Artists Talk with LVA: February 23, 2023

REMEMBRANCE, an exhibition honoring the late Lida Gordon featuring Bette Levy, Elmer Lucille Allen, Denise Furnish, and Melinda Snyder, opens at PYRO Gallery on March 3 and runs through March 26, 2023.

“As an artist, I am interested in using historic handwork techniques to create contemporary art and to address personal and societal issues. It is important to me to use these skills in an increasingly technological/virtual world and to maintain an ongoing relationship with the past. 

 For the past 20+ years, I have been a hand embroiderer, using vividly colored silk thread on black grounds. This approach intensifies thread colors and creates strongly contrasting figure-ground relationships. Over time, I have developed a personal language of stitches that enables me to "paint" or "draw" with thread on fabric.  My subject matter is based on the photographic studies that I abstract and manipulate to emphasize seemingly inconsequential structures.  I am interested in textures and how to give form to structures through the layering of stitches and the use of color.  Labor- and stitch-intensive, my work often takes considerable time to research and complete.  It is the very detail of this work, however, that provides a meditational focus”.

The Sanctuary Project is a collaborative performance art initiative with Louisville Visual Art taking place on March 3 & 4 at LVA. Two of the five participating artists, Joyce Barbour and Magnolia Hensley came to talk about it. Joyce is a multi-media artist and teacher and Magnolia is an actor and improv artist.

Five artists create performances around the idea of sanctuary using a variety of media, space, time, spoken word, and music.

Joyce Barbour. Amy Davis. Magnolia Hensley
Sara Noori. Taylor Sanders Curated by Keith Waits

Artists Talk With LVA: July 21 2022

It's time again for the Louisville Fringe Festival and Nick Hulstine, Cris Eli Black, & Hannah DeWitt talk about what's in store for 2022. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Nicholas Hulstine (he/him) is a Louisville, Kentucky- based theatre artist. On stage he’s appeared in Tuesday Night Poker (Theatre Row, NYC), Foreign Gothic (FringeNYC), The Dazzle (John Cullum Theater, NYC), The Flick (The Alley Theater), Nobody Bunny and the Golden Age of Animation (Theatre 502), Tales of the 4th Grade Nothing (StageOne). He’s directed productions of Abramovic (Richmond Shepard Theater, NYC) and The Principles of Dramatic Writing (Slant Culture Theatre Festival). As a playwright, his plays have been produced in Chicago and NYC.

Cris Eli Blak is an award-winning and internationally produced writer for the page, stage, and screen. His work has garnered him a Bronze Remi from the Worldfest Houston International Film and Video Festival, the Christopher Hewitt Award in Fiction, a Pushcart Prize nomination, and honors from Vectis Radio, Negro Ensemble Company, Clocktower Players and A is For. His work has been produced, performed, and/or published worldwide, from Off-Broadway, California, London, Australia, and Ireland. He continues to strive to create work that reflects the world that we live in, with all of its different and diverse colors, creeds, and cultures, through his artistic endeavors and work with organizations such as TedxBroadway, Fine Arts Forward, and the Black Theatre Caucus.

Hannah DeWitt is a young artist working on her MFA at the Hite Art Institute in Louisville, Kentucky, and has a BFA from Spalding University. She is a multimedia artist with an emphasis on conceptual performative works, both live and digital. Her works are often participatory, deeply personal, and ethically fraught as she fumbles in the dark in search of anyone to witness. Blurring the line between public and private space, her work balances radical vulnerability and exhibitionism.

Artists Talk with LVA: March 24, 2022

Hannah DeWitt is an MFA student at the Hite Institute and will be performing "An Exercise in Unconditional Trust and Solidarity" March 26, 6 - 9 pm @ Carbon Copy. This week she talks all about it with us. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com at 10 am Thursdays to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Hannah DeWitt is a young artists working on her MFA at the Hite Art Institute at the University of Louisville, and has a BFA from Spalding University. She is a multimedia artist with an emphasis on conceptual performative works, both live and digital. her works are often participatory, deeply personal, and at times ethically fraught as she fumbles in the dark in search of someone, anyone to witness. Blurring the lines between public and private space, her work balances on the edge of radical vulnerability and exhibitionism.

An Exercise in Unconditional Trust and Solidarity takes place March 26, from 6 to 9 pm at Carbon Copy,

Artebella On The Radio: October 14

This week we are talking with Multi-Media artist and educator Sara Noori, who is a part of Open Studio at Art Sanctuary. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10am to hear Keith Waits talk with artists.

Sara Noori is a mixed media artist who lives and works in Louisville. They received their Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2-D Studio Art from the University of Louisville in May 2010, graduating Summa Cum Laude. Noori has worked as an arts educator in Louisville and Chicago.

They have a studio at Art Sanctuary and are participating in the 2021 Open Studio Louisville.

Artebella On The Radio: October 7

Open Studio Louisville runs the next 4 Saturdays & we talked with 4 of the artists: Andrew Marsh, Feral Fagiola, Sarah Ferguson, & James May. Tune in @ WXOX 97.1 FM or stream @ Artxfm.com Thursdays @ 10am to hear Keith Waits talk with artists on LVA's Artebella on the Radio.

James May is a Kentucky native who has been working in the arts since 2001 as artists’ assistant, educator, and technician. He has a BFA from Tulane University and an MFA from Illinois State University and has been a working artist in both New Orleans and Cincinnati, prior to moving to Louisville in 2015. He is a fabricator, installer, contractor and consultant for numerous other artists and has designed equipment for several studios nationally. He is the co-founder of Acme Artworks.

A Louisville native, Sarah Ferguson has years of varied experience working in galleries and art venues in the area. She is a Centre College graduate. Her volunteer and community service history has given her ample experience with youth programs and community outreach as ACME strives to be a centerpiece in the greater Louisville community.

Feral Fagiola is an artist, designer, metalsmith, and tattooist living and working at Lucky 7 Arts at Bldg 15 Studios in Louisville. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, she studied at Vermont College of Fine Arts and Kennesaw State University.

Andrew Marsh makes beautiful and terrifying art to celebrate life in the face of severe chronic pain. He combines brutal, explosive performances with cast iron, welded steel, and chainsaw carved wood sculptures at his studio, Lucky 7 Arts at Bldg 15 Studios in Louisville, KY. He was an artist in residence at City Museum in St. Louis after earning his MFA at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (‘01) and BFA at the University of Kentucky (‘95). His work has appeared in over 250 group and solo exhibitions, collections, and events throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. Marsh is assistant director for Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research and program officer for the Leigh Ann Conn Prize for Renewable Energy at the University of Louisville. He serves as chair of the board of directors and executive officer for Josephine Sculpture Park and is a contributing artist at Sculpture Trails Outdoor Museum. He chaired the 2017 and 2019 National Conferences on Contemporary Cast Iron Art & Practices.