Artists Talk with LVA: June 26, 2025

The 30th Anniversary exhibit of LAFTA (Louisville Area Fiber and Textile Artists) will open at Pyro Gallery on July 5. Kathy Loomis, Jessica Beels, and Casey Dressel discuss it on Artists Talk with LVA. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artx.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Jessica Beels holds a BA in Art History (Harvard University, 1985) and a Masters in Early American Decorative Arts (Winterthur Program, University of Delaware, 1992). Her crafts background includes many self-taught techniques. More formal training includes classes in metalwork (Penland School of Crafts, NC, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, ME), papermaking (Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, ME), and stone carving (Corcoran School of Art, DC). Recently, she has been making ungalvanized steel armatures and experimenting with sealing in the rust resulting from the metal's contact with the wet paper and ambient humidity.

Casey Dressel’s artistic mediums are painting, installation, and craft based mediums. She is the owner/proprietor of Capacity Contemporary Exchange Gallery on Main Street in Louisville.

Kathy Loomis learned sewing, embroidery and other kinds of handwork from her grandmothers and made her own clothes for 30 years. She is a self-taught quilter, starting my first quilt in high school using leftovers from garment sewing. Her work has been shown in both quilt and all-media shows in the US and Europe. Since 2016 she has been a member of PYRO Gallery, a cooperative enterprise in Louisville. 

Jessica and Casey are also a part of Anne Border’s LVA/CPI Fellowship project at the Passionist Earth & Spirit Center, Pathways to Presence, a permanent group of outdoor installations.

Artists Talk with LVA: March 6, 2025

Jamarr Cox opens an exhibit at Kore Gallery on March 7 & Suzanne Sidebottom opens one at Pyro on March 8. Both will join us this week. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Dreaming in the Dark and Beyond by Jamarr Cox, opens Friday from 6 - 8:30 pm at Kore Gallery.

Jamarr Cox was one of the artists in the 2023 Art in City Hall exhibit. Cox is a Louisville native who has been creating art as far back as he can remember. He holds a degree in Commercial Art and is currently a web / UI developer by day. 

Pyro Gallery opens Just Imagine, from Suzanne Sidebottom &. Beth Sharpe. There will be a reception Friday from 5:30-8:30 pm, and an Artist Talk Saturday, March 8, from 2-3 pm.

Suzanne Sidebottom is a trompe l’oeil clay artist. The artworks are not real, yet they still evoke a memory of time and place for the viewer. Everyday objects are realistically crafted from clay and printed with underglazes using antique and artist-designed printing blocks and artist-made decals. These objects are rich with texture and make the viewer want to reach out and touch them as if they are real. She has exhibited across the U.S. over the past seven years in over 60 juried and invitational exhibitions; had two solo exhibitions; and was published in “500 Prints on Clay: An inspiring Collection of Image Transfer Work.” Her sculptures are in numerous public and private collections.

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: September 28, 2023

Marcelle Gianelloni & C.J. Pressma will be exhibiting together at Pyro Gallery as part of the 2023 Louisville Photo Biennial. We will be talking with them in the studio this week. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

C..J. Pressma founded the Center for Photographic Studies – an alternative school of creative photography, in 1970. The Center provided a learning experience for those seeking to explore photography as creative expression. During its eight- year existence the center attracted students from over 35 states and foreign countries to its full-time resident program and provided part-time instruction and darkroom access for hundreds of students in the Louisville metropolitan area. In 1978 he was awarded a National Endowment Fellowship in Photography.

Pressma is also a multimedia producer and marketing communications specialist. In 1984, his seven part series Witness to the Holocaust, was released in the U.S. and Canada where it remains in distribution today. Witness to the Holocaust has received numerous national awards.

Marcelle Gianelloni went to The Chain School, attended Wheaton College, studied Spanish at the Middlebury Language School and received a Masters In Education at Lesley University. She has been the curator of Education at the Louisville Zoo since 1984.

Pressma/Gianelloni/Perspectives
September 29 through October 22, 2023 at Pyro Gallery
Opening Reception: Sunday, October 1, 2023, 1-4 pm
Artist’s Talk: Saturday, October 7, 1 pm
Gallery Hours: Friday and Saturday 12-6 pm, Sunday 1-4 pm

Artebella On The Radio: May 6

Bette Levy & Kathleen Loomis are exhibiting new work together in PYRO Gallery’s new exhibition, "Reconfiguration". They joined us to talk about it on WXOX 97.1 FM, or stream on Artfm.com.

Bette Levy views the creation of her art as a continuum where every work is influenced and enhanced by previous artwork. With each successive piece of art, she is incorporating gained knowledge and capabilities. She also believes her understanding of her artwork only becomes clear after the work is completed. Levy has no pre-conceived interpretation or meaning of her work other than its form. And this often changes over time as a result of life experiences and perceptions.

Kathleen Loomis thinks of “reconfiguration” slightly differently than Bette does – for her, it’s the finding of old things and giving them new life in art. She is a world-class pack rat, acquiring stuff from the street when she walks, checking out other people’s junk on trash pickup day, accepting discards from friends, even tearing apart old books that she knows nobody will ever want to read. Loomis likes to reassemble these disparate things and see what happens when they get into small groups and start to talk to one another.

PYRO’s new exhibition, RECONFIGURATION, featuring work by Bette Levy and Kathleen Loomis, opens on May 2 and runs through May 30. The gallery is open Friday and Saturday, from 12 to 6 PM and Sunday from 1 PM to 4 PM, and by appointment.