Artists Talk with LVA: August 6, 2026

Brandon Ndife joins us in the studio this week. Ndife is a part of the Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program. Tune in to Artists Talk with LVA each Thursday at 10 am on 97.1 FM or Artxfm.com.

Brandon Ndife is in Louisville as part of the Speed Museum’s Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program, managed by curator Diallo Simon-Ponte. Ndife creates sculptures that merge domestic forms with elements of the natural world through meticulous hand-building, casting, and painting. His work considers how everyday objects index life under capitalism while imagining alternative futures in which human-made and natural worlds converge. Ndife has presented solo exhibitions at Greene Naftali, New York (2024); Matthew Brown Gallery, Los Angeles (2022); and Storm King Art Center, New Windsor (2022), and has been included in major group exhibitions such as the New Museum Triennial (2021). His work is held in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, and The Studio Museum in Harlem. He lives and works in New York.

Sam Gilliam Visting Artist at The Speed

Brandon Ndife

Artists Talk with LVA: July 16, 2026

Diallo Simon-Pointe is the Sam Gilliam Assistant Curator of Artist Programs at The Speed Museum and this week’s guest in the studio. Tune in to Artists Talk with LVA each Thursday at 10 am on 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com.

With a diverse background in curatorial practice and gallery management, Diallo Simon-Ponte is an emerging leader in the contemporary art community. His creative practice is compelled by an exploration of the transatlantic African diaspora as an active and transitional force—approached as a verb—across disciplines. Simon-Ponte is the Founding Curatorial Director of the Limbo Museum in Accra, Ghana, a new cultural institution that labors at the intersection of social sculpture, architecture, art, community, research, and ruin. Previously, he worked at Gagosian Gallery, New York, where he contributed to exhibitions for renowned artists such as Derrick Adams, Rick Lowe, and Lauren Halsey. He has also curated and assisted in exhibitions globally, including in New York, London, and Accra, Ghana. His expertise in artist relations, curatorial research, and exhibition management—paired with his deep appreciation for community-oriented artmaking— positions him to play a key role in shaping the Gilliam Visiting Artist Program. Simon-Ponte steps into his new role at the Speed next month. “I am honored to join the Speed Art Museum in this new capacity,” said Simon-Ponte. “Sam Gilliam’s contributions to the art world, particularly his support of artists from Louisville, have shaped so much of what the Speed represents today. I am excited to further this legacy by creating new platforms for artists to engage with the community and inspire meaningful creative conversations.”

Sam Gilliam Assistant Curator of Artists Programs

Diallo Simon-Ponte

Artists Talk with LVA: December 18, 2025

This week Vian Sora joined us to discuss Vian Sora: Outerworlds which is now on exhibit at The Speed Museum. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Vian Sora: Outerworlds is part of Current Speed, a series of contemporary art exhibitions that introduce the Kentuckiana community to new and emerging artists as well as celebrated mid-career artists previously underrecognized in the region. Current Speed exhibitions are open to the public and included with general museum admission. The series is initiated and organized by Tyler Blackwell, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Speed Art Museum.

Born in Baghdad, Iraq, and now based in Louisville, artist Vian Sora (b. 1976) creates dazzlingly layered abstractions that channel the turbulence of history, memory, and the natural world. Outerworlds—her first solo museum exhibition in the United States—assembles major works from the past ten years, charting her transformation into one of today’s most distinctive voices in painting.

Sora’s practice emerges directly from lived experience. Having grown up amid the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq, she witnessed the devastation of her homeland firsthand. Forced to leave Iraq, she eventually resettled in Louisville, Kentucky, where her practice has flourished.

Vian Sora: Outerworlds at The Speed Museum

Vian Sora

Artists Talk with LVA: March 20, 2025

Julien Robson and Natalie Weis joined us this week to discuss Rounding the Circle, their book about the Al and Mary Shands collection. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 a.m. to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Rounding the Circle: The Legacy of Mary and Al Shands is a handsome hardcover volume, rich with full-color photography, that celebrates the art collection and philanthropy of the two late Louisville collectors.

The book's four essays (authored by Julien Robson, director of the Great Meadows Foundation; Peter Morrin, former director of the Speed Art Museum; John Yau, celebrated poet and art critic; and Natalie Weis, arts writer) chronicle Mary and Al's collection, the 2023 exhibitions at the Speed and at KMAC Museum, the sculpture preserve established on their Crestwood estate, and the creation of the Great Meadows Foundation. This non-profit has given more than $1M to Kentucky artists. It also includes short recollections by 12 artists impacted by Al or the foundation.

Trained as an artist at Bath Academy of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art, Julien Robson has held curatorial positions at the John Hansard Gallery at the University of Southampton (1984-1989), Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky (2000-2008) and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum (2008-2012).

Natalie Weis is a writer and creative director based in Louisville, Kentucky. As an arts writer she has been featured in Dwell, Hyperallergic, Sculpture, Collectors, Burnaway, Ruckus, and on NPR. 

For over 13 years in the advertising world, she was a creative director who developed strategy and has written award-winning campaigns for brands including Maker’s Mark, Utz, Monogram, Carrier, GE Aviation, OhioHealth, The Speed Art Museum, Louisville City FC, Bardstown Bourbon Tourism, and The Library Foundation.

Rounding the Circle: The Mary and Al Shands Collection

Julien Robson & Natalie Weis

Artists Talk with LVA: June 20, 2024

On June 28 The Speed Museum will open Louisville's Black Avant-Garde: William M. Duffy, a solo retrospective of Duffy's work. Duffy and Speed Curator fari nzinga will join us in the studio to talk about this important exhibit. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

LOUISVILLE'S BLACK AVANT-GARDE: WILLIAM M. DUFFY

June 28 through September 29 at The Speed Museum

William M. Duffy is a lifelong resident of Louisville, KY. After graduating from high school in 1971, he enrolled in the Louisville School of Art in Anchorage, KY to pursue his interest in drawing and painting. Upon graduating with a B.F.A. in Painting in 1976, 

Duffy has always shared his talents by teaching, and over the past 40+ years he has taught all ages from every social and economic background. In February 1997, he received an official commendation from the Board of Education for "sharing his outstanding artistic gifts with students and staff in the Jefferson County Public Schools". In 2018, Duffy was one of the first artists to be awarded Imagine Greater Louisville 2020 grants. One for his "Portraits of Pride" project, working with the West End School students on paper collages. The other, he received for his "In My Community" project, working with the New Albany, Indiana Griffin Community Center children on paper collages.

Duffy was the recipient of the Louisville Visual Art 2022 Legacy Award.

Dr. far nzinga is Curator of African and Native American Collections at the Speed Museum. She was most recently a visiting professor and scholar in residence at the Bell Hooks Center at Berea College. She brings experience as a curator, educator, and cofounder of the Color BLOC, an information-sharing network for emerging artists and arts professionals/workers of color. nzinga has been tasked with reinterpreting the displays of the Native American and African art collections, bringing them in line with DEAI initiatives and expanding connections to the Museum’s collections, exhibitions, and programs. She has previously held positions at the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, and Kalamazoo College, and received her Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University.

The recording begins during Dr. nzinga’s remarks in response to the 1st question, which was how The Speed came to develop the Louisville Black Avant-Garde series of exhibitions.

LOUISVILLE'S BLACK AVANT-GARDE: WILLIAM M. DUFFY

William M. Duffy & Dr. fari nzinga