
Natural Energy: Clay, Wood, and Color – Artist Talk with Dru Pilmer and Kevin Darst
Artist Talk Details
Date and Time: September 12, 2024 @ 6:30 pm
Location: Mary Anderson Gallery at Mount Saint Francis Center for Spirituality
Join us for an inspiring evening with artists Dru Pilmer and Kevin Darst at the Mary Anderson Gallery, Mount Saint Francis Center for Spirituality, on Thursday, September 12th at 6:30 PM. This event will delve into their creative processes and the natural inspirations behind their work, exploring how they each engage with and interpret the forces of nature.
Dru Pilmer and Kevin Darst both draw deeply from the natural world, though their approaches and mediums differ. In her bold, colorful paintings, Dru seeks to capture a sense of natural energy that permeates everything, that connects us to the deepest mysteries of the universe. In this show, she is translating the unseen forces of harvestable energy from Sun, Water, Earth, and Wind.
Kevin Darst finds inspiration in nature’s perfection and imperfection, working with clay and wood to express the natural world’s dynamic qualities. He views clay as a medium that captures gravity through form, while wood, whether still growing or as a crafted piece, represents a living element constantly interacting with the environment. For Kevin, working with these materials keeps him connected to the Creative Spirit and grounded on this earth.
Together, Dru and Kevin will share their unique perspectives on harnessing natural materials and energies. They will provide insights into how their work connects them to the broader environment and the creative spirit that animates their craft. Their talk promises to be a harmonious blend of their artistic visions, showing how different mediums and approaches can converge to celebrate and honor the natural world.
Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with Dru Pilmer and Kevin Darst, gain a deeper understanding of their artistic journeys, and be inspired by their passion for nature and sustainability.
Place: Mary Anderson Gallery
Mount Saint Francis Center for Spirituality
101 St. Anthony Dr.
Mount Saint Francis, IN 47146

Kevin Darst
Kevin, a native of Louisville, moved to Southern Indiana in 1995. He began his study of Ceramics in the late seventies at Western Kentucky University and later at University of Louisville under Tom Marsh. He had a fulfilling career in Graphic Design for the next 30 years and taught clay sculpture and woodcarving at the Waldorf School. Upon semi-retirement Kevin rebuilt his kiln, and began creating clay forms , wood sculptures and tables. Creative Energy is spent at a cabin in his woods and a studio at Mount Saint Francis.
Meet The Artist

Dru Pilmer
Dru Pilmer has always been an artist, at an early age drawing highly imaginative charming scenes of dinosaurs playing with people. She grew up in Mississippi, but was born in Rhode Island, the introverted youngest of five kids, daughter of a Naval Fighter Pilot and a former UofCA Berkeley fashion design student. Both her parents were also artists, poets, singers, and supporters of the Arts and Civil Rights. Artists and crafters pepper her ancestry, as well as Colonial New England immigrants, a frontier doctor, and Scottish Iowa farmers. She credits all these influences for her artistic inclinations, a deep love for science, nature and the Earth, social justice, and challenging herself.
Pilmer’s artistic growth grew as she took an unexpected second parallel path less traveled by—one into a professional acting career which included a Masters degree, singing, dancing, an intense post graduate study and performance of Shakespearean plays.
A similar combination of factors generated Dru’s deep interest in natural energy, resulting in the sgrafitto markings in her paintings: her study sound waves for her Linklater Voice teacher training; her struggles to heal from profound energy loss during her lengthy bout of Lymes’ and autoimmune diseases; and an avid scientific interest in particle physics.
As her scientific and experiential energy knowledge grew, she continued to work as a fine artist, garnering portrait and figure painting commissions during her theatre studies and acting career travels, that took her to almost every state in the U.S. By the time she was chosen (designated) to complete intense training with voice master Kristin Linklater and world-renowned Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts, Dru was “seeing” abstracts in her mind. Compelled, she began to paint them, finding a larger language of expression to tell stories.
Whether she is painting abstracts, expressionistic flowers, colorful machinery for corporations, or portraits in her studio overlooking the glacial hills of Southern Indiana, her style is best described as lyrical, energetic, and bold:
“Dru Pilmer’s paintings capture a thrilling mix of art meets science. The colors in Ms. Pilmer’s art world swirl and vibrate with compelling movement. She uses her imaginative insight to interpret unseen energy that pulsates in our natural world, inviting us to view the world in an electrifying manner. I found her art to be incredibly refreshing.” Julie Lamb, Louisville.com
“…highly dynamic, richly colored, densely packed acrylic paintings fairly bulges with ideas and emanates feeling with an almost operatic intensity.” Kevin Nance, Arts Connect, Jan. 2023.
Her art is in over one hundred private, public, and corporate collections in New York, Chicago, Massachusetts, Los Angeles, Utah, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi, Florida, North Carolina, South America, Canada, and Scotland.