Artists Talk with LVA: April 11, 2024

From 2023 KMAC Couture

KMAC Couture is April 13 so this week we had 4 of the designer/artists in the studio with us: Juliet Taylor, Mallory Quisenberry, Edwin Ramirez & Trevor Decuir.

Tune into Artists Talk with LVA every Thursday at 10 am on 97.1 WXOX-FM or stream on

KMAC Couture is a wearable live art runway show presented by KMAC Museum. It is the signature fundraiser for KMAC Museum that provides funding for the Museum's educational programs and exhibitions. This event offers a unique way to experience art and fashion. KMAC Couture features and supports emerging and established artists, costumers, designers, and milliners through the extraordinary presentation of original couture pieces of wearable art and conceptual fashion designs. For tickets click HERE

Juliet Taylor is an interdisciplinary artist working with quilting wearable art. This is her first time with KMAC Couture.

Mallory Quisenberry is a fashion designer the founder of Green Folk Collective which features her “handcrafted slow fashion designs. This is her first time with KMAC Couture.

Edwin Alberto Ramirez is a Multimedia artist, costume designer, DJ, & pro dog trainer.

Trevor Decuir is a queer fiber artist just beginning to display work publicly.

Edwin and Trevor are working together on this KMAC Couture.

Artists Talk with LVA: January 4, 2024

Carnegie Center for Art & History opened "Intentionally Intimate: The Choice to Work Small," which runs through March 16 & the artists, Wendi Smith, Nancy Currier, Caroline Waite, Kay Grubola, and Rachel Singel joined us this week.

Wendi Smith’s work has been exhibited regionally for over thirty years. She has been a member of local co-ops Zephyr and PYRO Gallery, as well as a supporter of the local arts scene. Exhibit credits include Four Star Gallery in Indianapolis, the Carnegie for the Arts in Cincinnati, and Zephyr Gallery in Louisville. She has taught fine arts at Bellarmine University and Indiana University Southeast.

Nancy Currier is a painter who also creates drawings and mixed-media sculptures. She grew up around art as the daughter of the esteemed Louisville painter Mary Ann Currier. She also has taught art at Louisville's Foster Traditional Academy.

Caroline Waite is from an English village called Cookham Dean, known for its famous and eccentric resident, wartime artist Stanley Spencer whose stylized scenes in the 1940s of Cookham village life and residents have hung in the nation's leading museums. He described Cookham as a “village in Heaven”.

In England, Waite taught at Northbrook College, Sussex North East Wales University Telford College, Shropshire. Since moving to the U.S. in 2001, she has lived in Texas and New Mexico but prefers her current home Louisville.

Kay Polson Grubola is an artist and independent curator in Louisville, Kentucky. Creating assemblages using natural found objects, Grubola’s work is a celebration of nature. The work is also an allegory for the natural process of human life, both its ascendance and its decline. She has shown her work nationally and internationally. 

Grubola was the Executive Director of Nazareth Arts, a regional arts center on the campus of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Kentucky, as well as the Artistic Director of the Louisville Visual Art Association.  For 10 years she taught drawing and printmaking at Bellarmine University and Indiana University Southeast. 

Rachel Singel is a printmaker and faculty at the Hite Institute at the University of Louisville. Rachel has participated in residencies at the Penland School of Crafts, the Venice Printmaking Studio, the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, and Art Print Residence in Barcelona. As an artist interested in working using non-toxic methods, Singel, has studied with the founder Grafisk Eksperimentarium studio in Andalusia in 2018 and worked as a resident artist at Wharepuke studio in New Zealand.

Artebella On The Radio: June 17

The (Un)Known Project is a collaborative, two-year initiative led by IDEAS xLab to tell the stories of both known and unknown Black men, women, and children that were formerly enslaved and hidden figures in Louisville, Kentucky. This week we talk with old friends William Duffy & Dave Caudill, the two sculptors working ion this project, which will be unveiled Saturday, June 19.

William Duffy was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Always having a special talent for painting and drawing, Duffy graduated from the Louisville School of Art with a BFA in painting.

Duffy’s work can be found in numerous private, corporate, and public collections, including Phillip Morris USA, Brown-Forman Corporation, Kentucky Fried Chicken (now YUM! Brands, Inc.), Humana Inc., The Louisville Orchestra, and the J.B. Speed Art Museum.

David Caudill creates artworks for public, corporate and private collections. His larger public works are found at Louisiana’s Rip Van Winkle Gardens, East Tennessee’s Horizon Center park, the University of Kentucky’s Singletary Center for the Arts, and the University of Louisville School of Music. Corporate collections include Brown-Forman Corporation and Fire King International. Individual collectors across America have acquired his work.

