News

The Hite Art Institute continues to actively participate at the College Art Association (CAA) conference every year. At the 2016 annual conference in Washington DC, the Hite Art Institute is represented by one current PhD student, one PhD graduate, and two faculty members.

• Professor Margaret Leininger will present her conference lecture:
"Bridging the Gap: Using Social Practice to Connect Disparate Communities"

Mayor Greg Fischer will unveil the new exhibit in a press conference Friday at 11 a.m., and the public is invited to a celebration that day at 6 p.m., on the Louisville Loop, between 8th and 12th streets.

Artists were invited to help transform the stretch along the Ohio River, which has been slated for improvement, with temporary art installations that will remain on display for three months. The art is meant to inspire the public to conceive of the space in new and innovative ways.

Carothers’ piece, “Beneath the Surface,” features more than 2,300 porcelain casts of doorknobs affixed to rods of various heights, arranged into a flowing topography, each representing an individual’s story in the community.

Carothers, whose work focuses on photography, collaborative projects and urban a public art, said she chose porcelain as a way to acknowledge the white clay of the Ohio River. The topography of doorknobs is meant to recognize various people and industries connected to her chosen site.

“The installation's form is inspired by the movement of a river,” she said. “Examining them individually, the knobs each stand like a map pin, marking the land's forgotten stories of life along this part of the Ohio River.”

Twenty-five doorknob designs can be found in the installation. Some have been collected and some have been designed by Carothers as a way to “surface official and unofficial history,” she said.

Among those she created include a small hand holding a banana.

“Local historian Tom Owen informed me that this area was once known as Little Panama. Bananas were shipped from Panama, up the Mississippi, on to the Ohio River and then distributed from this area to various states in the Midwest,” she said.

Carothers designed a hair bun doorknob in honor of Elmer Lucille Allen, the first African American to work as a chemist for Brown-Forman. Allen is now in her 80's and a current student in UofL's Fine Arts Department.

Another doorknob features a lion from Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is from the door of St. Marks Church and was writer C.S. Lewis' inspiration for the character Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia.

“Including this knob provided me the opportunity to recall Bloody Monday- an act of mob violence toward Irish Catholic immigrants that occurred here in 1855,” Carothers said.

Carothers worked with three assistants to complete the project: Marie Elena Ottman, an M.F.A. candidate; Luke Seward, recent B.F.A. graduate and Oty Stewart, a ceramics specialist.

Distillers Brandon O'Daniel and Alan Bishop discuss our unique, small batch gin distillation and barrel aging.

Only 500 x 375mL bottles will be produced and sold at the distillery store. The original label art is illustrated by renowned artist Douglas Miller Art who will be on hand to sign bottles.

“You can have so much fun distilling, Gin is not really our thing, truthfully. But we have experimented occasionally, and this turned out really fantastically. The apple-brandy base gives a natural “Old Tom” style profile, and one barrel in a cellar is essentially a stray – so we called it the Stray Cat. We also have a very strong affection for Brian Setzer.” - Founder Joe Heron.

“We don’t dabble at distilling. For us to release a gin it needed to be exceptional, something that reflects what we do with our American brandy and absinthe, something that we can be very, very proud of. This is spectacular, it’s a ballsy, confident, independent feline of a gin.” - Head Distiller Brandon O'Daniel.

http://www.copperandkings.com/spirit/stray-cat-gin/

"10,000 Thoughts" consists of forty small sketches and photographic prints embedded with philosophical contemplations of the state of global environmental conditions. He continues to explore the theme of deep ecology, an ecocentric rather than anthropocentric worldview, which emphasizes interconnectedness and harmony of the universe. In addition to the deep ecology philosophy, the work interprets Taoist and Buddhist thoughts, as well as Jewish ideas of nature, rain, tree, soil and the Sabbath.

An original etching by Professor Chan, entitled Palm Trees, will be available for sale. Proceeds will go to the University of Louisville Hite Art Institute Printmaking Scholarship Fund.

Our Art History Professor Jongwoo Jeremy Kim's essay “A Foot and a Sink” appears in the current issue of a leading arts, culture, and politics journal The Brooklyn Rail, celebrating Linda Nochlin's contribution to the field. Professor Nochlin who delivered our 2011 Allen R. Hite Endowed Lecture was Dr. Kim's dissertation advisor at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts. The Brooklyn Rail’s CRITICS PAGE also marks the publication of The Linda Nochlin Reader (Thames and Hudson, 2015).

