Artists Talk with LVA: July 10, 2025

This week, we talked with Licia Priest, the winner of the 2025 Bill Fischer Award for Visual Art. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Licia Priest: I Am We Crafting Community in Paper Tole is at KMAC Museum through August 17th, 2025

Priest is a bold interdisciplinary artist whose work blends painting, photography, digital media, sculpture, and even scent and sound. Rooted in personal reflection and cultural reclamation, her vibrant, layered pieces draw on childhood memories, travels to Zimbabwe, and a deep connection to textiles.

This body of work is an ongoing investigation into identifying and analyzing African & African-American cultural similarities & differences due to the African Diaspora.  Priest’s artistic practice explores perceived views versus the realities of Africa. Through an onsite immersion in African culture, similarities & differences are captured through photography.

Intrigued by traditional “craft” techniques, Priest utilizes them to express ideas, feelings and vision thereby creating “fine art” that appeals to the mind and touches the emotions . African art does not draw such a clear delineation & thus she, of African roots seems more drawn inherently to that way of viewing art, despite being a product of African-American heritage.

The process used in this body of art is called, Paper Tole. First comes  photographs, then manipulation of the imagery through color changes, merging imagery, altering line, space & shape. Next duplicates of the image & use of up to 40 layers occurs, cutting each layer out by hand , stacking shaping & coloring the edges & then assembling the work. This is a fresh new approach to a very old “craft”,  to create a level of depth & complexity in the work that echoes the depth & complexities of African & African-American cultural norms.

Artists Talk with LVA: June 5, 2025

Elmer Lucille Allen and Sandra Charles join us to talk about their exhibit, “Echoes of the Ages,” which opens on June 7th at the Bourne-Schweitzer Gallery. Tune in to WXOXm 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Sandra Charles & Elmer Lucille Allen are here to talk about their exhibit Echoes of the Ages, which opens June 7th at Bourne-Schweitzer Gallery with a reception from 1 - 3 pm. There will also be an artist's talk on July 10th

Sandra Charles is an oil painter who believes you should never give up on your dreams.  Her work focuses on the culture, history, and social issues that affect African American women.  Sandra has painted all her life, but began her career as a batik fiber artist.  She returned to school in 2011 and obtained a Bachelor of Fine Art Degree in painting from the University of Louisville.  After graduation, she realized painting was her passion and retired to concentrate on her art. 

Elmer Lucille Allen is a ceramic and fiber artist and chemist who graduated from Nazareth College (now Spalding University) in 1953. Both her father and brother were named Elmer, and the family chose to name her Elmer Lucille. She became the first African-American chemist at Brown-Forman in 1966. After retiring, she began studying art at the University of Louisville, where she received her Master of Creative Arts degree with a focus on ceramics and fiber in 2002. Allen's textile work incorporates shibori dyeing techniques.

Artists Talk with LVA: May 8, 2025

Louisville native and U of L grad Robyn Gibson is a Black artist focused on self-portraiture and the exploration of her trauma, grappling with Black identity, the depiction, perception and value of Black bodies, and what it means to be authentic. She joins us in the studio this week to talk about that and more. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Robyn Gibson is an emerging artist and curator living and working in Louisville, KY.

She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Louisville in 2014, earning a BFA in Painting and a BSBA in Marketing. Since receiving her MFA in 2018 from the New York Academy of Art, Gibson has been developing her multidisciplinary art practice.

After she started boxing in 2016, Gibson began incorporating it into her art practice. Larger-than-life-sized bold, gestural charcoal figures on canvas, a lyrical writing style meant to pack a punch, and voluptuous vessels inspired by her own curves all convey the movement and force important to her work and inspired by her boxing practice. The act of taking up space and claiming ownership of it is important to her work. As a Black artist focused on self-portraiture and the exploration of her trauma, Gibson grapples with Black identity, the depiction, perception and value of Black bodies, and what it means to be authentic.

Artists Talk with LVA: January 16, 2025

Erica Chinise Wilcox. Born in 1990 in Cleveland, Ohio. She moved to Louisville, Kentucky in 2014 where she eventually found mentorship with artist Bob Lockhart.

Now she is a member of Pyro Gallery and is exhibiting with another new member, Janet Dake, in “New Beginnings”, which runs throughJan 26, 2025.

“I began my journey into pencil artwork when I was 17 years old. I didn’t use creation to escape life, but I instead used it to process and understand it. At that age, trying to understand my queerness and my place in the world as a young black woman brought on a large bought of depression.  It wasn’t until I discovered art within Spiritual Alchemy that I gained a deeper understanding of myself and artwork. Spiritual Alchemy reminds me of the workings of my mind and my artwork – I strive to understand who I am and the people around me to heal myself, thus healing the world.

With my Intuition, Meditations, and Alchemy being my main inspiration, I strive to capture the link between human and Godlike energy. My goal is to evoke deeper thinking to encourage mental, emotional, and spiritual understanding. Many people will say that I am an activist – If I am an activist, it is one for spirit and the connection with self that we desperately crave. We all need the reminder of connection with self and others; Balance is vital in this world.“

Artists Talk with LVA: November 7, 2024

Dr. Jabani Bennett will be participating in Open Studio Weekend Nov. 16-17 AND opening her solo exhibit, “And say hi to your mother”, at the The Kentucky Center for African American Heritage’s Elmer Lucille Allen Gallery. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each week to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Dr. Jabani Bennett (she/they) served as the first Black woman director of the Women’s Center at the University of Louisville and as a student in 2007 was the student  events coordinator at the center and led one of the few community-wide celebrations for LGBTQIA women on campus.

Dr. Bennett has shaped and provided oversight over numerous creative and inclusive learning and engagement programs for diverse learners across their lifespans. Her career as an award-winning arts educator in New York City and Louisville public schools informs her current projects in social justice, cultural equity planning, and empowering self-identified femmes and feminine-presenting women through the arts.