Art Throb

Episode No. 7 of the Art Throb Podcast features Kevin Lane Dearinger who will talk about his most recent publication, a theatre history titled Eleanor Robson Belmont - a Theatrical Life, as well as his other plays and poetry.​

Author Kevin Lane Dearinger, a Woodford County native, is a former teacher and retired professional actor and singer. He has written an assortment of books and plays. His publications include four theatre histories, four poetry chapbooks; his plays; Regarding Mrs. Carter, Naked on Request, **Four Squares: a Kentucky Quilt, and Expiation,; as well as two memoirs, On Stage with Bette Davis and Bad Sex in Kentucky.  After forty-seven years in Manhattan, he returned to live and write in Kentucky.  Kevin’s essays peeking behind the curtain for the Lexington Theatre Company have appeared online, and he has worked on several radio dramas for the much-lamented Athens/West Company. He writes for hours every day, most often in Lexington’s coffee shops, although he has never had a cup of coffee in his life.   His work attempts to keep time with his Kentucky heritage, his love of family, his LGBTQ identity, and his own erratic pulse.
**A play in one act and four voices. Four monologues exploring Kentucky sounds in the heart and on the fringes of the LGBTQ community

When Mrs. August Belmont died in 1979, just before her 100th birthday, she was remembered as a philanthropist and advocate for the arts, especially the Metropolitan Opera--but before her triumphs as Mrs. Belmont, she had dignified the American stage for 13 glorious years as Eleanor Robson, actress. Her splendid voice, understated style, and always-evident intelligence thrilled legions of theatregoers and enthralled the best playwrights of her time, including Israel Zangwill, Clyde Fitch, and George Bernard Shaw.
Despite the brevity of her career, Eleanor Robson stands as a prototype for many actresses who followed her--women who sought to control their own careers and demanded artistic respect and freedom, and who, by the twenty-first century, would confidently call themselves not actresses, but actors. This is the first book-length biography of her, focusing especially on her theatrical career.

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

Episode No. 6 of the Art Throb Podcast features Marty Wayman, Suraya Shalash and Kris Ratliff who talk about the ActOut Theatre Group, with a focus on their roles in the upcoming production of Five Lesbians Eating Quiche.

ActOut Theatre Group, was founded in 1997 by several individuals dedicated to sharing their passion with others. Based in Lexington, Kentucky it is an active and enthusiastic Theatre Group with events and activities taking place year-round. ​
Their mission is to promote and produce quality, thought-provoking LGBTQ+-themed theater in and around the Central Kentucky region in a positive, supportive, and non-judgmental manner.  Their intent is to be an all-inclusive entity encouraging all members of the Central Kentucky acting community to participate in theatre productions  that addresses LGBTQ+ themes. They have a new production soon opening  at the Black Box Theatre in the PMDAC. 
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The play 5 Lesbians Eating Quiche, co-written by Andrew Hobgood and Evan Linder, finds five women assembled in a church basement (along with the audience – this is an interactive play) for the 1956 annual meeting of the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein’s annual quiche breakfast. The normally idyllic gathering, where the motto is “no men, no meat, all manners,” is upended when the Society’s matriarchs must confront the startling revelation that an atom bomb may be falling on their fair city. As fears are confronted and confessions fly, the chipper ladies stay firm in their commitment that the quiche is a mighty thing and that one must “respect the egg”.

Marty Wayman is Director, Kris Ratliff plays Wren - The Events Chairperson, and Suraya Shalash plays Dale - The Historian.
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The show lasts about 1 hour and 20 minutes and is appropriate for women, men and young adults over 13.
Performances at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center, 141 East Main Street, Lexington, KY
Friday, Saturday, June 9 and 10, 8 o'clock curtain.
Friday, Saturday, June 16 and 17, 8 o'clock curtain.
Sunday, June 18, 2 o'clock curtain.

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

Episode No. 5 of the Art Throb Podcast features Kris Grenier who will talk about the 7500+ miles of hiking trails she has walked and how she has captured some of these awesome landscapes into needled-felted artwork scenes.

As a backpacker and ultramarathoner, Kris Grenier explores the world on foot. Her travels have taken her from the hills of Georgia to the peaks of New England and from Death Valley to Mount Whitney, the top of the contiguous United States. After returning home to her family’s small farm in Harrison County, Grenier records her memories in two-dimensional wool feltings to share with others the wild places she loves.
 
Grenier has enjoyed the opportunity to exhibit her art and passion for public lands at regional art shows, where her award-winning work has been praised for its originality and authenticity. Collectors appreciate the expressive realism of Grenier’s art and note that it has a soft, familiar feeling, like a treasured memory.
 
Having earned her BA in Environmental Studies from Transylvania University and conducted ecological research in both Lexington, Kentucky, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Grenier considers her role as an artist to go beyond the visual interpretation of wild lands. In galleries and festivals, Grenier enjoys sharing stories of the landscapes depicted in her work and aspires to kindle a conservation ethos in viewers. Her focus has turned to large-scale pieces that allow viewers to imagine themselves in the backcountry and evoke the grandeur of expansive natural landscapes.
 