Professor Kim’s essay is featured in the journal, together with contributions by Sarah Douglas (Editor-in-Chief of ARTnews magazine), Agnes Gund (President Emerita of the Museum of Modern Art), Elizabeth C. Baker (Editor-at-Large for Art in America), Gerda Tardo (from the Guerrilla Girls), Carol Ockman (Professor of Art History, Williams College), Maura Reiley (Chief Curator at the National Academy Museum and School), and other important figures in the arts.

http://www.brooklynrail.org/2015/07/criticspage/a-foot-and-a-sink

One of Kentucky’s top artists has been honored with a $7,500 Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council for exemplifying excellence in the respective creative disciplines.

The prestigious award, named in honor of former arts council chair and Kentucky journalist Al Smith, recognizes professional artists who have reached a high level of achievement in their careers. Since its beginning in 1983, the program has provided more than $2.5 million in funding to artists in the visual arts, literary arts, media arts, composing and choreography.

In recognition of artistic excellence, Douglas Miller is the recipient of an Al Smith Fellowship Award from the Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, which is supported by state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The 2015 recipient for Visual Arts in Drawing is:
Douglas Miller, visual arts (drawing), Louisville, Jefferson County

“This fellowship provides an exciting opportunity to explore larger, more diverse projects that I would be unable to accomplish without this generous support,” said Louisville-based Miller, whose work has been exhibited throughout Kentucky and in Los Angeles, Cincinnati, and Portland, Oregon. “I’m truly honored.”

The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, fosters environments for Kentuckians to value, participate in and benefit from the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts. The arts council, along with the NEA, is celebrating 50 years of service in 2015, which the arts council is recognizing as the Year of the Arts in Kentucky.

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/entertainment/arts/visual/2015/06/11/julie-leidner-hadley-prize-visual-art/71059798/

http://www.leoweekly.com/2015/06/a-qa-with-glass-artist-and-academic-che-rhodes/

Review of the exhibition ‘Beauty of a Block,’ curated by the students from Yasmeen Siddiqui’s class.  The student curators are Megan Bogard Gettelfinger, Whitney Mashburn, Jessica Oberdick, Elizabeth Smith and Leanna Smith. 

http://www.leoweekly.com/2015/06/art-beauty-of-a-block-women-printmakers-at-hite/

http://arts-louisville.com/2015/06/08/unique-worlds-of-women/

By Benjamin Hufbauer

Obama’s library will no doubt be the grandest temple of spin ever created. When will the falsifying of history stop?

It’s that time again. Two years after George W. Bush dedicated his $500-million Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, President Obama reportedly plans to announce, with considerable fanfare, the site of his own (likely even more expensive) library. Perhaps we should be asking ourselves: Why do all American presidents now get to create these colossal temples of spin dedicated to themselves that, although mostly built with privately-raised money, are largely run by the federal government? Presidential libraries are in some ways like Stephen Colbert’s old show—often surreal in their megalomaniacal self-promotion—but unlike the Colbert Report there’s no irony at these shrines. At the April 24, 2013 dedication of his library, George W. Bush declared that “this beautiful building has my name above the door, but it belongs to you.” Yet should we be grateful?

Read more about Politico

MA student Zhe Dong, an advisee of Prof. Delin Lai (Chinese Art and Architecture), has been accepted to the doctoral program in the Constructed Environment in the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia with a full fellowship that will cover his entire tuition and all other expenses. UVA¹s School of Architecture is placed as high as number 10 in the national ranking for architecture schools, ahead of UC Berkeley, U Penn, and Princeton.

Professor James Grubola has been awarded the 2015 College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Faculty Award in Teaching.

Professor Delin Lai has been awarded the 2015 College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Faculty Award in Outstanding Scholarship, Research, and Creative Activity in the Humanities.

In addition to the awards, Jim and Delin will represent the College to compete for the University-wide awards.

In October 2013, Through the Flower (TTF), a 501(c)3 non-profit feminist art organization founded in 1978 by Judy Chicago, gifted the International Honor Quilt (IHQ) to the University of Louisville and its Hite Art Institute to be permanently available for a variety of educational purposes, including academic research and study; curriculum programming; ongoing exhibitions; and opportunities for loan.

