The Fort Thomas Forest Conservancy has selected its first Harlan Hubbard Artist-in-Residence, Cincinnati-based painter Brad Davis. The program is a partnership with the Behringer Crawford Museum and highlights artists whose work is evocative of the philosophy, life and work of Harlan Hubbard, known as “Kentucky’s Thoreau.”
Davis has a studio in Camp Washington and teaches art at the University of Cincinnati and the Manifest Drawing Center. In his new role, he is creating a body of work that will be displayed along side the work of Harlan Hubbard at the museum. The show opens Saturday, March 25, and will run throughout April.
About Brad Davis
In his bio, Davis notes his work is aimed at uncovering and uplifting the discarded and overlooked architecture and inhabitants of his urban surroundings. He uses traditional methods of oil painting in his work, “and an aesthetic pulling from American painters such as John Sloan, Edward Hopper and Thomas Eakins.”
“Brad is very interested in how the city is changing around the river. And of course, the river was Harland’s big focus,” said FTFC Board Member Alex McIntosh. “And Harlan was very interested in not leaving any sort of evidence of humans. He wanted to just live very simply, have a simple footprint on the land. And so Brad’s work is looking at our habitat, what footprints do we leave on the land?” And, especially, as that decays… how that becomes part of the natural environment, too.”
A graduate of the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Davis earned his master’s degree in fine arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. His work is displayed in galleries across the country.
About Harlan Hubbard
Harlan Hubbard was born in Bellevue in 1900. The family moved to New York City, where he grew up but as a young adult he returned and settled in Fort Thomas. He is best known for his writings and paintings that reflected his interest in the natural environment and his concerns about the effects industrialization.
In 1931 he and his wife, Anna, built a shantyboat and set out on a journey down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, ending in the Louisiana bayou country. He published a book about their journey, Shantyboat, later republished as Shantyboat: A River Way of Life. The couple then settled in Payne Hollow in Trimble County, Kentucky, where he continued to work and write about his approach to living simply.
While in Fort Thomas, Hubbard built a home and a small art studio on his property at 129 Highland Avenue. In 2009 the Fort Thomas Forest Conservancy began meeting in the studio and raised money for renovations, turning it into an education and experience center now known as the Harlan Hubbard Studio and Nature Center. The location was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
Connecting to artists and other creatives
Since opening, FTFC has been working to celebrate creative work in the space, especially work that reflects Hubbard’s interests and philosophy.
“For the past 10 years, we’ve been hosting community events and workshops in the studio. And so we’ve had a lot of different artists and educators,” McIntosh said. “All kinds of people lead smaller sessions in the studio. But we had been dreaming of a way to give back to artists who came and did events for us, especially the artists that we met through that who embodied what we loved about Hubbard.”
She said she worked with other organizations devoted to Hubbard’s legacy to learn more and explore ways to honor the artist. She met with members of Payne Hollow on the Ohio, an organization devoted to the research and preservation of Hubbard’s work.
The Behringer Crawford Museum has an extensive collection of Hubbard’s work. It was a natural fit to partner with the museum to show the resident artist’s work, give the artist an opportunity and give back to the community, she said.
The Artist-in-Residence program
Davis is the 2022 artist-in-residence. FTFC is currently looking at applications for its 2023 and plans to announce a selection this spring. That person will work on projects for the organization and will have a show at the museum toward the end of the year.
FTFC has a committee in place to oversee the application process. Davis, will join the committee for the next artist. Other committee members include several longtime FTFC members, as well as David Hausrath, who owns Cincinnati Art Galleries.
The program is open to any artist in any medium who has an interest in the natural world and reflects Hubbard’s philosophy on nature and simplicity. Artists receive a stipend of $1,000.
There will be a reception at the museum from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 25. For more information on the Harlan Hubbard Artist-in-Residence program go to the Fort Thomas Forest Conservancy website. For more on the exhibition of Brad Davis’ and Hubbard’s work, see the Behringer Crawford Museum website.