Artebella On The Radio: November 12

Dancer/choreographer Theresa Bautista is the recipient of the 2021 Al Smith Fellowship in Choreography. This week she talks with us about that and Modern Dance in this moment. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM, or stream on Artxfm.com Thursdays at 10 am to hear Keith Waits talk with artists. In the interview we talk about her piece, Pillowtalk, which you can view here.

Theresa Bautista has choreographed works for Cincinnati's Area Choreographer Festival, Moving Collective, the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts, U of L Dance Theatre, the University of Kentucky’s Department of Theatre and Dance, Berea College Dance Troupe, Empujon, the University of Kentucky Dance Ensemble, The Center for Women and Families, and Bluegrass Youth Ballet. She presented her solo work, “I am a pretty girl” at the Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival in September 2018, the Regional Alternative Dance Festival in Kalamazoo, MI in March 2018 and the Big River Dance Festival in Huntington, WV in September 2017. Pillow Talk: function, dream, support, rest was described by Keith Waits of Arts-Louisville,com as “a fresh piece of choreography [that is] arguably the most engaging dance of the evening.” It was re-staged in 2019 at Centre College and the Kentucky Center’s Governor’s School for the Arts. Theresa has also directed and choreographed three dance films with the Kentucky Center's Governor's School for the Arts.

Artebella On The Radio: November 5

Sadly, we have had to postpone Open Studio Weekend until spring 2021, but we have one more interview with some of the artists talking about their work. Robbie Mueller, Chris Hartsfield, and Dru Pilmer are our guests this week, along with LVA Executive Director Kristian Anderson. Tune in each Thursday to WXOX 97, or stream on Artxfm.com to hear Keith Waits talk with artists.

Robbie Mueller is a mixed media artist working primarily with wood, paper mache, found objects, and acrylic paints; 3-D sculpture, bas reliefs, and assemblages. “Much of my work often gets labeled folk art, because of the more traditional themes that become my subjects , but as my work has continued to evolve, more contemporary themes involving found art, & salvaged art are being incorporated. Because I am untrained, I label myself a contemporary folk artist with "outsider" tendencies.” His work can also be seen at the Kentucky Folk Art Center (Morehead State University, Morehead, KY), Gallery 104 (Lagrange, KY), Meraki & Moon (Georgetown, KY),on Facebook (Robbie Mueller: Folk Art Kentucky), on Instagram (@folkartky), and on Twitter(@ibwhittlin).

Chris Hartsfield is a self-trained watercolorist who works primarily with bright, clean colors to achieve a realistic style of painting. His technique produces a complicated yet detailed scene revealing an understanding of depth and realism. He enjoys painting a variety of subjects, including still life, landscape, street scenes, and nautical scenes. His compositions are well balanced and flowing, keeping the observer's eye engaged. Since Hartsfield began his art career in 1988, he has had paintings accepted in national and regional watercolor competitions. Including The American Watercolor Society, The National Watercolor Society, Arts For The Parks, Georgia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma Watercolor Society shows.

Dru Pilmer’s art is in private, public, and corporate collections in New York state, Chicago, Massachusetts, Los Angeles, Utah, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi, Florida, North Carolina, South America, Canada, and Scotland. She was recently one of 46 artists in 13 states and Germany to win juried acceptance in ConTEXT III Exhibition at the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles, MO.  Her painting, “9 Millimeter Flowers” won Best of Show in KORE Gallery’s 2019 Black & White Show.  

She was a featured artist in March 2019 Today’s Woman Magazine, exhibited in Mariott and Hyatt boutique hotels, and executed numerous watercolor and acrylic commissions throughout the U.S.

LVA Executive Director Kristian Anderson has 15 years’ experience in the arts and culture sector, most recently as Senior Policy Advisor to the Mayor of Salt Lake City. In that role, he oversaw a variety of community, operational and political projects encompassing arts and culture as well as land use, urban design, economic development and more. Prior to his mayoral appointment, Kristian was for four years the Executive Director of the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art and Executive Director for the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries in Seattle.

Artebella On The Radio: October 29

Open Studio Weekend is November 7 & 8, so the next two weeks we will be talking with a few of the participating artists. LVA leader Kristian Anderson joins me along with Trish Korte, Philip High, & Rebecca Norton. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM, or stream on Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Keith Waits talk with artists on LVA's Artebella On The Radio. https://www.louisvillevisualart.org/osw

Trish Korte is a exhibiting artist and licensed visual arts educator and currently an MFA candidate it the University of Louisville’s Hite Institute for Art. She has taught for LVA’s Children’s Fine Art Classes for many years Her art classes exceed the Visual Arts Standards so that you always know kids are getting rich learning experiences while having fun.

