The Louisville Palace, the official venue for the Louisville Orchestra, is an elegant, ornate theatre in downtown Louisville’s so-called theatre district. Ultimately it was saved by local arts advocates, and the newly renovated Kentucky Theater opened its doors in 2000 and has become a vibrant community arts center and art film house.

Louisville is distinguished, like many American cities, with a multitude of museums of art, science and sports as well as monuments and historic sites and homes preserved for posterity amongst which is The Speed Art Museum which I happened to have visited in June 2006. An art learning center, a café Bristol and a Museum Shop exhibiting and hawking artifacts, curios and dresses from all over the world adds to Speed Arts Museum’s compulsion.

The Speed Art Museum was founded in 1925 by Hattie Bishop Speed as a memorial to her husband, James Breckinridge Speed, a prominent Louisville businessman and philanthropist. Designed by Louisville architect Arthur Loomis, the museum opened its doors on January 15, 1927, with an exhibition sponsored by the Louisville Art Association.

The Speed Art Museum Kentucky’s oldest and largest art museum with over 12,000 pieces in its permanent collection boasts of an extensive and historic collection ranging from ancient Egyptian to contemporary art featuring distinguished collections of 17th century Dutch and Flemish painting, 18th century French art, Renaissance and Baroque tapestries, and significant holdings of contemporary American painting and sculpture. African and Native American works are a growing segment of the museum’s collection. On its upper level, small cabinet galleries provide an intimate atmosphere for the museum’s collection of European paintings and sculpture.

In 1962, he was succeeded by Addison Franklin Page, curator of contemporary art at the Detroit Institute of Arts. who further enriched and expanded the museum collection.

The Speed Art Museum’s original 1927 limestone building was designed by Louisville architect Arthur Loomis. The Satterwhite Wing contains much of his own collection of medieval and renaissance works including tapestries and other decorative arts. This addition showcases the museum’s 20th century art and features an auditorium and café.

Today, the Speed Art Museum has over 150,000 square feet of gallery, exhibition, and administrative space, making it the largest collection of art paintings, sculpture, furniture, and decorative arts by Kentucky artists.

The Speed Art Museum is housed in the University campus whilst the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, is located in Louville’s “Museum Row” in the West Main District of downtown. It supports regional as well; as national artists thus illustrating Kentucky’s long heritage of fine functional and decorative wood-working. The museum is supported in part by the Fund for the Arts and Kentucky Arts Council, a state agency of the Commerce Cabinet. Founded in 1981 by Phyllis George Brown, then First Lady of Kentucky and former Miss America, the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft (formerly Art and Craft Foundation) was started as a dream to build interest in Kentucky’s rich craft and art resources.

The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft was established to promote the rich art and craft heritage of Kentucky through three main areas of programming: exhibition, education, and support of artists through a retail Gallery Shop. In January of 2001 the organization purchased two adjacent buildings at 715 and 717 West Main Street in the heart of Louisville’s West Main Street Historic District.

FURTHER READING ON ART IN LOUISVILLE:

Louisville’s Art Community – Leading a Vibrant and Diverse Life Bringing Fine Lasting Impressions

Become aware of colors and shapes. Etc.

* Meaning : What ideas does the subject matter seem to suggest? Practice pre-visualizing before going out to take pictures; imagine yourself taking pictures, see the resulting pictures, fantasize photo-adventures, etc. PRACTICE ISOLATING AND CHOOSING: making fine art photographs also involves:

With regard to your subject matter’s inherent ‘expression’ and ‘meaning’, it comes about through symbolism. Respond to your subject matter with your perception of sensations, emotions and moods.

Respond mainly with your intellect to this aspect of the subject matter.

Elements: The graphic components, basic visual things, that make up a picture.

Subject Theme: The paramount principle. It is a thematic idea which can readily underlie the subject matter, and is developed or elaborated upon in a picture of the subject matter.

Order: Organization of the picture to bring about simplicity and clarity to the overall impression,expression, meaning and subject theme.

Balance may be achieved either through the ‘impression’ of objects in the picture,or through their ‘expression’ and ‘meaning’ in the picture.

It can also create perspective (the impression of depth) in the picture or subject matter.Both camera position and lens choice affect deformation strongly.

Picture Approaches: there are three basic approaches to composing fine art photographs:

- The Introspective approach: in which primarily your personal feelings and ideas for the subject matter determine the picture’s design and composition.

- The Extrospective approach: in which, regardless of your natural response to the subject matter, you’re guided solely by the subject matter’s inherent visual characteristics in determining picture composition.

Picture Types: A fine art photograph may be one of the following types as determined by the artist:

- Documentary; the picture’s emphasis is on simply portraying the subject matter, transmitting visual information about it as accurately as possible.

- Interpretive; the picture’s emphasis is on conveying the artist’s feelings and thoughts about the subject matter, which can result in a very impressionistic image.

Picture Formulas: Do not turn your fine art photography into a set of technique formulas. Visually explore the subject matter and give thought to the subject matter’s impression, expression, and meaning, etc, all the while verbalizing to yourself as you do so. Decide on a picture-making approach and a particular picture-type.

1) your personal thoughts and feelings about the subject matter; 2) what is the most graphically appealing aspect of the subject matter; 3) what the subject matter inherently expresses; and 4) what the subject matter inherently says, into a concisely worded subject theme, while seeing in your mind’s eye a final picture which nicely and effectively conveys it.

Be A Fine Art Photographer

The Tacori collection has now been extended to include stunning diamond pendants of heirloom quality. For anyone seeking an heirloom diamond pendant, the Tacori “Birth of your Child” is the ultimate. At first sight, these fabulous pendants look like an Art Deco diamond pendant. This diamond pendant is a round pendant set with pave diamonds and featuring a large solitaire diamond in the center. This diamond pendant also has matching diamond stud earrings for the complete Tacori set. This pendant features Tacori engraving and the carved crescent silhouette setting. This diamond pendant is extremely indicative of all the features Tacori is so famous for.

America’s most popular undergraduate degrees are in business and the social sciences. Communications and biology degrees are also up there, in terms of numbers granted. Someone screening resumes for a PR assistant position sees countless profiles from communications or marketing majors.

In business and science degrees, even social sciences degrees, the emphasis is (properly) on learning a certain set of skills and facts, then applying that skill set to a career.

In arts education, the macro emphasis tends to land more on incorporating knowledge of the world in order to broaden the scope of your art (whichever art that is).

In terms of your job search outside the arts, this means that ideally you have a wide scope of interests. Any kind of company worth working for actively recruits curious, passionate people.

So You Earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts – But No Longer Want to Pursue Your Art

As most of these art reproductions are priced under a hundred bucks, you can collect your own museum full of original masterpieces without spending a fortune.

Art reproductions are perfect for gifts too. If you know someone that is a passionate art collector or a fan of a particular painter, you can surprise them with a painting that looks just like the real thing. If you want to create your own gallery at home, buying art reproductions will allow you to get started without breaking the bank.