A juried artist in the Kentucky Crafted Program, Grenier was recently awarded a 2022 Emerging Artist Grant by the Kentucky Arts Council. Grenier’s first large-scale solo exhibition, 7500+ Miles, debuted at Boyd’s Station Gallery in Cynthiana earlier this year.

https://wanderstruckstudio.com/

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

Alex Narramore, sugar flower artist, discusses her art form, love of gardening and source of inspiration.

Alex Narramore owns The Mischief Maker in Lexington, Kentucky.  She is a botanically accurate sugar flower artist and grows all of the flowers in her gardens that she uses later as live references to sculpt her sugar flowers.  Alex works from the design stage to the finished  product, incorporating the art skills of drawing, sculpting, baking and painting along the way.

These sugar flowers adorn the cakes that she designs. Each sugar petal, stamen, and flower part is made by hand and each finished bloom is hand-painted. The cake designs are retired immediately after having been created and are never reproduced again.  The detail work for each cake is painstaking and can take many weeks of preparation. Alex  works with her mother on the sugar flowers at her grandmother’s house in eastern Kentucky.  Whether at Mamaw’s or at home downtown in Lexington, she can always be found somewhere between the garden and the studio, usually with her much-loved Irish Setter, Mocha, at her heels.

Alex has been recognized world-wide within her field, including several periodical publications and news outlets, and was named one of the top four international wedding cake designers of 2015 by the Cake Masters, and the 2017 winner of the award for international wedding cake artists of the year by The Golden Tier Awards.  In 2018 The Mischief Maker was named one of the top 10 cake artists in the United Sates by Cake Masters magazine.  She has taught and given lectures at several National Gardening Clubs, and is soon to publish her first book Mischief Maker, Inspirations and Musings of a Sugar Flower Artist.

See pictures of her work at https://www.artsconnectlex.org/no-4-alex-narramore---sugar-flower-artistmischief-maker.html

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

Janet Holloway is an award-winning Kentucky-based author and entrepreneur. Her career has spanned a broad and varied base. Janet has worked as a high school Spanish and English teacher, been in theatre production in New York City and worked with youth in East Harlem. In 1990 after a period of working for local government in Lexington, Kentucky, she started her own enterprise, Women Leading Kentucky, a non-profit that continues to this day providing leadership opportunities, empowerment support, and scholarships for women attending Kentucky colleges or universities.
Having written and published two previous books, both memoirs; Willful Child (2012) and, Leaving: Sometimes You Just Have to Leave (2017) she has recently published her third book, Ain’t Nobody’s Business if I Do, a collection of short stories that are all loosely interconnected. “At once intimate and sweeping, Holloway sketches the saga of a twentieth-century Appalachian family with richly rendered spot-on dialogue and closely observed detail.” 
In this episode I talk with Janet about her new book, at times with a nod to her  previous publications, her life growing up in a rich but unconventional world in the hills and hollers of West Virginia, and her ever present matriarchal grandmother Billie, to whom Janet gives much credit for whom, where and what she is today.

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

Until quite recently Jennie Leavell, original owner and publisher of ACE Magazine in Lexington, KY., and Ana Melendez, aged twelve and in the sixth grade at Paris Middle School, Paris, KY., were total strangers.
But, as is so often the case, it was happenstance that placed them together in
what turned out to be a perfect collaboration.  
Last year Jennie wrote the children's book "Sammy's Story" completing it in three
days shortly after he had passed away.  Sammy was a cat whose life had been
beset with mistreatment and a series of upheavals - that is until he found Jennie. 
Even so, he had had a hard time learning to trust and reciprocate affection and
often seemed to end up on the wrong side of luck.  This is the story of one tough
cat who lived all his nine lives until the end.  It is a story of love, hope and
especially survival and Jennie narrates it in a racy style with nostalgic fondness. 
 
Wanting an illustrator for her story, Jennie went to unusual lengths to find the
right person, employing unconventional methods in her search.  Her approach
paid off resulting in an amazing and perfect partnership.

In this episode I talk to Jennie and Ana about Sammy the cat; about being a book
illustrator at aged twelve; and about the unique and specialized printing of this
very limited edition book.

Contact Jennie at [email protected]

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

Jon Kolkin is a physician, an international medical volunteer, an award-winning  author, an Integrated Medicine Health Coach and an internationally recognized photographer. Through his set of life experiences he is uniquely qualified to share universally relevant, practical, science-based strategies for living a more balanced, compassionate life whilst simultaneously maintaining one’s physical and emotional health.
The Headley-Whitney Museum is presenting the world premiere of “Shades of Compassion” a travelling photography exhibition of 50 curated works by 41 artists from all over the world and sponsored by The Shades of Compassion Foundation, which was founded by Jon Kolkin. Each image in the show is a fine art response to one of three identified elements of compassion – humanity, environment and spirituality.
In this episode I talk with Jon Kolkin about the work in this exhibition; his life-changing meeting with the Dali Lama; his new book INNER HARMONY – Living in Balance - a collection of thoughts and photographs that offer rare images of Buddhist life; and how he uses his camera as a tool to capture stories that identify poignant moments of kindness and compassion.

Exhibition Dates: April 8 – June 18
Museum Hours: Friday, Saturday, Sunday 10am – 4pm
Admission $10
Additional events and information www.headley-whitney.org

Follow us:
Kate Savage: @artsconnectlexington
Sound editing by Jennifer Longworth
Artwork by Miki Wright, Egg Design
Music by Mikael Manvelyan
https://www.artsconnectlex.org

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