Life > September 27, 2007

By Jermyn Davis | Contributing writer

Who knew it? Art gallery directors are actually interesting people. That is the idea that passed through most people’s head while attending the lecture given by Luise Ross, the art gallery owner/ director of Luise Ross Gallery located in the Chelsea district of New York City.

Ross, who was at the university to discuss four of the artists she represents whose works are being shown at the Charlotte and hilip Hanes Art Gallery, is not by any means the typical art gallery owner.

During the opening remarks of the lecture, Victor Faccinto, director of Hanes Art Gallery, said that Ross “represents and is much more than just a director of a gallery … she is an artist herself.”

Ross, who has owned her own gallery for nearly 25 years, said she has been involved with art her entire life.

When she began to speak about her unique artistic lineage, which includes her mother, a sculptor, and her uncle, a professor of aesthetics at John Hopkins University, people in the audiences knew this was an extraordinary woman.

Explaining why she loved art so dearly, Ross said “at a very early age it (art) gave me direction.”

Because of her focused direction on her craft she was able to study at some of the best schools in America and in Europe.

She was also able to study with arguably some of the best artists at the time, most notably one of the giants of 20th century American painting, artist Clyfford Still.

“It wasn’t a terribly interesting experience ... (however) that work somewhere in the back of my head has influenced my aesthetics” Ross said of the experience of studying with Still.

So what does she look for in artists to feature in her gallery? “I am a believer in self-taught artist,” Ross said.

However, she readily admits that all self-taught artists are great artists.

When discussing how she finds artists to represent, Ross said “numerous times artists e-mail me there work … (although) a lot of artists send me work which is dreadful.”

However, “if I see something I like it will only take me five minutes to go to Italy,” she said.

Ending the lecture, Ross encouraged all of the audience to see the exhibition at the university because she feels that each of the four artists she has displayed here represent something different within the art world.

The exhibition will be showing until Oct. 11.