Kendall Kessler - Fine Artist
WATERMARKS WILL NOT BE ON PRINTS
You can also view my work at towheehillstudio.etsy.com and ebay classifieds for Blacksburg, Virginia. Currently I have some auction items on ebay.
In my artwork, I seek to celebrate life: the simple and spectacular images all around us. Art patrons admire my intense use of color and texture to enhance daily life and communicate my emotional reaction to beauty. I consider my style to be unique to me but I have been influenced by the work of Paul Cezanne, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Pierre Bonnard and Jan Vermeer. My paintings were in two group shows on Broadway and my biography can be found in the original Marquis Who's Who in America, Who's Who of American Women, and Who's Who in the World. I am currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Radford University where I have taught for eighteen years. I primarily create large impasto oil paintings, but I also work in pastels. I have paintings in private collections in fourteen states. My art has been exhibited throughout the USA, and I have won local, national & international awards in both mediums, including awards from Dorothy Gillespie, May Stevens, Frank Webb, and Daniel Greene
When I began this portfolio I didn't have adequate equipment to make large files and I was not aware that my scanner was not doing a good job of reproducing my collection of photographs of my work. I now have new equipment and will, as time permits re-do my entire portfolio. I am still having problems getting acceptable images for large prints. I have had to take the print option, other than small size, off of many pieces. I will be working on that and hope I can resolve this problem. I apologize if you are not able to get the large print size. If you are interested in a print and the full resolution of the image has specks or is not in focus, I will be notified and I will try to take care of the image problem. Thank you for your patience.
Please read my blogs on this site.
AWARDS
2010 First Place Home, Sweet Home, Fineartamerica.com contest online, April
2010 Second Place Art, Fineartamerica.com contest, March online
2009 Honorable Mention, Art at the Market, Blacksburg, VA
2009 First Place, Art From the Heart, Fineartamerica.com contest
2009 First place, Love and Fighting, Fineartamerica.com contest
2009 Tied for First Place, Express to the Fullest, Fineartamerica.com contest
2009 Second Place, Oil Paintings, Any Style, Fineartamerica.com contest
2008 Painting, 'New River Trestle' chosen for cover of Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce 2008-2009
2006 Honorable Mention, Art Along the Alley, Blacksburg, VA
2005 Purchase Award, 'Expressions', Lynwood Artist's Annual Show, Piedmont Fine Arts Center, Martinsville, VA
2004 1st Place, Montomomery Museum Art Festival, Christiansburg, VA
2004 2nd Place, Blacksburg Sidewalk Show, Blacksburg, VA
2003 1st Place, Oils, Lynwood Artists Juried show, Martinsville, VA
2002 3rd Place, Over-all Blacksburg Sidewalk Show, Blacksburg, VA
2000 3rd Place, Blacksburg Sidewalk Show, Blacksburg, VA
1997 Best in Show, Fincastle Arts Festival, Fincastle, VA
1997 Merit Award, Lynwood Artists Annual Show, Martinsville, VA
1996 Merit Award, Lynwood Artists Annual Show, Martinsville, VA
1995 1st Place, Lynwood Artists Juried Show, Martinsville, VA
1994 Merit Award, Lynwood Artist Annual Show, Martinsville, VA
1991 Border to Border Drawing Competition, Clarksville, TN(slide is now a permanent part of Austin Peay Station University's collection)
1991 1st Place Oil Painting, Paris Art Fair, Paris, TX
1990 Judges Award, League of Roanoke Artists, 'Showcase of the Arts'
Roanoke, VA
1990 Merit Award, Lynwood Artists Annual Show, Martinsville, VA
1990 Award, Lynchburg Annual Juried Art Show, Lynchburg Fine Arts Center, Lynchburg, VA
1990 American Artist Award, Pastel Society of the West Coast, Sacramento, CA Juror: Daniel Greene
1989 2nd Place Pastels, Hilltop Gallery Art Center, International Juried Show, Nogales, AZ
1985 Merit Award, Celebration'85 Salem, VA
1982 Purchase Award, Radford University Juried Student Show, Juror: Dorothy Gillespie, May Stevens
SHOWS
2010 Views from Towhee Hill One-Person show, Glencoe Museum, Radford, VA, April
2009 Blue Ridge Diversions, One-Person show, Blacksburg Public Library,October
2008 Art Tour 10 studio tour, Radford, VA, November
2008 Radford University Adjunct Show, October
2008 Evening Light, Brown Insurance Agency, One-Person show, Blacksburg, July
2008 'Expressions', Lynwood Artist's Annual Show, Piedmont Fine Arts Center, Martinsville, VA, July
2007 Art Tour 10 studio tour, Radford, VA, November
2007 'Fancy Gap and Other Scenes' The Gallery, Radford, VA January
2007 'Dreamscapes' Mill Mountain, Coffee & Tea, Blacksburg, VA December
2007 'A Single Moment' FNB Christiansburg, VA July
2007 'Art Tour Ten' Towhee Studio, Radford, VA June
2007 Two Artist Show, Blood Donor Center, Blacksburg, VA May
2007 'Fancy Gap and Other Scenes' The Gallery, Radford, VA January
2006 'Art Tour Ten' Premiere show, Towhee Studio, Radford,VA November
2006 'Art Along the Alley', Blacksburg, VA August 26
