Artebella On The Radio: April 16, 2020

Today’s broadcast features and interview with Alison Huff (Commonwealth Theatre Center) and Jackie Pallesen (Kertis Creative) talking about Elevator Artist Resource’s Artist Relief Trust initiative, which has quickly raised the money to fund emergency relief for Kentucky artists. The interview is the first 20 minutes of the show and was remotely pre-recorded the night before because of the pandemic. In fact the entire broadcast was executed remotely as a part of WXOX station management’s efforts to reduce risk to the health and safety of all of it’s on-air personalities.

The Artist Relief Trust is a coalition-led initiative to provide emergency assistance to artists who have lost work due to Coronavirus / COVID-19 and related closures and cancellations. Though applicants must demonstrate that they are working artists, there is no review of their artwork — awards are based on need.

Artist Relief Trust can help. If you’re an artist who is struggling to meet basic needs because of COVID-19, go to

 http://elevatorarts.org/artist-relief-trust/ and apply

Other support resources:

Metro Louisville's official DAILY arts commissioning program: the Louisville Arts Network! Submit your idea in ANY artistic medium - music, literary arts, visual art, etc! You'll have three days to complete the project and you'll get either $150 or $200 (the extra is if you agree to present your work on Lift Up Lou's Facebook page). This is Louisville's own micro-WPA, our own mini-New Deal. Artists and creatives, let's go to work to build a better world right now!!

www.louisvilleartsnetwork.org

APRON, Inc. was founded in 2011 by a group of individuals with ties to the local restaurant community. Apron supporters include owners, servers, chefs and others concerned about our local independent food and beverage service workers. They realize that independent restaurant employees may be susceptible to financial distress in times of crisis.

http://www.aproninc.org/application-for-assistance/

A Talk With Great Meadows Critic-In-Residence Kóan Jeff Baysa

Baysa with Brianna Harlan while visiting the LVA exhibit, “Ballet Box”, curated by Skylar Smith.

Kóan Jeff Baysa is a specialist physician, writer, art collector, Whitney Museum ISP Curatorial Alumnus, and AICA member who networks the areas of medical science and contemporary culture and creates interactive exhibitions and forums that focus on health perception, acculturation, sustainability, access to creative experiences and the sensate human being. Some of these goals are achieved through his company, SENSEight, and the Come to Your Senses Series. Others are manifest in two startups: Collectrium, that pioneered image recognition software for art, and Medical Avatar, a visually personalized avatar on a health app for handheld devices, where his current focus is the role of social media in patient engagement and formulating educational strategies for improving individual self-awareness and health betterment.

He is currently the 2020 Great Meadows Foundation Critic-In-Residence. The residency was intended to be only for the months of February and March, but the CoVID 19 pandemic dramatically altered his plans to return to Los Angeles, his home base, or the location of his next adventure in Hawaii, so he is staying with us a bit longer. I spoke with him at length on March 26 about his observations on the art community in Kentucky and other subjects.

Baysa’s mission, as was the case with the previous Critics-In-Residence from Great Meadows, was to visit a wide array of visual artists in their studios. Of course, about halfway through his tenure, social distancing took over because of the growing coronavirus pandemic. Still, he estimates he did personal or live social media interactions with over 50 artists so far, and he hopes to accomplish more now that his stay in this area has been extended. “Using social media you miss the dimensionality, texture, and visceral feeling of the work, but in terms of what sort of observations and advice I am able to give the artist, I believe that hasn’t changed.” We were pleased that he did manage to visit LVA’s “Ballot Box” exhibit at Metro Hall, conceived and curated by Skylar Smith, while the building was still open to the public.

Even more than his predecessors, Baysa had emphasized group meetings and public events in his schedule, but most of it had to be canceled. “I’m a grass-roots person,” explains Baysa, “and I approach with a perspective formed from multiple overlapping careers: medicine, collecting, and curating. I arrived with an open mind, but I had an idea of coming to Louisville to investigate the interstices of the art world here. I am looking at the diversification of the community, art made in prison, art made by special needs individuals - ‘incarceration’ in any form, even if self-imposed.” How much has social isolation affected his ambition? “I had planned on traveling the state more. I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to explore Appalachian art on this trip, especially Queer Appalachian artists that I’ve heard about. Which just means I will definitely be returning.”

Baysa has traveled and worked all over the globe, and when asked how he saw Louisville fitting into an international landscape, he answered, “States can be considered entities within themselves, with something like a creed among the communities found there. What I have discovered is that Kentucky has an air of Southern Hospitality, a politeness that is certainly very welcoming, but it begs the question of how do you then develop a useful critical perspective, which I think is what is badly needed here.“

Baysa, Stan Squirewell, Susan Moremen, & Lance G. Newman II.

“Kentucky, and Louisville in particular, has been described as, ‘where the south meets the west’. What I have found is that it is a city filled with conundrums. It is also called the most cultured city in the MidWest, but at the same time, it is the 4th most segregated city in the region and has the 4th highest number of deaths from opioid overdose. But are artists addressing these issues?” The open space Basa leaves in the dialogue there suggests that he hasn’t found sufficient evidence that they are, but his recommendation is problematic in this moment of government-issued orders to stay at home and quarantine. “I look at the LASER (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous) program (public talks that happen internationally in 30 cities and which have now moved on-line) as an example of events that break down what I call ‘stealth regation - the isolation that Louisville needs to overcome. It could boost the common integrity of the art community.” 

With Baysa’s unique background crossing medicine, science, art, and broader cultural concerns, I wondered about his take on our current public health crisis. ”People will always seek ways to lessen the anxiety and art will help,” he offered. We spoke at length about the opportunity for new forms to develop during this period, as artists turn to social media both as a means of self-expression and a method for reinforcing the existing community and perhaps building new ones.”

