Jasper Community Arts Announced Gallery from Louisville Native

Garner’s wall-sized canvases let her explore the complexity of family through time. “I was born in Kentucky and stayed on for family. Moving to the biggest city gave me arts community”, stated Garner. 

“My paintings are filled with hopes, regrets, and wishes—about the past and the future. They are like an ancestry chart or family tree where each choice branches onward...emotional dialogues. The interactions are not just within a family but with a family history, which includes society at large and our natural world. Working big lets me paint novels rather than poems. But I’m an emotional artist rather than intellectual, and it comes out in the color,” said Garner. 

Garner states, “I have an extended allegory of people coming together around a table. Helpful figures of speech: get everyone together around the table, turn the table, wait on tables, get a seat at the table, set the table, put something on the table (or take it off), table it for now, no room at the table, under the table. A painting might start with a circle for the table, and then I draw some chairs—empty. Then I get to seat a person. They might be young/old, shy/extrovert, sly/unknowing, a participant or a witness, involved or oblivious or dreaming. My intent for my work is that I love to sit in front of a piece in the mornings with a cup of hot tea in my hands, and let my mind go. I want art that gives me a place to go.”

 Joyce Garner is an award-winning artist represented by Garner Narrative Contemporary Fine Art Gallery and New Editions Gallery. Garner received a B.S. from the University of Kentucky in 1968. 

First Thursday Opening Reception and Gallery Talk by the artist will be held in the gallery from 5:00 – 7:00pm with food catered by local restaurant, Pub N’ Grub. A recording of the Gallery Talk will be available via Jasper Community Arts Facebook page. 

The galleries at the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center, located at 100 3rd Avenue, Suite A, Jasper, IN 47546, are open to the public Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Saturday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, and Sunday from noon to 3:00 pm. School groups, clubs and students are welcome. 

Admission is free. Donations appreciated.