Phototograph by Phil Armstrong, courtesy ArtWorks
Artist-in-Residence Julia Lipovsky draws on the gallery windows with a free hand, white lines spiraling out of the marker to create arbitrary shapes. Mesmerizingly, the swirls and loops connect to form blades of grass. Wiping her hands on her paint-splotched overalls, she overlooks her design.
The final product is identical to what she’d envisioned upon first visiting the Your Name Here Gallery—the newest exhibition space at ArtWorks—after being named its next artist-in-residence. She’d imagined drawings of grass on the windows, with delicate weeds and flowers climbing up the glass panes, and the phrase “splendor in the grass” came to mind. Driving home, she realized she’d heard those words before: Jackie DeShannon’s 1968 song by the same name.
“As I listened to her, I was like, ‘Oh, these are all amazing drawing prompts,’ Lipovsky says. “The lyrics are all this litany of first times and formative experiences, like the first time I left home, or the first love I ever had, or the first time I held a baby close to me.”
She used these intimate and open-ended lyrics to guide a group of six emerging artists—her Fellows—through studio sessions as part of ArtWorks’ Gallery Fellowship Program. Each artist was encouraged to choose lines from the song and interpret them as they saw fit.
“Some of them have never had gallery experience before or even worked within the medium that the [artist-in-residence] is working in,” Exhibitions & Gallery Fellowship Manager Karla Batres Gilvin says. “For a lot of them, it is an exploratory process, and a way to push their own boundaries in art making.”
Now in its fifth year, the Fellowship Program brings together artists ages 16 to 24 for eight weeks of free studio sessions. Each program is spearheaded by an artist-in-residence. The newest, Splendor in the Grass, is led by Lipovsky, a Cincinnati-based artist with deep roots in community-based programs.
Phototograph by Phil Armstrong, courtesy ArtWorks
“It’s really rewarding to see how each artist approaches a Fellowship,” Gilvin says. “Each artist that we’re bringing to the program brings something new, whether that’s a different practice or a different medium…and we knew that Julia would provide something creative.”
As a facilitator, Lipovsky’s role was to help build upon each fellow’s ideas. From intricate drawings made with India ink to painted paper collages, the materials and styles vary. However, there was a unifying emphasis on writing. Lipovksy encouraged her artists to journal and create daily drawings to work through their thoughts.
“A lot of [the lyrics] are tough experiences, and it’s hard to go back into the pockets of your life that maybe you want to move on from,” Lipovsky says. “It is quite healing in a way, because I try to bring a lot of support and a lot of space for just thinking of like, what was that moment? How did I feel?”
In these sessions, artists create artwork and participate in workshops for professional development, which include learning how to price and install their art, talk about their practice, and sell their work. The fellows retain 90 percent of their sales.
Splendor in the Grass will be on display for free until August 7 at the Your Name Here Gallery. The exhibition features work from Gallery Fellows Abby Blenk, Erin Richter, Oskar Benzing, Hannah Durham, Kema Tewodros, and Chaela Burris. Each piece is a personal reflection on the splendor of life’s moments.
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