The St. James Court Art Show ® was originally established to provide necessary funding to maintain the St. James Court grounds and fountain.
Proceeds from the show continue to allow St. James Court Association and Belgravia Court Association to fund ongoing grounds upkeep and neighborhood beautification efforts. Additionally, Fourth Street Association has utilized Art Show proceeds to fund the installation of new benches, urns and trash bins along Fourth Street. Art show proceeds also funded the Linear Park at 3rd & Hill and installation of period street lights.
Art Scholarships and Awards
Each year, more than $10,000 of scholarship funding is provided by St. James Court Association, Fourth Street Association, 3rd Street Association, and The 1300 Association. Scholarship information
St. James Court Art Show Gala
The St James Court Charitable Foundation announces The Cabbage Patch Settlement House will be receive the proceeds from the 2010 Gala event.
Follow us on Facebook
Our Facebook page will feature artists each week, offer a behind the scenes look at how the art show comes together and allow our fans to take advantage of special offers. Follow us on Facebook
Artist of the Week
March 8, 2010
The St James Court Art Show Artists of the Week are Marnie and Bill Winn from Puppet Artists, Darby, Montana. Marnie and Bill are in the Fourth Street section of the Art Show. Booths have not been assigned yet for this year so be sure to pick up a free program or check our website to find Marnie and Bill at the show.
SJCAS: Tell us about yourself and how you create your puppets.
Marnie & Bill: Marnie is the primary artist and designer for all Puppet Artists’ creations. She does all the hand sculpting work. Bill, assists her in the design of the puppets and the design and building of the skeletons for life sized sculptures, and sews the puppet bodies and costumes.
All Puppet Artists’ puppets (fingerpuppets, handpuppets, and life-sized sculptures) are individually designed, hand sewn, soft-form sculptures. Puppet Artists’ creations range in scope from portraits of real people (from their photographs) to celebrity characters, to storybook characters, to fantasy characters, to animal characters. They each blend a sense of playfulness and humor with detailed realism.
Their faces are each sculpted from nylon filled with a polyfil batting. Marnie first shapes and hand sews the features, then hand paints and decorates the faces, and finally sprays them with an acrylic sealer to prevent any running or snagging.
Puppet bodies are sewn from felt. Costumes for each puppet are individually designed and sewn (by us) from the finest fabrics according to the character portrayed by the puppet. Fabrics range from cotton to velvet, from silk to polar fleece. We personally design, sew, and paint each of our puppets and their accessories. Each is a handcrafted work of art. No two are identical. We use no forms or molds in any of our work.
Beyond the artists’ statement, we evolved into puppet making from teaching over 16 years ago. After using puppets in our teaching, we began making puppets for children. Later we evolved into making celebrities by request. Then about 12 years ago, at an art show, a young man came into our booth and said, “You can make Elvis, couldn’t you make my Mom?” We’ve been making puppets of ordinary people from their photographs ever since. It’s become the focal point of our business (although creating fantasy characters from our imaginations is still our greatest artistic joy.) The joy that we bring to people’s lives, the smiles and laughter we see in our booth at every show we do, these make the long hours we spend at work, more than worth the effort.
SJCAS: What is the price range of your work?
Marnie & Bill: We make everything from $8 fingerpuppets to $1000 life sized sculptures. Our portrait puppets range in cost from $200 to $350 depending on how elaborate the costuming and details.
SJCAS: What is your web site address?
Marnie & Bill: Our web address is www.puppetartists.com and our email address is puppets@puppetartists.com
SJCAS: Where can we find your work besides your website?
Marnie & Bill: We aren’t sure of where we will be showing our puppets in the coming year (other than St. James to which we commit each year). It all depends on which shows accept us and how much portrait work we will be doing. We update our art show schedule on our website whenever we have new information. We did so much portrait work last year that we only did our February/March winter show circuit and St. James. The rest of our year was spent filling custom orders. We’d like to do more shows this coming year - we enjoy getting out and meeting people. (We live 20 miles from the closest town of 700 people in Montana.) We will know in March if we will be doing a series of shows in June. After that, we look forward to St. James and perhaps pairing it with another show in October.
To see past Artists of the Week click here
Central Park
Louisville’s Central Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. in 1904. Olmsted is known as the father of American landscape architecture and designed numerous public spaces including Central Park in New York City. Proceeds from the Art Show allow The Old Louisville neighborhoods to help fund ongoing park clean up and beautification efforts.
Conrad-Caldwell House
A Stunning Architectural Landmark
The magnificent Richardsonian Mansion on the northwest corner of St. James Court was built by Arthur Loomis, a well-known local architect who also designed the J.B. Speed Museum.
Also known as “Conrad’s Castle,” this is one of the most stunning of Old Louisville’s houses and defines Richardsonian Romanesque architecture. The house was built for Theophilus Conrad, a Frenchman (Alsace) who made his fortune in the tanning business. The original construction price was $35,000. Walk around it and enjoy its gargoyles, swags, massive arches and fleur-de-lis. The Caldwell family purchased it in 1905 after Mr. Conrad’s death. They lived there for 35 years. It next served as the Rose Anna Hughes Presbyterian Retirement Home for 40 years. The St. James Court Historic Foundation purchased the home in 1987, restored it and now operates the museum. Tour the inside and you will experience breathtaking woodwork, stained glass and fixtures. The museum may be reserved for private tours, weddings, receptions, banquets, or corporate charity events. It is open for public tours Sun, Wed, Thu, Fri noon – 4:00pm and Sat 10:00am – 4:00pm.
During the Art Show
The Conrad Caldwell House will feature wine and food during the Art Show. The museum gift shop will also remain open and public tours will be conducted.
Contact Information
Conrad-Caldwell House Museum
1402 St. James Court
Louisville, KY 40208
(502) 636-5023; fax (502) 636-1264
www.conradcaldwell.org
