By Chanda VenoAs she meandered through the art show honoring local African-American artists at First United Methodist Church Sunday afternoon, Frankfort’s Lane Jacobs was continuously drawn toward a painting of thoroughbreds dashing through water cast in hues of turquoise, green and blue.
“There’s such precision,” she told painter Robert Robinson, of Frankfort, one of the handful of artists who were on hand for a reception following the 11 a.m. service.
As the pair stood together in front of one of his masterpieces, Robinson was all smiles as he explained the method he used to create the splash-like effect near the horses’ hooves.
“It’s just so intricate,” Jacobs exclaimed as she glanced at the artist in awe.
Robinson, a Frankfort native, is retired from the Department of Finance and Administration and currently a deacon at First Baptist Church on Clinton Street. He credits his big brother, Charles, who also has work in the show, with encouraging his art, but he praises God for his talent.
“The greatest instructor is the Lord. I praise and worship Him every day and for everything I have,”
Robert Johnson, Artist
Charles, who graduated from Kentucky State University with a degree in studio art and has taught watercolor workshops, first showed his work at First United Methodist Church last year and has since had pieces exhibited at Capital Cellars on Broadway.
Other artists in the show are Marjorie Duncan Willis and Jardan Paige Doneghy, of Duncan Designs; Leslie Whitlock, minister at First Corinthian Baptist Church; and Joseph Dubronski Jones Sr., a Frankfort native who lives in Louisville.
Jones also picked up the “art bug” at an early age. He remembers watching professionals paint and draw at the Capital Expo Festival. Local painter Michael Duval Finnell was his personal favorite, but he said longtime Frankfort High School art teacher Margaret Frymire played a big role in his development.
“She was a strict disciplinarian who saw my potential and stayed on me consistently,” he explained, adding his mother was also supportive. “I remember my first drawing of a squirrel. It was blue-green and my mother kept it in a scrapbook. She was so proud of it.”
While the show celebrates Black History Month, Phyllis Rogers, of the fine arts committee at First United Methodist, said it will run through the end of March.
