Thousands of visitors across the country will make their way to the Kentuck Festival of the Arts this weekend, which is having its Tuscaloosa debut in Snow Hinton Park.
Now in its 53rd year, the annual event attracts locals and visitors alike and boasts educational demonstrations, interactive art areas, children's activities, live entertainment, music, storytelling, craft beer and food trucks.
The festival also brings in more than 270 artists from all walks of life. One such creative is Abi Brewer, a mixed media artist of Chinese American heritage whose studio is located in the heart of the Northport area on the Kentuck Art Center Campus. Brewer’s story is a little different compared to the typical artist.
“For the first year or so, I kind of was all over the place,” she said. “I would just make a piece here there, but I wasn't happy with it… I wasn't an art major at [The University of Alabama] to start out.”
Some painters know from an early age that they want to create work that will be hung in galleries and museums. Some sketch artists were practically born with pencils and drawing tools in their hands, constantly scribbling and doodling on pieces of paper. Other creatives grew up around art, and it’s second nature for them to create sculptures or whittle figurines out of wood.
However, Brewer began painting just five years ago, in what some might consider a happenstance. She said that’s when her father gifted her a set of oil paints as an outlet to help fuel her creativity after she stopped dancing ballet. After receiving the gift and working with the media, Brewer later decided to pursue official schooling for art at The University of Alabama (UA).
“To start out, I was just [majoring in] international studies, but I was like, ‘Maybe I should take a drawing class.’ I've never taken a drawing class, and that really helped me figure out how to execute what I was envisioning,” she explained said.
Brewer recalled being discouraged in the beginning of her art journey due to the difficulty of not being able to accurately put her visions on canvas. She explained taking the drawing class at UA allowed her to gain the tools needed to visually express her ideas.
“It can be frustrating when you have this vision, but it doesn't look how you want it. That's usually when I would just hang up the paintbrush for a couple months, but the drawing class really got me into it,” Brewer said. “I was learning how to execute what I wanted to. So, from there, I added it on as a major.”
Once the tools were mastered to help her translate her thoughts and visions into art, Brewer looked around to see what media suited her creative style. Fabric is one textile she uses frequently, drawing inspiration from her Chinese American heritage, which Brewer said is something she holds near and dear.
“My mom is Chinese. She taught us the language and incorporated a lot of those cultural influences into our upbringing,” Brewer explained. “That is a lot of what goes into my work, or what inspires what I create today… I use a lot of fabric that I buy when I'm physically in Asia because we go back a lot to visit my mom's family.”
When it comes to her art, Brewer said how she was raised, her childhood experiences and her interests influence her work. That’s down to the content of her pieces but also the types of media used in her art: gold leaf, resin and the aforementioned fabric she buys while abroad.
“A series that I started recently that is kind of about my childhood. I was obsessed with fairy tales and whimsical things and still am, but it incorporates a lot of fabric,” she explained.
Brewer said her love for cloth stems from her time as a ballerina when she was younger. Specifically, the elaborate flowy costumes. This inspires her to use a variety of materials in her art pieces, but it also shaped her personal style.
“Part of my interest in fabric is how it moves with a figure, and how it moves while you're wearing it. I wear a lot of flowy skirts and tops. One of my favorite parts about being a ballet dancer was that you could wear these elaborate costumes and dance,” she said.
Textile material, hues and her love for fashion also play a large role in the reason why Brewer chose to pursue mixed media as her art path.
“I like texture and color, and I like to use the texture of fabric, but I also can't decide if I like oil or watercolor,” Brewer laughed. “I do a lot of what I call ‘mixed media’ fashion illustrations, where I'll do a watercolor sketch and then kind of attach fabric to it because I also like clothes. I just like to dabble in a lot of things. So, I feel like the mixed media kind of helps me explore and keep it fresh in my mind.”
Picking fabric plays a crucial role in how her art is made. Brewer said color and interest are the biggest factors she considers when selecting textiles to make her creative visions come to life.
“It's usually about color and pattern. Color comes first, because I like harmonious color palettes. And then… if something just intrigues me, or I feel like I could at least get some inspiration just from looking at it, I'll definitely snag that,” she explained.
Whimsicality, women and nature all the main focus of Brewer’s artwork. She said using these three themes as her base, along with vintage decorative frames, is the pinnacle of her work.
