Kincaid and Dina Loukota, who first met in 2005 at an Arrowmont class. The two artists have since supported and encouraged each other in their art and taken many classes together. The idea for this exhibition title emerged because these artists spend so much time at their jobs and teaching classes that they rarely have time for their own work. “This is truly an ‘art awakening’ for us because it is our first full exhibition,” says Kincaid. The exhibition will be displayed in the Balcony at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from June 4-25, 2010, and an opening reception will take place as part of First Friday activities on June 4 from 5:00-9:00 PM. 

Shawn Lorraine Kincaid is an art teacher at Tate's School of Discovery in Knoxville and is proud to be a native sixth generation East Tennessean. “I believe my deep cultural and family heritage helps inspire my love for the natural areas of this beautiful region in which we live,” she says. Kincaid predominately paints landscapes, many created from the back porch of her farm in LaFollette. She received a BS in Education from the University of Tennessee with a concentration and certification in Art for K-12. Kincaid also has many hours of workshops and classes above her degree requirements and has recently started working with pastels from several classes with Paul deMarrais, Bonnie Dolan, and Susan Oglivie. “I use soft pastels in an Impressionistic style over a textured acrylic underpainting. The colors I choose are bright and vibrant and vary from the traditional colors.” Kincaid often takes her own digital photographs of the surrounding area and manipulates the colors through PhotoShop until reaching a pleasing vibrancy and distortion of color. 

Dina (Bernardina) Loukota paints animals, many scenes from Italy, and local landscapes. As an artist, her inspirations and influences come from her travels across Italy and from animals. “Each painting is a visual history of a particular moment of time, place and emotion that I record through my art,” she says. Although she is a classically-trained artist with experience in oils, she prefers to use pastels and/or charcoal pencils. Her methodology changes depending on the subject matter and how she is feeling at that moment. She takes her own digital photographs and usually paints from them. Loukota has attended various local pastel classes with Bonnie Dolan (Arrowmont), Louise Farley (Fountain City Art Center) and Paul deMarrais (Fountain City Art Center).

Wes Loukota has been a woodworker for many years and will display bowls, platters, wall hangings, vases, and sculptures. He has turned for seven years, taken turning classes at Woodcraft and Arrowmont, and attended the American Association of Woodturners National Symposium several times with items on display in the Instant Gallery. He is a juried member of the East Tennessee Woodworker's Guild, The Foothills Craft Guild, The Appalachian Arts Craft Center, and the Smoky Mountain Woodturners.

Dr. Rufus Samuel Morgan, a self-taught painter, was born in 1920 and grew up in Chattanooga.  He served during WWII, and while stationed in Italy he received his only formal training in art: a drawing class he paid for with food pilfered from the barracks. Upon his return to the United States, he attended medical school with the aid of the GI Bill. In 1949, he and his wife moved to Pikeville, TN, where Dr. Morgan practiced medicine until 1975. They then moved to Signal Mountain where Dr. Morgan continued to practice in the ER at Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga and began focusing more on his painting. Although he has traveled all over the world, he has been a lifelong resident of Tennessee and an avid outdoorsman. In his paintings he seeks to capture the beauty of Tennessee and the Sequatchie Valley, through both a remembered past and an observed present. Dr. Morgan is also a photographer, and often creates paintings based on photographs. 

“Art Awakenings” will be displayed June 4-25, 2010 in the Balcony at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM with additional hours on Saturday, June 5, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM.  Also on display in the Balcony Gallery: Winning Photographs from Knox Heritage's Annual Art & Architecture Tour. For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at (865) 523-7543 or visit www.knoxalliance.com.

About the Arts & Culture Alliance
The Arts & Culture Alliance serves and supports a diverse community of artists, arts organizations, and cultural institutions.  The Alliance receives financial support from the Tennessee Arts Commission and First Tennessee Foundation.

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