Artists Talk with LVA: March 12, 2026

The 2026 LVA Honors is on March 20th, and two of the honorees, Robyn Gibson & Tom Pfannerstill, join us in the studio. Tune into Artists Talk with LVA on WXOX 97.1 FM at 10 AM every Thursday.

Robyn Gibson is an emerging artist, curator, and podcaster living and working in Louisville, KY. 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 ceramic 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. She is also the host of the podcast, WheelHouse Art’s Art by Volume, presented by the Wine Room. 

For nearly four decades as a full-time studio artist, Tom Pfannerstill has transformed overlooked everyday objects—trash, food, clothing, paintbrushes, and waste—into astonishing hyper-realistic sculptures. His work challenges viewers to reconsider consumerism and the byproducts of human consumption, often requiring a second glance to distinguish art from reality. Tom has exhibited nationally since 1990 and is the recipient of a prestigious Kentucky Arts Council fellowship. His work is held in major collections including the Flint Institute of Arts, Bellarmine University, and the Evansville Museum of Arts and Sciences. Based in Louisville, his enduring practice continues to influence generations of artists.

Artists Talk with LVA: March 20, 2025

The 2025 LVA Honors will recognize Annette Cable and Dr. Jabani Bennett and both joined us this week live in the studio. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Annette Cable (2025 Art Educator) grew up in the country outside of Columbus, Ohio and graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design. As an illustrator, she has worked for commercial clients nationwide, including having illustrated 20 children’s picture books. She has worked for LVA for many years and has been a CFAC teacher, an Open Doors teacher, and a Summer Camp coordinator and teacher. She has been the LVA Education Director since 2016.

Her non-profit experience includes her work with many local museums and historic landmarks, including the Portland Museum for the past 25 years. From her drawing board and computer screen creating book illustrations to large murals, art classrooms, and community centers, creativity, community, and education encompass her teaching philosophy. 

Dr. Jabani Bennett (2025 Community Impact) 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. 

In October 2024 through January 2025, The Kentucky Center for African American Heritage hosted her solo exhibition, And Say Hi To Your Mother: 30 Portraits of Black Women Culture Leaders.

Artists Talk with LVA: March 12, 2025

It's almost time for LVA Honors & LVA Executive Director Angela Hagan joined us to talk with two of this year's Honorees: Chuck Swanson & Juliet Taylor. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Dr. Angela Hagan became the Executive Director of Louisville Visual Art in September 2024. For over a decade, she worked in leadership functions including development, marketing and communications, and community engagement for nonprofit organizations focused on affordable and fair housing, education, youth development, and art (KMAC Museum) before spending a decade at Louisville-based Fortune 60 health plan Humana, where she led functions  and teams in member engagement and community health strategy and insights.

Chuck Swanson is an artist, primarily a painter, but he is also one of the pioneer gallerists in Louisville, having opened a gallery on Bardstown Road in 1982 and then in 1998 on East Market Street in what would eventually become the celebrated NuLu neighborhood. For the record, Swanson opened the space near Market and Clay well ahead of the rechristening of the area, so he must be counted as one of the reasons why the once-neglected and depressed environs became a hot spot for redevelopment.

Juliet Taylor is an interdisciplinary artist working with quilting & wearable art. She was a featured designer in the 2024 KMAC Couture and was a part of the Material Obsessions exhibit in the fall of 2024 at KMAC Museum. Most recently she has worked as the lead fabricator on the SPARK sculpture scheduled to be unveiled on the LVA building in February 2025. Juliet was a student in LVA’s Children’s Fine Art Classes and at DuPont Manual Visual Art Magnet.

Artists Talk with LVA: March 14. 2024

Sheila Fox is a mixed-media artist who resides in Louisville, KY. She has been drawing for well over twenty years but has been painting since 2016. She signs her works under the artist name GodivaGoddess. Her motivation is rooted simply in being a Black Woman in America. She focused most of her life attending to work and supporting her family but has always known that she was an artist. She specializes in capturing the timeless essence of black women; and tackles the beauty within history, race, power, and repression. 

On March 21 Sheila will be recognized as the Emerging Artist at the 2024 LVA Honors, a fundraiser for Louisville Visual Art. Find out more about the event and how to purchase tickets here: louisvillevisualart.org/lva-honors

Artists Talk with LVA: March 7. 2024

Amanda Thompson has been a Visual Art teacher at Western Middle School for the Arts since 2010. She joined LVA’s Children’s Fine Art Classes the same year. She was recently awarded the Baird Excellence Award Outstanding Teacher for Middle School 2023. She served as a Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence Teacher Fellow in 2022 and Classroom Teachers Enacting Positive Solutions fellow in 2020. In collaboration with LVA and PNC Broadway, her classes have participated in 3 separate art installations at Kentucky Center for the Arts for Blue Man Group, Little Mermaid, and Anastasia, the Musical.