Relevance, 35th Anniversary Exhibition II
I am so pleased to have been invited to participate in Space One Eleven’s 35th Anniversary Exhibition and Celebration.
In the early planning stage of SOE, Anne Arrasmith and Peter Prinz had an idea to develop an art center in the inner city of Birmingham, to serve the community, improve the neighborhood, and to engage the local children. It was a struggle to get the supplies and funding needed to make SOE a reality. Everyone worked very hard to get people to invest and support the project. I became the first president of SOE. Because Anne and Peter were able to convince people that SOE needed the talents of everyone that SOE became what it is today.
I have become a much stronger artist due to my experiences with Space One Eleven. It helped me to overcome the fear of taking risks in my life and painting. I’m very grateful for the opportunity Space One Eleven gave me to grow and explore.
As a prize winning, abstract, experimental artist, I paint intuitively having no preconceived outcome in mind. Most of my paintings are based on landscape, seascape, or outer space. My painting, Galaxy, is the result of experimentation with acrylic, and gold leaf on polystyrene as my substrate. I used a blow torch to make the texture on the polystyrene. The second canvas was attached to the first canvas as a continuum of the experiment. My paintings have been greatly influenced by Japanese art, which I first studied at the University of Guam. My use of gold leaf comes from that exposure and immersive experiences through multiple trips to Japan and many educational opportunities.
Acrylic and gold leaf
26 x 26 in.
Award winning artist, Armor Keller, was born in Montgomery, Alabama. After having lived in different parts of the United States and overseas, her home is now Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
Her artwork has been presented in many solo exhibitions, including; Huntsville Museum of Art, Kentuck Museum, Wiregrass Museum, Mercedes-Benz Museum, all in Alabama. She has also had solo exhibitions at the following: Meridian Museum of Art, Mississippi, Monroe Museum of Art, Louisiana. Armor’s work has also been included in many group exhibitions. She has had several commissions including designing and gold leafing six wooden doors for Temple Beth El of Birmingham, AL, and 33 paintings for Broadway Crowne Plaza Hotel of New York.
One of Armor’s more ambitious projects has been the Magic City Golden Transit, a car that she gold leafed and jeweled inside and out. It has been featured in a film, books, a calendar, several magazines including Smithsonian Magazine, Car and Driver, Spiegel of Germany, the Japan Esquire and newspapers, including the New York Times. Her art car is now permanently located at The Art Car World Museum, in Arizona.
In 1993, Armor began making one of a kind artist’s books. Her books have been exhibited, not only in the USA, but Canada, Mexico, and Germany.
She received her art degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, after having spent many years studying at the Universities of Guam and Huntingdon College.
She has been greatly influenced by Japanese art and has been an official guest of Japan. Armor served on the Birmingham Sister City Commission and on the Board of Directors of the Japan America Society of Alabama.
She received an Individual Residential Fellowship, Escape to Create, Seaside, Florida.
Armor is an art advocate and lecturer. Other art related activities, past or present, include: President, Watercolor Society of Alabama; President, Birmingham Art Association; President, Montgomery Art Guild; President, Space One Eleven Art Center, Birmingham, AL; member of Board of Directors, Bluff Park Art Association; member of National League of American Pen Women; listed in Who’s Who in the World, in America, of the South and Southwest, and American Women. Her works are in numerous public and private collections.
Armor has had paintings included in the following recent selected juried exhibitions:
- International Society of Experimental Artists
- The Philadelphia Sketch Club
- Philadelphia/Tri State Artist’s Equity
- Phillip’s Mill, New Hope, New Jersey
- National League of American Pen Women
- Woodmere Museum of Art, Philadelphia
- Ellerslie – Trenton Museum
- Stover Mill, New Jersey
Space One Eleven Involvement: Exhibiting Artist: Sculpture and Sumi 1992, Wild Wheels 1993, Now… and Then 2007
Founding Member