He is also one of the few sculptors in the world who have created an environmental undersea sculpture. Caudill’s artwork was placed on the seabed near Nassau, The Bahamas.

The {Un) Known Project’s first public art installation "On the Banks of Freedom" gets unveiled June 19 as part of Juneteenth: Past, Present, Future.

Feature: The Value of Being Knocked Off Your Axis

Panoramic shot of the Pairellels exhibit. (Photo courtesy of Kelly Rains.)

Complacency is the enemy of creativity. The very real and honest expression that authentic artists require of themselves demands challenge and occasionally it is important to upset the apple cart a little bit in order to rediscover the muse.

Curator & Artist, Stacey Reason

A 2013 exhibit at The Patio Gallery in the Jewish Community Center illustrated the idea in pointed fashion. As curated by Stacey Reason, the show, which was titled Pairallels, was described as a “collaborative exchange” in its prospectus materials, a sharing of work in the form of a hand-off from one artist to another, with virtually no restriction on what the second artist would bring to the effort. The prospectus used the word “subtract” to suggest what might be allowable for one artist to do with another artist’s unfinished work, and what resulted in some instances was a complete deconstruction of the original piece, as well as a sharp lesson in how two different generations of artists tend to define the word collaboration.

Artists who contributed to Pairallels were Brandon Bass, Andy Cozzens, Sarah Duncan, Mallorie Embry, Linda Erzinger, Meghan Greenwell, Brandon Harder, Phillip High, Mary Dennis Kannapell, Shohei Katayama, Keith Kleespies, Sally Labaugh, Kathy Loomis, Kacie Miller, Karisssa Moll, Jacque Parsley, CJ Pressma, Kelly Rains, Lelia Rechtin, Alli Wiles, Jenny Zeller and Suzi Zimmerer.

Ms. Reason is a founding member of The Louisville Artist’s Syndicate, an ad hoc group of young and primarily visual artists whose mission is to inspire and promote networking between what they felt was a disparate collection of painters, sculptors, filmmakers, musicians and writers, all working in the Louisville area but lacking the connectivity necessary to accomplish greater things. The group, active at the time, has become dormant in the years since.

Dead Machine, Jenny Zeller & Mallorie Embry, digital photography printed on mulberry paper dipped in encaustic wax, vellum, sewing patterns, thread, canvas, nails, paper, Price not available. (Photo courtesy of Kelly Rains.)

By contrast, an older generation of Louisville artists, many of them members of the informal “Artists’ Breakfast Group”, had for many years enjoyed a camaradarie and interconnectivity that might be a model of what the Syndicate hoped to foster among its core constituency: a flow of energy and understanding that makes it easier for creative individuals to support each other. The Patio Gallery’s director at the time, Bette Levy, had been a long-standing member of this group and invited Reason to mount her exhibit there.

In today’s creative culture, it is more difficult than ever to characterize any group of artists collectively as having a shared sensibility, but the more prominent members of the Syndicate were preoccupied with art that is of the moment: ephemeral, fluid, and at times limited in its concern for archival survival. Another exhibit that year at Spalding University’s Huff Gallery featured two Syndicate members, Andrew Cozzens and Brandon Harder, whose bold sculptural forms relied on the effect of the elements and the passage of time for their full impact. Some of the pieces, for all intensive purposes, existed only during the duration of the opening reception. A delicate assemblage of wires frozen in pieces of ice and suspended on string, for example, were allowed to slowly descend off of the string while they melted. What remained for the subsequent run of the exhibit were the underwhelming remnants of wire and string that lighted onto the gallery shelf beneath. What interests these artists is the specific process of change and deterioration, not a final, marketable, objet d' art. The approach is fascinating but it risks occupying the same place in the cultural memory as a good joke badly-retold: I guess you had to be there.

C.J. Pressma & Kelly Rains discuss the project in front of their piece. (Photo courtesy of Kelly Rains.)

Whereas the breakfast group, for the most part, makes art in a more traditional context, paintings, prints, and sculptures created, at least in part, with an eye on the marketplace. Most have been doing this for many years, and their body of work can often define them in very specific terms, a signature style that might be immediately recognizable when you enter a gallery. Jacque Parsley's assemblages and C.J. Pressma’s photographic quilts are but two examples of art that is sought after by collectors and marketed at premium prices, reflecting the quality of the work and the esteem in which these artists are held.