Philip High was born in Louisville, Kentucky and studied painting, printmaking and ceramics at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. His career in graphic arts took him to Atlanta, Georgia, and Mobile, Alabama. Years later he returned to Lexington, he shifted his focus back to fine art. Philip has received regional, national and international awards for fine art and illustration in both digital and traditional media and currently lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Rebecca Norton,’s work examines theories of synthesis and connectivity as they relate to the activity of reconstructing reality in vision and thought. She takes a special interest in color theory and problems of the mathematical intelligibility of natural phenomena. Norton has exhibited nationally and internationally. She has been a contributing writer for The Brooklyn Rail, Arts in Bushwick and Abstract Critical. Rebecca Norton currently lives and works in Louisville, KY.

LVA Executive Director Kristian Anderson has 15 years’ experience in the arts and culture sector, most recently as Senior Policy Advisor to the Mayor of Salt Lake City. In that role, he oversaw a variety of community, operational and political projects encompassing arts and culture as well as land use, urban design, economic development and more. Prior to his mayoral appointment, Kristian was for four years the Executive Director of the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art and Executive Director for the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries in Seattle.

Artebella On The Radio: October 15

Brian Hinds plays the title character and Jennifer Pennington Lady M in the new Kentucky Shakespeare drive-in production of Macbeth that runs through October 31. They are also both teachers so they came in to talk about the first live theatre with an audience since March and how teaching online or in a hybrid model is working right now. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM, or stream on ARTXFM.com this and every Thursday at 10 am to hear Keith Waits speak with artists on LVA's Artebella on the Radio.

Originally from Maine, Brian Hinds spent ten years with The Children's Theatre of Maine where he served as an actor, instructor, and director. He was also a member of Mad Horse Theater Company. Since moving to Louisville Brian has worked as an outreach artist with Kentucky Shakespeare before joining the faculty at YPAS (Youth Performing Arts School). He is also a member of the Louisville Improvisors and has worked as an actor and director with several local companies, including Kentucky Shakespeare, Savage Rose Classical Theatre Company and The Liminal Playhouse.

Jennifer Pennington is currently Manager of Student and Alumni Engagement at Commonwealth Theatre Center. She holds a BFA in Acting from University of Michigan and an MFA in Theatre from the University of Tennessee’s International Actor Training Academy. In Scotland she studied Voice/Speech with Kristin Linklater and Louis Colaianni. Jen, having transplanted from Los Angeles, has worked with companies all over the country including: South Coast Rep., P.S.Arts, EastLA Classic Theatre, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Michigan Theatre Festival, Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival, Tennessee’s Clarence Brown Theatre, Arizona Shakespeare Festival and many local companies. Currently, Jen is an actor with The Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, serves on the board for PAL Coalition (Federal Drug Free Communities Support Grant) and is a member of VASTA (Voice and Speech Trainers Association.)

Artebella On The Radio: October 1

John Brooks, Vian Sora, Denise Furnish, & Andrew Cenci all join us to discuss the Quappi Projects exhibit "We All Declare For Liberty: 2020 and the Future of American Citizenship" which is available for viewing beginning October 9. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM, or stream on ARTXFM.com Thursdays at 10 am to hear Keith Waits talk with artists on LVA's Artebella On the Radio.

For the last fifteen years, John Brooks has made his home in Louisville, with several years away in London and Chicago. In mid-2017 he launched Quappi Projects, an art-and-artist-focused gallery exhibiting work reflecting the zeitgeist. Brooks is both a visual artist and a poet.

Vian Sora was born in Baghdad in 1976. She left Iraq in 2006, during the Iraq War, eventually settling in Louisville, Kentucky with her husband in 2009. Sora works primarily with oils but utilizes mixed media and engraving techniques to create three-dimensional textures on canvas.

Denise Mucci Furnish was born in Louisville, Kentucky. She has a BA from the University of Kentucky and a BFA and MA from the University of Louisville. She has backgrounds in quilt restoration, painting, surface design, and graphic design. ... She currently works from her Portland studio in Louisville.

Andrew Cenci is an African-American artist based in Louisville, KY. He uses photography to focus on the beauty of the every day through portraits, contemporary landscapes, and candid images. ... With frames that highlight the beauty, joy, loneliness, and longing of the realities of everyday life.

John Brooks was inspired to develop this exhibit in part by this quote from a speech by Abraham Lincoln:

“The world has never had a good definition of liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in need of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing.

With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name — liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names — liberty and tyranny.

The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty, especially as the sheep was a black one. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails today among us human creatures, even in the North, and all professing to love liberty. Hence we behold the processes by which thousands are daily passing from under the yoke of bondage, hailed by some as the advance of liberty, and bewailed by others as the destruction of all liberty.”