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Festival of the Arts at The Summit

Equine artist Sampson captures
her love of horses on canvas

Photographer Goldberg
among show participants

By Helen E. McKinney
Contributing Writer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (May 2010) – Debbie Sampson captures something in her artwork that Kentucky is known world-wide for: its equestrian history. Through her oil paintings, she often brings to life the thrill and excitement of horse racing.
“My clients are lovers of anything equestrian,” said the 53-year old Hollywood, Fla., resident. “My inspiration comes from what is happening in the equestrian world, since I like to capture ‘the moment,’ the excitement, thrill and the energy of certain horses or races,” Sampson said.

Debbie Sampson

Photo provided

Debbie Sampson will
make her third
appearance at the
Festival of the Arts
at The Summit.

For the third consecutive year, Sampson will be participating in the Louisville Festival of the Arts at The Summit on May 15-16. This free juried show will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days at 9401 Brownsboro Rd. in Louisville.
Sampson likes to paint the “old-time champions as tributes to keep the memory of them alive.” Many clients commission her to paint custom pieces of race-horses, show horses or family pets.
Sampson professed an interest in painting at an early age. She began experimenting with oils by taking private lessons when she was 8 years old. She also worked with pencils, and at age 13 had her first pencil drawing published in Quarter Horse Journal.
Her family moved from New York to Florida when she was 14, and she took a break from painting to focus on showing her horse at hunter-jumper shows. In the late 1980s, Sampson took up painting again, focusing on wildlife scenes and exhibiting her work while managing her own martial arts studio.
Over the years, she has “experimented with other mediums, but I love the classic look and feel of oils. I developed my own ‘wet on wet’ technique that I have been developing for the past 20 years.”
A large percentage of the work she displays at art shows “are pieces that I chose to paint and that move me. People that aren’t into horses love them (her work) for the movement and bright colors.”
The show features only top artists, ensuring a truly eclectic exhibition of quality, original and diverse works of art, said AnaBelle Dweck, publicist for Howard Alan Events. The Florida-based company develops and presents art and craft shows throughout the country.
“Howard Alan Events strives to include leading artists from around the country that are representative of the contemporary art scene,” Dweck said.
About 25 percent of the artists exhibiting at The Summit are from Kentucky. “Our goal is to have a strong representation of the local talent, but it is important to also introduce top leading national artists to this community,” said Dweck. “This is a great opportunity to discover new and emerging talent as well as new mediums.”
Sampson is one of these national artists who are well known in the state for her powerful, dramatic oil paintings of horses, Dweck said. In addition to her equine artwork, Sampson captures the triumph and energy of professional athletic competition through oil paintings and graphite artwork. Her athletic paintings have gained national recognition through appearances on CNN, ESPN and Channel 7 (Fox-Miami).
There will be approximately $15 million in artwork on display at The Summit by a variety of artists. Paintings, sculptures, photos, glass, wood, jewelry and ceramics are just a sampling of the media that will be displayed.
Stan Goldberg is a local photographer who will be participating in the Louisville Festival of the Arts.

Stan Goldberg

Photo provided

Retired
dentist Stan
Goldberg of
Louisville will
sell his
photography, which is
inspired by
natural
landscapes.

He finds juried art shows “a great opportunity to show what I can do, as well as meet other artists and artisans.”
Originally from New York, Goldberg was a dentist in the U.S. Army during Vietnam when he purchased his first camera and became interested in photography. He had access to a dark room and began snapping photos of everything in sight realizing, “I really enjoyed it and discovered I had a flair for it.”
He kept up with his hobby, often bringing in vacation photos for patients to look at. His photos began to appear in local and national publications, and Kodak wall calendars. He has two photos hanging in the B&H photography superstore in New York, the nation’s largest photography equipment retailer.
Now retired from dentistry, photography for Goldberg is “always different and always challenging. If you ask 10 people to photograph the same thing, you will get 10 different results. I try to approach each photograph in the most creative way I can so that the result moves not only me, but hopefully anyone else who sees it.”
Goldberg said he is pulled toward landscape and nature photography. He has traveled all over the United States, Mexico, Europe, South America, New Zealand and Australia in search of subject matter.
“I hope my images make people sit up and take notice and perhaps be inspired by what I discovered in the natural landscape,” he said. Goldberg’s work is double matted, usually in colors that “come from the images themselves or are suggested by the mood the images create.”

• More information can be found about Debbie Sampson’s work at www.ArtSports.com. Learn more about Stan Goldberg’s work at www.smgphotogallery.com. For more information on the Louisville Festival of the Arts, visit: www.ArtFestival.com.

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