Artists Talk with LVA: November 6, 2025

Erin McGee Ferrell, Kacey Slone, Alana Fitzgerald, & Jen Deleuw are all participating in Open Studio Weekend this year and will be in the studio to discuss it. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM / Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

The 2025 Open Studio Weekend takes place November 15 & 16 from 12 - 5 pm. These 4 particpating artists will be found at the following locations: Kacey Slone at Junior Jr Studio, 804 E. Broadway, Alana Fitzgerald at Hite MFA Building on Rowan Street, Jen Deleuw at Art Sanctuary, 1440 S. Shelby Street, & Erin McGee Ferrell at the Smoketown Art Studio, 770 S. Preston.

The Open Studio Calendar for 2025:

Open Studio Preview at Portal, 6 pm. Keith Waits interviews JW May, Robyn Gibson, Dru Pilmer, Samantha Griffith, Richard Sullivan, Rita Cameron 

Open Studio Exhibit Opening at Cressman Center, Friday, Nov. 14th, 5 - 7 pm.

Open Studio Weekend Sat. Nov. 15 & Sun. Nov. 16, from 12 - 5 pm

Artists Talk with LVA: July 3, 2025

Artistas Cubanos Chévere opens at Louisville Visual Art on July 11th. Two of the artists, Carlos Gamez De Francisco & Julio Cesar joined us 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.

Carlos Gamez de Francisco was born in post-revolutionary Cuba in 1987, to a Cuban-Spanish mother and a Cuban-American father. He grew up in Cuba and was educated in an academic style heavily influenced by the Russian Academy. At age five, he determined, with absolute certainty, that he would be an artist. By the time he was fifteen, Gamez de Francisco was diligently painting 8 hours a day, every day. Today, he often spends 15 hours a day painting and feels “very blessed to do what I love.”His exceptional talent, hard work, and perseverance led him to earn artistic commissions and recognition.

Julio Cesar Rodríguez Aguilar was born in 1976 in Holguin, Cuba. From a very early age, he was enthusiastic about drawing. As an adolescent, he entered the Vocational School of Art Raúl Gómez Garcia, and later he entered the Professional Academy of Visual Arts in his city, graduating in the specialty of Painting, Drawing, Photography, and Artistic Weaving in 1995. Julio also went on to be a professor of the arts and involved himself in book illustration, stage and costume design, muralism, and more. 

He specifically found fascination in surrealism, which provided him with the necessary vision of what he most identified with: the mystical, the surreal, and the poetic.

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: June 27, 2024

Sara Olshansky has won the 2024 Bill Fischer Award for Visual Art and she joins us 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.

Sara Olshansky was born in Louisville, Ky in 1995. She is currently a working artist based in Louisville. She graduated from the Hite Art Institute at the University of Louisville in 2018 with a BFA in 2D Studio Art, a BA in Art History, and a minor in Spanish Language.  In 2017, she attended Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona where she participated in contemporary, Spanish fine art practices and engaged with international art institutions across Europe. Olshansky is a draughtsperson and 2D media artist. She is interested in exploring addition and erasure of imagery on a single picture plane and how this technique might mirror construction and perception of lived experience.

The Bill Fischer Award is granted by the Community Foundation of Louisville and Louisville Visual Art.

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