“It usually is about women figures. I usually incorporate figures in some way with nature. It's usually very colorful and very representational,” Brewer said. “I will use some abstract aspects, but I usually will have things that are more representational or illustrative… I like to use antique frames. I like a lot of decorative things, visually, but just with a lot of color and pattern,” she continued.
Brewer said the colors she’s usually drawn to are the ones found in nature. Specifically, green, pink and purple… or really, any color palette she can find in a material that catches her eye.
“I am really inspired by fabrics that I come across, and the colors that are unexpected in them. If I find a fabric that I really like, I might be inspired by that particular color palette and work from that,” she said.
Brewer said when people see her art, she wants them to feel like they’re viewing a single, magical moment in time as a reminder that things are not permanent.
“There is this concept of in ballet that I always loved called ‘ballon.’ It's about floating, almost like you're holding your breath, in this one moment. That's kind of the feeling that I want people to feel when they see my work… this one moment in time. It might not last forever, but it's captured here on this canvas.”
Whimsicality really shines through in Brewer’s work with her series of animal paintings she dubbed as “The Three Trashkateers.” The trio of critters in Brewer’s artistic universe include Ramon the Racoon, Mario the Mouse and Pascal the Possum.
“I paint what makes me happy. Putting fancy outfits on animals…creating little stories around them… It makes me really happy to meet other people who also like those things and connect with other people who like fancy animals as much as I do,” Brewer said.
The Trashkateers aren’t the only animals Brewer has painted. There’s also birds, giraffes, sloths, toads and dogs. She said she paints wildlife creatures to capture the moments that inspired her creativity as a child.
“The movies that I watched, the stories that I read, that's really what made me have this imagination and creativity that I have now,” she explained. “I was talking to one of my friends, and they're like, ‘Well, I wish that I had a daughter or a baby. Then, maybe I could have fairy, whimsical art in my room.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, well, yes, but you can have it now. I wouldn't judge you.’ I hope that as adults, we can still enjoy the things that we liked when we were kids and keep that creativity alive.”
Brewer said her experiences as a ballerina also helped shape the way she composes her art. That’s especially true when it comes to positioning.
“The experiences as a ballerina definitely influence how I render figures I paint. I like to make interesting poses that can be kind of difficult to explain to others,” she said. “I am very particular about the posing.”
Brewer also shows “magicalness” through her self-portraits. These works showcase her Chinese American heritage through fabrics and style, which Brewer said are some of her favorite pieces she’s made.
“I paint myself, and they're usually very dance-like poses. I took a lot of Asian art history, East Asian art history. I'm influenced by it, and I like a lot of how they arrange things on in their pieces,” she explained. “
A recent series of self-portraits displays pattern backgrounds and Chinese satin brocade, said Brewer. The artist explained, at the moment, these works are the pinnacle of the ones she’s created because they incorporate a lot of influences from her Chinese American background.
Brewer said she’s also been influenced by French Rococo, an art style that was created after King Louis XVI as a rejection of the Baroque era’s formality and grandeur as well as Asian-American artists.
“I like a lot of the old masters. There are certain pieces that I'll go back to. There's ‘The Swing,’ [by Jean-Honoré Fragonard], it's a French Rococo piece, and that is the most beautiful combo of green and pink,” she said. “There are Asian-American artists, one of them is Bao Pham, and the other one is Soey Milk on Instagram. They're contemporary artists, and I love their work. It's very influenced by their Asian American background. So, I love seeing what they create.”
Kentuck Art Center has also given Brewer opportunities to showcase her art and her skills. Brewer is part of the art center’s Studio Artist Program, where she’s able to teach classes, like watercolor workshops, at the facility and sells her work at markets and festivals. Of course, there’s also the Kentuck Festival of the Arts.
However, Brewer isn’t the only artist who benefits from these opportunities, including this weekend’s upcoming art festival. She said the other artists who participate have formed a community that supports each other while also benefiting from the Kentuck Art Center and the annual celebration.
“There's a there's a tight knit community of artists who have done Kentuck for years, and they can't say enough good things about it,” she explained. They recommended it to me, and now I recommend it to everyone I meet, and it's just a wonderful community,” Brewer continued. “Because not only are you there to sell your work, but the artists that are participating in Kentuck. They really bring a lot of uniqueness to the art world.”
Brewer will be at the Kentuck Festival of the Arts on Oct. 19 and 20, demonstrating her art process for attendees. For more of her work, visit Brewer’s website, Instagram and Facebook.