Both are valid perspectives, but once artists from both pools were drawn into the Pairallels project, perhaps it was inevitable that some level of disagreement would follow. "My idea was to let the art speak for itself," explains Reason. "It was supposed to be about the object, but it wound up being entirely about the artist."  By design, there was no input between the individuals sharing the work, and apparently none of the artists saw the final results before the opening reception in June.

Grocery Store Mandala II, Kathy Loomis & Kelly Rains, grocery packaging, paper, chili peppers, found objects, fabric, wire, panel, paper, ink, acrylic, Price not available. (Photo courtesy of Kelly Rains.)

Among the breakfast group there were mixed reactions, including shock and outrage from a small number at what must have seemed a violation of their personal artistic integrity. In a few instances the piece from the first stage was physically deconstructed and enough parts discarded to render the source nearly unrecognizable. Elements were identifiable but the hand of the receiving artist might be said to have obliterated the original creative intent. Some tempers flared and some heads were scratched, mostly from within the breakfast group.

When, a few weeks later, there was an opportunity to sit down and talk it out, what was interesting was how much the conflict had turned into an opportunity for most of the participants. Creative types often like to indulge in a certain amount of denial that there is any gap between artists owing to generational differences, yet the reality of two distinct mind-sets about how visual artists approach their careers was obvious. During a meeting at one of the artist’s studios, the outrage was absent, replaced by an admission of recalcitrance from some, an expansion of perspective from others, and, arguably, enlightment all around. Some of the younger members spoke of the lack of attachment to the objects that they had fashioned and how they were sometimes excited to see the drastic alterations that had been employed once they passed off their work, while some in the breakfast group emphasized how they had chosen to dive into the project because, “...doing the same thing I had been doing”, wasn't good enough.

Synthesized Fang, Shohei Katayama & Alli Wiles, enamel, snake skin, beer cans, hot glue, wood, black primer, polyurethane, tracing paper, ink, Price not available. (Photo courtesy of Kelly Rains.)

Coming away from the experience, the lessons may be as varied as the individual sensibilities that populate both groups of artists. Breakfast members had come together out of an attraction to build a social context for like-minded artists who were rarely critical but always supportive of each other, while the Syndicate reinforced an aesthetic that embraces the notion that being knocked a little bit off your axis is sometimes a healthy thing.

Four years later, Reason reflects back on Pairallels: “The project was a great learning experience for everyone involved, myself included. I had no idea what kinds of outcomes to expect, and what happened was far more than what I could have anticipated. The dialog that was created surrounding the project was very productive - it gave a fresh look at individual studio practices, reminded us all of our potentials, and pushed everyone out of their comfort zone, which invariably made us all more comfortable in our individual practices. It was very rewarding to serve as the catalyst of this conversation that I think is still being carried out today in some form or another. If nothing else, it brought together two important groups/generations of artists in Louisville that hadn't intersected before.”

Pairallels was on display June 16 through July 16, 2013, in The Patio Gallery at the Jewish Community Center, Louisville, KY.

Stacey Reason is now the Director of the Yeiser Art Center in Paducah, Kentucky.

"Localized Cosmic Reactions (snapshots of the universe)" by Karissa Moll & Philip High. Price not available. (Photo courtesy of Kelly Rains.)

Time and Space, Sarah Duncan & Jacque Parsley, photography, fabric, lace, trim, found objects, clock, Price not available. (Photo courtesy of Kelly Rains.)

"Orbit" by Mallorie Embry & Shohei Katayama. Price not available. (Photo courtesy of Philip High)

"Untitled", 12x20in, collage and gold paint on acrylic plastic. Price not available (Photo courtesy Kelly Rains)

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This Feature article was written by Keith Waits.
In addition to his work at the LVA, Keith is also the Managing Editor of a website, www.Arts-Louisville.com, which covers local visual arts, theatre, and music in Louisville.

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Entire contents are copyright © 2017 Keith Waits. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Are you interested in being on Artebella? Click here to learn more.

Feature: The Future Is Now, Part 2 of 2

Getting Down To Business

“LVA is really stepping up to fill a need in a time when support for art is on a decline in schools. It’s an honor and privilege to be a part of helping our community grow. It’s something that is very important to me personally, and I’m glad that there are others out there that feel the same so we can collectively do things much bigger than we could ever do on our own.”

