Art Throb

On Today’s Interview, Arts contributor Kate Savage talks to Lexington musician Buffy Lawson about her music and her recent induction into the Kentucky Academy of Local Musicians Hall of Fame.

For more and to connect with us, visit https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html

Episode 16 of the Art Throb podcast features John Hockensmith who is the owner of Hockensmith Fine Art Editions Gallery and Press in Georgetown. 

We talk about the retrospective exhibition of over 188 artworks by Lexington artist Henry Faulkner on show at the Headley Whitney Museum until 12 November.  Henry Faulkner was a prolific artist until his untimely death in 1981 when his car was t-boned at the corner of 3rd and Broadway by a driver who ran the light.  This exhibition is a Centennial Jubilee celebration of Henry’s birth in 1924.  John had a personal relationship with Faulkner having met him in his impressionable twenties when he had just opened his gallery and framing business.  

Faulkner was born in Simpson Country, Kentucky, lost his mother when he was just two years old, was placed into the foster care system and then at 15 placed in an orphanage  because his foster father found him too effeminate.  Eccentric and flamboyant all his life, he lived in Lexington where he often cross-dressed and would ride his bike around downtown.  His charismatic personality and his vivid paintings drew the attention of many celebrities.  

This exhibition at the Headley Whitney Museum is truly extraordinary with so many owners of Henry Faulkner's work having generously  lent their works, but really it was a large number of paintings that John Hockensmith secured from the massive collection owned by First Southern National Bank in Stamford, Kentucky that established the cornerstone of this exhibition.
John Hockensmith has produced a catalogue of this exhibition that will be available at the beginning of November.

For more and to connect with us, visit https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html

In the depths of Appalachia's haunting beauty, a gripping thriller unfolds, taking readers on a journey through time and tragedy. But beware, for within the pages of Chris McGinley's novel lies an unexpected twist that will leave you breathless. As escaped convicts wreak havoc on a small mountain community, a young girl emerges as a beacon of hope, a skilled huntress seeking redemption. Can she navigate the dark and candid elements of Appalachia's history and literature, or will she be consumed by the shadows of her past? Brace yourself for a tale that will captivate your soul and leave you yearning for answers.

For more and to connect with us, visit https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html

Episode No. 14 of the Art Throb Podcast features Guy Mendes, a Lexington photographer who began his photographic career almost by accident.  A young transplant from New Orleans, he arrived at the University of Kentucky in 1966 hoping to become a journalist. The following year, he attended a rally to hear Wendell Berry speaking out against the Vietnam War. The two struck up a friendship that would eventually lead him to Eyeglasses of Kentucky, Ralph Eugene Meatyard’s optical shop and gallery where he would hang out in hopes of getting to tag along on photographic expeditions Meatyard and his friend Robert C May would take.

While at UK Guy apprenticed under the late James Baker Hall (author/ photographer/UK faculty/and former Kentucky poet laureate).  He then went on to teach photography at UK himself for 14 years. His day job was at KET, where he was an award-winning documentarian as a writer/producer from 1973 until he retired in 2008.

Guy Mendes has been photographing seriously, and sometimes not so seriously for over 50 years.  His most recent exhibition was a portrait show at the University of Kentucky Art Museum in 2022. 

Several of his photographic works are in the current show titled CONJURE at the  Loudoun House/Lexington Art League that will run Sept 17 – October 13.  This exhibition features work by 30 members of the Lexington Camera Club with 6 guest artists – teenagers from the northside of Lexington.  It is also part of the greater exhibition of photographs in the Louisville Photo biennial that was started in 1999 by four East Market Street Galleries in Louisville and has grown to now include more than 50 photographic exhibits at venues throughout Metro Louisville, Southern Indiana and Central Ky.  The Art League and the Downtown Library are the two Lexington participants.

For more and to connect with us, visit https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html

Episode No. 13 of the Art Throb Podcast features John Paul Miller who after 50 years in the car dealership business and concurrently running a commercial real estate business has just published his first novel that has been five years in the making.

