Pictured above: Auseklis Ozols signing the book John R. Kemp wrote about him .
Our featured scholars work in various fields and incorporate connection to visual arts practice in their areas of expertise.
Utilizing the benefits of studio practice and related research; our featured scholars are ambassadors for the visual arts in multiple professions.
John R. Kemp
John R. Kemp writes about southern artists for numerous regional, national, and international magazines and, for over three decades, covered the New Orleans art scene for the New Orleans public television show Steppin’ Out. The New Orleans native and former deputy director of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities has written and contributed to more than a dozen books about Louisiana artists and history, including A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana and Expressions of Place: The Contemporary Louisiana Landscape, both published by University Press of Mississippi.
contact email: JohnRKemp@bellsouth.net
Don Marshall
Sylvia Schmidt
Cayman Clevenger
Cybèle Gontar
Cybèle Gontar is an art historian, author, curator & arts publisher. She is native of New Orleans, Louisiana and the owner/director of Degas Gallery.
Featured Scholar, Cybèle Gontar discusses her research on Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (1801–1888) in front of one of his original paintings during a studio class break. (photo)
Ked Dixon, LCSW-BACS, RPT
Ked Dixon utilizes expressive arts in play therapy as a regular part of practice. Children and adolescents use paint and colored pencils to illustrate emotions, describe family relationships and build rapport through nonrepresentational art. Ked also uses sand tray and miniatures to deepen client stories and to help clients focus on different aspects of their stories through Narrative techniques.
Ked’s education and training include a Master of Social Work from Tulane School of Social Work 2010; Licensed Clinical Social Worker since 2014; Board-Approved Clinical Supervisor since 2017; and Registered Play Therapist since 2018.
Phil Sandusky
https://www.philsandusky.com
Original Photo by Auseklis Ozols
These are the most notable publications written by or about Phil Sandusky:
Sandusky has written two articles for American Artist Magazine: “Shedding a New Light on Temperature” in the September 1995 issue (Sandusky’s work was also featured in this issue) and “The Natural Way of Looking” published in 2 parts in the May and June 1999 issues. Both of these articles were republished in a special American Artist publication called Color, This contained the editor’s picks of the 25 best articles on the subject of color published in American Artist magazine in the decade spanning 1990 to 2000.
New Orleans en Plein Air, a 160 page book with color reproductions of 150 of Sandusky’s paintings spanning 1987 to 2002 was released in September 2003 by Pelican Publishing Company. Sandusky also wrote the text for this book which focuses on human vision and painting.
“A Brush with Disaster” by John Kemp was published in the Spring 2006 issue of Louisiana Cultural Vistas magazine, a publication of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. This article discussed Sandusky’s career and approach to painting but focused on his paintings of Hurricane Katrina devastation in New Orleans.
Sandusky’s Katrina devastation paintings were also the focus of an article, “The Art of Post Katrina New Orleans” by Edith Zimmerman in the June 2006 issue of American Artist magazine.
Sandusky’s second book, Painting Katrina was released in August 2007. It shows the paintings he did of New Orleans before and after hurricane Katrina and journals his experiences painting the hurricane devastation.
Sandusky was featured in the Spring 2008 issue of Workshop magazine (a publication of American Artist).
Sandusky’s third book, Jacksonville Through a Painter’s Eyes was released in August 2008. It features paintings of his home town in Florida from the mid 1980s to present, and text about his experiences as an art student there some 40 years ago. Its release coincided with a large solo exhibit at the Cummer Art Museum in Jacksonville.
“Forces That Inspire – New Orleans Through a Plein Air Painter’s Eyes” was an artist profile of Sandusky by Lisa Leblanc-Berry for the November 2009 issue of Louisiana Homes and Gardens.
Sandusky wrote an article entitled “Plein Air Painting as an End as Well as a Means” for the online version of Plein Air Magazine in November 2011.
An artist profile of Sandusky was written by Ian McNulty for the summer 2012 issue of New Orleans Homes and Lifestyles.
Sandusky’s fourth book, New Orleans Impressionist Cityscapes was released in September 2012. It features 130 plein air paintings of New Orleans and the surrounding areas executed from 2007 to 2012, a very productive period for the artist. Sandusky’s accompanying text is an in-depth examination of human vision as it relates to representational art.
“Beauty in the Ordinary and Mundane” by John Kemp was a feature article published in the November 2013 issue of Plein Air magazine. It focused on Sandusky’s method and philosophy and presented many of his paintings