— Daniel Pfalzgraf (2016 artist mentor)

"Horny Sea Puppy #1" by Jake Ford (Mentor), fleece, hand dyed cotton, and polyfi (2015)

The Future Is Now is a program that pairs aspiring young artists with adult, working artists so that they might provide an example by working together on projects that will be exhibited at the end of the process. Facilitated by LVA Director of Education and Outreach Jackie Pallesen in conjunction with Kentucky College of Art + Design at Spalding University (KyCAD), the program selects students through an application process each year. Pallesen gathers a pool of prospective mentors for the students to choose from - working artists whose work and/or studio practice will complement the young artist’s creative talents.

Andrew Cozzens, KyCAD Assistant Professor and manager of the school’s 849 Gallery, was a mentor in the first year, and the experience motivated him to work with Pallesen to forge a formal collaboration on the program. Now many of the combined meetings, which began on May 30, take place in KyCAD studios, with all the efforts culminating in an exhibit that opens July 20 in the 849 Gallery.

On July 11, Cozzens shepherded the group through the final critique, imposing strict time limits to structure the discussion. “This is how we do it in classes here at KyCAD,” he explained, underscoring the intention of the program to prepare the students to function most effectively in a real-world environment with other artists. Most of the mentors spoke, some framing their pairings individual experience before letting the student take over.

Although there is painting and drawing in the work, it was mostly untraditional, using unconventional substrates and illustrating a high degree of experimentation resulting from the interaction between mentor and mentee.

Mentor, Bobby Barbour & Mentee, Brittney Sharp

“Brittney Sharp and I are a great match for this project, both as individuals and creatives. Brittney’s work mainly consists of illustration, but she wishes to try new mediums. I was about her age when I started to branch out from drawing, thanks to a student teacher’s assignment that pushed me to try new media. I’m really thankful for the experience and for that teacher challenging me. My hope is to be that person for Brittney, supporting her in expanding her definition of art and how to create it.”

— Bobby Barbour

If the student artists were ever shy about discussing their work in such a format, they were pretty much over it by this meeting. Sunny Podbelsek was highly articulate in deconstructing her process, explaining the very specific emotions that her images were meant to express, while her mentor, Lauren Hirsch, was content to take a back seat in the presentation, only interjecting some observations towards the end of their time.

“Working with Sunny Podbelsek has been an incredibly rewarding experience. I have learned a lot from Sunny and enjoy facilitating her creative process. Pushing her to explore different processes helps me reflect on my own work from a new perspective, and the shared energy of the collaborative process gives me a renewed sense of excitement to explore new ideas in my own work.”

— Lauren Hirsch

Mentor, Lauren Hirsch & Mentee, Sunny Podbelsek

Hannah Lyle and Dominic Guarnaschelli described how their images, portraits of family members painted on transparent plexiglass, would be hung from a sculptural apparatus attached to the ceiling, and how they were hoping to have some reflection, or shadows, cast on the gallery walls if the lighting could be managed.

“From the start I was immediately impressed with Hannah. Very sharp and eager to dive in, Hannah was overflowing with ideas for our collaboration and ready to learn new skills and work with unfamiliar media. Hannah has been open to experimentation and incorporated other interests in math and science during this process. Throughout the summer, I was very struck by Hannah’s confidence. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Hannah.”

— Dominic Guarnaschelli

Deb Whistler and Rashad Sullivan showed what felt like nearly finished twin B&W self-portraits that were striking in their consistency. Working from photographs they took together, the drawings incorporated autobiographical text painstakingly rendered into the background, a feature inspired by their conversations together.

“Rashad and I spoke quite often, sometimes by phone, and I loved the stream-of-consciousness in the way he talks.”

— Deb Whistler

The final instruction for the evening was for each pair to place themselves in the gallery in the place they imagined the work would be presented, so that Cozzens could discuss specifics of installation. It was interesting that no pair had selected the same spot, and that the mentors had already discussed hanging and placement with the students as the work developed.

All of the work will be installed by the group before the opening reception for the exhibit, which is July 20, 5-7pm at KyCad’s 849 Gallery.

Anyone interested in participating in the 2018 Future Is Now can find more information on applying at this link: http://www.louisvillevisualart.org/the-future-is-now

Guarnaschelli's (Mentor) Studio

"Drawing 1" by Lauren Hirsch (Mentor), 24x36in, mixed media, $550 | BUY NOW

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This Feature article was written by Keith Waits.
In addition to his work at the LVA, Keith is also the Managing Editor of a website, www.Arts-Louisville.com, which covers local visual arts, theatre, and music in Louisville.

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Entire contents copyright © 2017 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

Are you interested in being on Artebella? Click here to learn more.