Artists Talk with LVA: September 5, 2024

From September 13, 2024 to March 14, 2025, the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Kentucky hosts a new exhibit you won’t want to miss. Based on the upcoming, comprehensive biography, Driftwood: The Life of Harlan Hubbard, this exhibition brings to life the story of a man who, though beloved by his fellow Kentuckians, deserves broad recognition in the disciplines of American landscape painting, writing, and environmental advocacy.

Jessica K. Whitehead has served the Kentuckiana community for over a decade, moving to the Louisville area in 2011 after graduating with a BA in Art History and English from Hanover College. As Curator of Collections at the Kentucky Derby Museum, she works closely with the rest of the Curatorial and Education departments to promote a rich and diverse understanding of the Kentucky Derby and what it has meant—and means—to the Commonwealth and the country through exhibits and collections-based programming.

In addition to her work at the Museum, she is an independent writer, artist, and curator, specializing in themes related to Ohio River Valley history, the natural world, and the arts. She has written the introduction to the recently published The Watercolors of Harlan Hubbard: From the Collection of Bill and Flo Caddell (University Press of Kentucky, 2021) and her first full book, Driftwood: Harlan Hubbard in the American Grain, is under contract with University Press of Kentucky, to appear in February 2025.

Artists Talk with LVA: August 29, 2024

Keith McGill is clever, insightful, and a little bit eye-opening.  His comedy is truth with a twist. Indianapolis’ NUVO said, "Keith McGill has a style that is smooth and temperate, and lacks any gaudy gimmicks or catch phrases, making him one of the best standup acts within earshot... His material is positive and PG-13, yet still intelligently critical of the comical absurdities [of life]...The Louisville native is impossible not to like." Keith was also a STANDUP NBC Competition finalist. As well as touring internationally on Royal Caribbean and Holland America Cruise Lines, Keith has appeared on BET, CMT, LAUGHS on FOX and is a Bob and Tom Show favorite, and a much sought-after entertainer for corporate events.

Over My Dead Husband - Louisville Fringe Festival 
September 15 at 7 pm  For Tickets: Actorstheatre.org

Aaron Raymer earned a BFA in 2006 at the University of Louisville, and a MFA in 2008 at New York University with full scholarship support at both institutions. He has shown in New York (Kate Werble Gallery), across the US Midwest and South, and in Santiago Chile in an exhibition curated by Sebastian Errazuriz. He has been interviewed and reviewed by the New York Times along with other publications. Raymer is a father, and has taught in the University of Louisville Hite Institute of Art + Design since 2017. 

He is represented by Garner Large and Garner Narrative in Louisville KY.

Aaron Raymer - Between Boredom and Oblivion
Aug 29-Oct 26, at garner contemporary narrative gallery
Reception Sept. 14, 2-4 pm with Artist talk 3 pm

Artists Talk with LVA: August 22, 2024

Artist Dan Rhema & Outsider Museum director Alex Huninghake came to the studio to discuss Dan's exhibit at Outsider and the nature of "outsider" art. Tune in to 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Alex Huninghake is the founder and director of Outsider Art Museum & Gallery. Located in the historic Portland neighborhood of Louisville, just blocks from the Portland Museum and LVA, Outsider is a new space dedicated to the celebration of creative Outsiders - visual artists, musicians, writers, and performers who create outside cultural norms, the mainstream, or the realm of “fine art.” Individuals from diverse backgrounds who express themselves with pure, direct, uninhibited vision.

Outsider Art may encompass the following categories: American Contemporary Folk Art, Self-Taught Art, Art Brut, Visionary Art, and Naive Art.

Dan Rhema became an artist after contracting dengue fever (break-bone fever) and spinal meningitis while managing Intercultural Training and Retreat Center in Santiago Tuxla, Mexico. 

During his recuperation, Dan began to compulsively create multimedia collages, sculptures, and masks from found objects. He also began to paint, capturing the images flowing through him in a unique three-dimensional style.

Viewers of his paintings, sculptures, and masks began describing it as visionary art, outsider art, self-taught art, or shamanic art. Dan understood that these acts of creation were healing and re-creating him. He has taken this realization and made it the focus of his art; trauma can awaken creativity and, through creativity, healing can begin.

Artists Talk with LVA: August 15, 2024

Connor Stephenson & Allie Jensen joined us this week to discuss their concurrent solo exhibits at Kore Gallery. Tune in to 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Kore Gallery is exhibiting Time is a Mother by Allie Jensen and The Table by Connor Stephenson through September 1, 2024. A closing reception will be on Saturday, August 24, from 1- 3 pm.

Allie Jensen (they/them) is a Louisville-based artist practicing meditative mark-making techniques using repetitive line-work and dot-work. Like an emotional muscle, their patience and ability to live in the moment are strengthened by their regular use of these methods.

Primarily working in ink and acrylic, Jensen stacks and layers small components such as lines, dots, and circles, to create organic masses that reflect common design elements observed across diverse

natural, technological, and social complex systems.

Jensen’s art practice highlights the universe's astounding interconnectedness and allows them to participate as a co-creator within it. 

Born in 1995 in Monterey, CA, Connor Stephenson is a self-taught artist currently working and living in Louisville, KY. 

Stephenson’s practice imaginatively explores drawing and painting while using a primitive method of mark-making and paint application. His oeuvre consists of separate works such as his cityscape drawings, dinosaur paintings, and still lifes.  

This will be the second solo exhibition of the artist’s career.

Artists Talk with LVA: August 8, 2024

Larry Muhammad has written a new play, Who Killed Alberta Jones? and Brandi LaShay will play the title role in its world premiere from Redline Performing Arts at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Tune into WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Larry Muhammad is an award-winning playwright and producing director of Kentucky Black Repertory Theatre. His plays have been performed in New York at New Federal Theatre; in Louisville, KY at Actors Theatre, Kentucky Center for the Arts, Speed Art Museum, and Muhammad Ali Center; in Cincinnati, OH at the Aronoff Center; and the National Black Theater Festival in Winston-Salem, NC. They include: Looking for Leroy, Last Night at Mikell’s, Derby Mine 4, Jockey Jim, Double V

Brandi LaShay, is a native of Orangeburg, South Carolina. Brandi is an Alumnus of Claflin University and the University of Louisville's Theatre Arts Program. She furthered her career as a resident performer and Education Assistant at the St. Louis Black Repertory Company. She is currently certified in African American Theatre and serves the Louisville Community and JCPS as a Performance Practitioner and Resident Teaching Artist. In addition to her career as a freelance artist and performance Practitioner,  Brandi also works as the Museum Theatre Director at Historic Locust Grove. Brandi has been an inaugural creative partner with IdeasXLabs and the (Un)Known Project, which she last performed as Beverly in Journey’s to Freedom. Brandi identifies herself as a Dope Black Female Artist. DBFA is a label which defines the layers of her authentic creativity and artistic edge.

Redline Performing Arts presents Who Killed Alberta Jones? by Larry Muhammad
August 8-10 in the Victor Jory Theatre at Actors Theatre of Louisville.