As a young boy JP Miller always wanted to be a cowboy but the closest he ever came was watching horses and movies on television.  Then, 40 years ago he met his wife Judy who had been in the thoroughbred horse racing world her whole life and so it was through her that John Paul first got his experience and exposure to the world of horses.  Since then he has spent countless hours making up for lost time in riding lessons, in the saddle, on trails, at the barn, horse shows, rodeos and at thoroughbred race tracks.  He has listened to the life stories of trainers, veterinarians, jockeys, exercise riders and thoroughbred owners.
​
His own life experiences and the tales he’s heard others tell, along with his love of horses and interest in writing stories have come together in an abundance of riches so to speak except in this case it turns out to be FALSE RICHES which is the title of his book published on 5th September.

It’s a story about people who have a tremendous amount of compassion for riders, jockeys and horses, and advocate for the protection and safety. John Paul Miller’s debut novel False Riches takes the reader on a captivating journey into the heart of a Texas racetrack.  This thrilling story delves into the compelling tension between the love for animals and the allure of money that lies at the heart of the horse racing industry.  It is a novel that exposes the often-hidden truths of the racing world while exploring profound themes of loyalty, determination, and the quest for justice.

For more and to connect with us, visit https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html

Episode No. 12 of the Art Throb Podcast features Dr. Fari Nzinga who is the Curator of African and Native American Collections at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY. In addition to caring for and stewarding these collections, she coordinates special exhibitions as well.  Our conversation focuses on the current exhibition at The Speed Museum that Dr. Nzinga curated - Louisville's Black Avant-Garde: Robert L Douglas.
Douglas, who died this past February at the age of 88, had been involved in the planning stages of his exhibition.  He was Professor Emeritus at the University of Louisville, a visual artist, community organizer, teacher and mentor to generations of artists and thinkers.  This exhibition of his work features more than 30 of his paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures and presents rarely seen work from across the span of his career demonstrating the breadth of his artistic practice and the depth of his impact both locally and regionally.

Douglas was drawn to the work of the German Expressionists of the early twentieth century and their use of color to convey atmosphere and emotion.  He directly references these painting techniques in several of his works in this show with his use of bright and intense color, simple shapes, textured brushwork and the generous application of paint.  Douglas’ work is at once rife with visual references drawn from art history and uniquely his own. He explores many themes in his work, including (but not limited to): Defining Black art and aesthetics; connections between Africa and African America; standards of beauty and femininity; art and everyday life; and improvisation and abstraction in the creative and artistic process.

Louisville's Black Avant-Garde is intended as a four-part annual series spotlighting leading artists of the Louisville Art Workshop.  The first in this series with the work of Professor Robert L Douglas opened June 30 in the Chellgren Gallery on the second floor of the Speed Art Museum and will run until October 1, 2023.

See examples of the art works mentioned at our website, https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html

For more and to connect with us, visit https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html

Episode No. 11 of the Art Throb Podcast features Stephen Wiggins a Lexington Printmaker who will talk about his work but primarily the commissioned series of panels for the VIA Creative public art bus shelter on the corner of Elm Tree Lane and Third Street.

Stephen Wiggins was born and raised in Lexington on the Northside of Lexington near 7th Street.

He has a BA in art studio from University of Kentucky,  Class of 2005, and an Associates Degree in Graphic Design from KCTCS, class of 2017. He is also a speedball art products demonstation artist, a Kentucky crafted artist and a Kentucky Guild of Arts and Craftsman member. His work focuses on fine art printmaking techniques including linocut, silkscreen, etching and lithography.  He also does Lego prints in his spare time and teaches and does public outreach for printmaking in Lexington and surrounding states.

Stephen received the Visions Scholarship to do a residency as part of the Pentaculum program at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg Tennessee. He also received a full scholarship to take a class at Penland School of Arts and Crafts in Penland North Carolina.  He has presented on a panel of peers at the Southern Graphics Conference International 2022 in Madison Wisconsin.  He is married to Rebecca Wiggins and they have a two year old daughter named Margaret. 

Most recently his submission for replacement panels at the VIA Creative Public Art Bus Shelter on the corner of Elm Tree Lane and Third Street, was selected from an invitational call for site specific ideas and will soon be installed.
Stephen submitted a series of five panels each depicting an African American individual with local historical significance especially to the east end neighborhood where the bus shelter is located.