For visual art, some models are already in place. “The Catherine Clark Gallery in San Francisco has placed their current and upcoming exhibits online.” In Louisville, Moremen Gallery has posted both an on-line catalog and a video tour of Anne Peabody’s Sunspike exhibit that was opening at the very moment that non-essential businesses were being closed, and the University of Louisville Hite Art Institute MFA candidate Shae Goodlet’s Invocation exhibit is also online.

Big Talkers: Kóan Jeff Baysa is a virtual lecture from Baysa hosted on Zoom by Ruckus and Great Meadows Foundation on April 7 beginning at 6:00 pm.

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Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2020 by Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

In addition to his work at the LVA, Keith is also the Managing Editor of a website, Arts-Louisville.com, which covers local visual arts, theatre, and music in Louisville. 

Artebella On The Radio: March 12, 2020

Skylar Smith has curated an exhibit for Metro Hall working with LVA and other partners called Ballot Box. She will join us this week along with two of the artists, Taylor Sanders and Sandra Charles. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM, or stream on Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10am to hear Keith Waits talk with artists. https://www.facebook.com/events/543396966382799/

Skylar Smith is an artist, educator, and entrepreneur. She is a founding member of Kentucky College of Art + Design (KyCAD), and helped build the school from the seed of an idea to a living and evolving entity. Smith has taught college-level studio and art history courses for over ten years, in addition to teaching in non-profits and alternative-education venues. Her artwork deals with micro and macro perceptions of the natural world, and human-scale politics that influence perception.

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 is her passion and retired to concentrate on her art.

Taylor Sanders is a upcoming artist from Louisville, Ky. She studied at Spalding University earning a BFA degree in Interdisciplinary Sculpture with a minor in African American Studies. With no specific medium, her main focus is integrating found three-d objects with multiple sculptural processes, techniques and materials while addressing relevant topics in history and in today’s society. 

Artebella On The Radio: February 27, 2020

Ashley Cathey has curated an exhibit called Black Before I Was Born at Roots 101. She brought two of the artists, Kenyatta Bosman and Chip Kafele Calloway, and Roots 101 Founder/Director Lamont Collins also joined us to talk about the show and the newest addition to Louisville's Museum Row. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM, or stream on ARTXFM.com each Thursday at 10am to hear Keith Waits talk with artists on LVA's Artebella on the Radio.

Lamont Collins - Founder /CEO at Roots101: African American Museum, is a native of Louisville with extensive experience in media and promotions in television, radio, and with Philip Morris.

Ashley Cathey is a Louisville native whose paintings have brought her to prominence in a fairly short time after moving back to Louisville from Chicago. When she returned, she quickly found her footing and exhibited work in a group show at the Louisville Community Center, one of the Metro Parks community centers overseen by Portia White. From there, Cathey caught the attention of ArtsReach’s Julia Youngblood, who commissioned Cathey to create a series of portraits, which ArtsReach used for posters for their annual Keepers of the Dream celebration at the Kentucky Center for the Arts.

Chip Kafele Calloway is Owner / Designer / Creator at MAD MOON VyBE Artwork and Dj/Co-host at WXOX 97.1 FM.

Kenyatta Bosman is a nonbinary visual/multimedia artist that focuses on realism and being in the moment. Currently studying at Kentucky College of Art + Design. Queer Black Experience. Their inspiration comes from black and queer cinema films.

Additionally, Britany Baker appeared to talk about the James Russell May Fundraiser Art Show at Art Sanctuary.

Artebella On The Radio: February 20, 2020

At the Arts-Louisville/Broadway World Theatre Awards on Feb. 24, tribute will be paid to the late Kathi Ellis of Looking for Lilith Theatre and Juergan Tossman of Bunbury Theatre. This week Juergan will be joined us along with Shannon Wooley Allison & Jennifer Thalman Kepler from Looking for Lilith. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM, or stream on Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10:00am to hear Keith Waits talk with artists.

Juergen K. Tossmann is an actor, director, and playwright and the producing artistic director of Bunbury Theatre for 30+ years. He was recruited to the position after starring in one Bunbury show and directing another. He has seen the company through a few moves, landing in the Henry Clay Building in 2008, where they now share space with two other local companies, Pandora Productions and The Liminal Playhouse. On Feb. 24 he will receive the lifetime achievement award at the Arts-Louisville/BWW Theatre Awards.

Shannon Wooley Allison was a founding member of LFL in 2001. She oversees the development of the company and the execution of our mission in creating both performances and residencies that speak to the needs of those whose voices are unheard. Shannon performs, directs, and teaches for LFL. For the last 15 years, she has free-lanced as an actor, director, and teaching artist, in addition to her work with LFL. She is proud to be a roster artist for the KY Arts Council, and a member of Alternate ROOTS, The Network of Ensemble Theatres, The Alliance for Theatre in Education, and The Theatre Alliance of Louisville.

Jennifer Thalman Kepler manages LFL’s Community Outreach department including LFL’s award winning program, CHOICES: An Interactive Play on Cyberbullying and Suicide, The Faith Stories Project, in-school drama residencies, afterschool programs and summer camps. Jennifer is also an actor, director and playwright with the company. While in NYC, Jennifer worked for five years as a freelance teaching artist, integrating drama into math and social studies curriculum, facilitating arts-based violence prevention programs and directing youth theatre.

For the 6th consecutive year, Arts-Louisville.com, a Regional Editor for Broadway World, will host an awards ceremony honoring excellence in local theatre, including live entertainment in the form of musical numbers from award recipients.

2020 Arts-Louisville.com/Broadway World Theatre Awards
February 24, 2020 - doors open at 6:00 pm
Art Sanctuary, 1433 South Shelby Street