2006 'Summer View', Blacksburg Public Library, Blacksburg, VA July
2006 'Expressions', Martinsville, VA, June
2006 'Sidewalk Art Show', Roanoke, VA, June
2006 'Surface Beauty', NRVAC, Blacksburg, VA January
2005 'The Color of Light', Mish Mish Gallery, Blacksburg, VA,July
2005 'Expressions', Marinsville, VA July
2005 Sidewlk Art Show, Roanoke, VA, June,
2005 'The Mark of the Brush', Wallace Gallery, Blacksburg, VA
2005 Radford University Faculty Show, Flossie Martin Gallery, Radford VA
2004 'Pawleys Plus' VTLS Corporate Research Center, Blacksburg, VA
2004 'Mountains and More' See Mark Optical Blacksburg, VA
2004 'Color and Light' First National Exchange Bank of Christiansburg
2003 'Creative Beauty' Montgomery Regional Hospital Blacksburg, VA
2002 'Serendipity' First National Exchange Bank of Blacksburg
2001 'Natural Beauty', First National Bank of Christiansburg, Christiansburg, Va
2000 'The Color Pink', Montgomery Regional Hospital, Blacksburg, VA
1999 'Blue Ridge Colors', Corporate Research Center, Blacksburg, VA
1998 'Color and Light', Waste Policy Institute, Blacksburg, VA
1996 'Water and Flowers', Cranwell International Center, VPI & SU, Blacksburg, VA
1995 'Panoramas', Agora Gallery, New York, NY
1994 'Nature's Enchantment, Agora Gallery, New York NY
1994 'Exhibition 280', Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV
1993 'Shades of Pastel 93', Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD
1993 North Vallery Art League 1993 National Juried Show, Redding, CA
1992 United Pastelists of America Holiday International Art Show, Upper Nyack, NY
1992 Paris Art Fair, Professional Division. Paris , TX
1990 Rappahannock Regional 1990, Focus on Realism. Fredericksburg, VA
1989 Chimerical Gregg Art Gallery Group Show. La Puentes, CA
1987 Tenth Annual North Dakota National juried Exhibition. Minot, ND
1986 Three Rivers Arts Festival. Pittsburg, PA
1986 Siesta Key Gallery's 2nd National Miniature Painting Exhibiton and Awards Show, Siesta Key, FL
1984 New Orleans Art Association's 10th National Art Exhibition, New Orleans, LA
1984 Springfield Art League's 65th National Fine Art Exhibition. Springfield, MA
1984 Phoenix Gallery's International Small Fine Art Exposition. Atlanta, GA
Press Coverage / Reviews:
At the Artist's Reception at Celebration'85 in Salem, VA,
well-known artist and author Frank Webb was extremely
enthusiastic about Kendall's work and made the remark that
there was not one square inch in her paintings that were not
the result of weaving of oil paint. Her painting, 'Love
Garden, Coimbra University, Portugal, was awarded the John
Will Creasy Art Society award.
New Orleans Art Association's 10th National Exhibition. Art
Critic Roger Green had this to say regarding the selection
of the awards for the show: 'Much more to this viewer's
liking were several entries that did not win prizes, for
example, 'Stream' by Kendall F. Kessler of Blacksburg,
Va....Stream a small loosely executed oil, pictures
feather-looking grasses in orange, yellow, and green by the
edge of a stream.'
TWO VIRGINIA ARTISTS, Stanley Gallery, Ferrum College,
Ferrum, Va. Art critic for the Roanoke Times, Ann Weinstein
wrote:'She paints with thick interwoven strokes of oil that
generate an independent surface activity. More than the sum
of its parts, the complexitiy of the paint itself provides
the imagery with an intrigue of texture, subtlety of color
and an unexpected intensity of feeling.'
DUAL IMAGES at North Cross School in Roanoke. Again Ann
Weinstein reviewed the show and hailed it as ' a very
effective teaching device. It provides insight into the
process of making choices that all artists are faced with,
not only in medium and size, but in the arrangement of the
basic formal elements of art.'
LYNWOOD ARTISTS ANNUAL SHOW William G. White, Associate
Professor of Art at Hollins College and an established and
respected oil and water color artist, had this to say about
Kendall's award-winning entry into the Lynwood Artists
Annual show at the Piedmont artist Association in
Martinsville, Va.'Great deal of complexity...quite exciting
visual image.' Upon encountering Kendall's work again at
the 1997 Fincastle Arts Festival he bestowed the Best in
Show on Kendall's 'Boat House, Mountain Lake.
ARTSPEAK Nov.Dec.'94 Will Grant wrote: 'The American love of
nature is seen in Kendall Kessler's painting of foliage or
rich forest of deep greens, in soft pastel or oil.
Kendall's paintings were part of the group show, 'Nature's
Enchantment' at Agora Gallery on Broadway
At the Lynwood Artists 1995 Annual Show, juror, Paul Ryan,
Assistant Professor Art at Mary Baldwin College had this to
say about 'Rose in Bottle, Again' which won first place in
2-D. The directness of this pastel drawing interests me
very much - especially the strong use of line that is not
unlike the painter Leland Bell's sensitivity to line.
At the Montgomery Museum's Fine Art Festival, 2004,
well-known Roanoke artist Ann Glover likened Kendall's work
to that of famed 20th century colorist Pierre Bonnard. Upon
bestowing first place in oils on her work she made the
remark, 'How could I not give you first place?'