For more and to connect with us, visit https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html

Episode #10 of the Art Throb Podcast features Steve Hester who will talk about his book Malchus and Me , ​a novel that retells the story of the Passion of Christ, but through the eyes of  the motley crew from the wild side of Jerusalem who manage to get caught up in those final days.  It is a story of salvation, told from the margins.

Steve Hester grew up as the son of Southern Baptist missionaries, converting to Catholicism in his late twenties. He has been a landscaper, factory worker, farmer, store manager, slumlord, contractor and journalist, following wherever the Holy Spirit Leads.

He was ordained as a Permanent Deacon in 2016 and currently serves his parish – Historic St. Paul’s Catholic Church on Short Street in Downtown Lexington – in this role and as pastoral associate.  He is vice president of Fortunate Families, a National LGBTQ Catholic Ministry and is also active in the LGBTQ ministry at his parish.  He is married with two children.

This book – Malchus and Me was published this year, it is the story of Jesus’ final days, told through the eyes of Roman Soldier, a Temple Guard – both drunks and a brothel keeper.  It is told in a contemporary colloquial style, with lots of wry humor, disbelief that turns to belief, interspersed with little biblical quotes to keep the reader on track.  Hugely readable and relatable.  Humorous and human.

For more and to connect with us, visit https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html

Episode No. 9 of the Art Throb Podcast features Pamela Perlman who will talk about her most recent novel titled: AFTER THE RACE.

Pamela was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky.  She received her degrees in English Literature and Journalism from Indiana University after which she spent a couple of years as press secretary on Capital Hill after which she worked as a television news reporter. She then went to the University of Kentucky College of Law graduating with a Juris Doctorate and, for the last two decades has worked as a federal criminal defense practitioner.

Pamela first wrote plays to be performed by her two younger sisters at family gatherings – she says that these, thankfully haven’t survived. But the same enthusiasm for the arts and particularly the written word infuses her first novel After the Race, which was published by Rabbit House Press in early march of 2020 right before the pandemic shut down the world.  Her short fiction has been published by Avant/Appalachia, Still: The Journal, New Limestone Review and Nowhere Magazine.  She lives in Midway with her rescue dogs and writes under the name Pamela Dae.

Jacinda Townsend, author of Saint Monkey writes:
"After the Race is ripe with heartache, regret, and the struggle to find one's place in the world. Perlman writes with rich detail and created flawed characters that will keep you in suspense."

For more and to connect with us, visit https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html

Episode No. 8 of the Art Throb Podcast features Julien Robson who talks about the Mary and Al Shands Collection, the exhibition of their work Rounding the Circle currently at the Speed Art Museum, and the Great Meadows Foundation that today has awarded more that $850,000 in grants to over 300 artists in the region.

​Julien is an Independent Curator who shares his time between the US and Austria. Educated at art schools in the UK, he began his curatorial career in the University Gallery system in England, and subsequently spent ten years working in private galleries in Vienna.

Moving to the US in 2000, for eight years he served as the curator of contemporary art at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, and then at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia organizing many solo and group shows at these museums.

In 2012 he moved back to Louisville and began curating the collection of contemporary art collector couple Mary and Al Shands and, in 2013, edited and contributed to Great Meadows: The Making of Here, a book about the Shands' house and collection.  In 2015 he helped found INhouse, an initiative of Kentucky contemporary art collector and philanthropist Brook Smith that supports residencies and special creative projects.  In 2016 Robson was appointed the director of the Great Meadows Foundation, an initiative of Al Shands that supports the growth of artistic activity in the Kentucky region.

Additionally since Al Shand’s passing in 2021, Julien now holds the position of Director of the Mary and Al Shands Art Preserve.

The Speed Art Museum will present Rounding the Circle: The Mary and Al Shands Collection, a major exhibition celebrating the extensive and significant collection assembled by the late Alfred R. Shands III (1928-2021) and his wife Mary Norton Shands (1930-2009), until August 6, 2023.

For more and to connect with us, visit https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html