Louisville resident Shelly Zegart, an international quilt expert, Executive Director and host of the PBS broadcast series, Why Quilts Matter: History, Art and Politics, http://www.whyquiltsmatter.org/welcome/ served as catalyst for placing the collection with the University. She now chairs the governance committee that oversees the integration and use of the Honor Quilt at the University.

The International Honor Quilt (IHQ) is a democratic, egalitarian, collaborative artwork that has become an emblematic feminist archetype and a collective example of art that is culturally, historically and aesthetically significant. Its individual panels combine to create a spectacular collaborative artwork that carry the stories of its 539 individual makers, the women’s organizations and the individual honorees that inspired, motivated and sustained women worldwide.

The IHQ project, initiated by Judy Chicago in 1980 “to extend the spirit of The Dinner Party," continued to grow through the 1980s and ‘90s as it toured throughout the world with Chicago’s iconic The Dinner Party exhibition. After being in storage since 1996, when it was last exhibited in conjunction with The Dinner Party at UCLA’s Armand Hammer Museum, it is now being made available as a unique resource for academic research and study; curriculum programming; ongoing exhibitions; and opportunities for loan, ensuring that these women’s voices not be lost.

As an initial step in disseminating information about the IHQ, it has now been added to the University of Louisville Ekstrom Libraries’ Digital Collections: http://uofl.me/intl-honor-quilt.

Included in this searchable database are images of all individual quilt panels that make up the assembled artwork, the makers’ stories and registrarial documentation materials initially compiled by Dr. Marilee Schmit Nason, and now expanded by the staff of the Hite Art Institute.

Questions, further information and appointments to view the quilt in person may be obtained by contacting the International Honor Quilt Collection at ihqinfo@louisville.edu or calling (502) 852-1431.

Exciting news, President Obama is visiting our Main Street neighbor, Indatus, tomorrow! Unfortunately, Security is preventing us from opening our doors. We will resume normal hours of operation on Friday, April 3.

Due to the inclement weather, the opening reception for Sewol: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter has been rescheduled to Wednesday, March 11 • 5:00 - 7:00 pm at the Cressman Center for Visual Arts.

CANstruction benefits Dare to Care. Interior Design students and a faculty participated in CANstruction, Louisville 2015.
Title of project is “ Comfort food : Comfort form ”.

Voting at Mall St. Matthews is officially opened. Come see our work enjoy amazing structure.

Online voting for the People’s Choice Award is available on the link below:
https://www.facebook.com/CANstructionLouisville

Mall voting: Feb 23rd – Feb 28th
Online Voting: Feb 24th – Mar 3rd

Chief Curator of the Frazier History Museum, Brigid Muldoon said that “[w]e are so happy to have Zac as a member of our staff, and working with him at the Frazier over the last 4 years has been a pleasure. His enthusiasm, leadership, creativity, and knowledge have made him a tremendous asset to our team, and I believe that he will continue to grow and excel in his new role here at the museum.”

Together, the Hite and the Frazier History Museum have built a rich exchange through the placement of many student interns in the museum staff since the museum’s founding. Established in 2004, the Frazier History Museum is an outstanding research institution that examines more than a thousand years of history to expand our knowledge of the past. With ever-changing and interactive exhibits, daily performances by costumed interpreters, and engaging special events and programs, the Frazier Museum is an important partner of the Hite Art Institute in their shared commitment to enriching the cultural life of Louisville.

Zac Distel, originally from Tiffin, Ohio, earned a Master of Arts with a concentration in Critical and Curatorial Studies, a Master of Public Administration, and a Graduate Certificate in Public History at the University of Louisville in 2013. Having interned at the Toledo Museum of Art and Corn Island Archaeology, LLC, Zac began as a Curatorial Intern at the Frazier History Museum in January 2011. When he earned his graduate degrees, Zac became a full-time employee of the Frazier History Museum as a Curatorial Assistant.  His MA thesis project “The Founding of the Art in Embassies Program and the Misrepresentation of American Art” was awarded Best Graduate Student Research Paper, Phi Alpha Theta Ohio Regional Conference 2013.

In the United States of America many slaves were safely carried to freedom. This monumental undertaking that has virtually gone unnoticed, has been the subject of my work over the past eleven years.  My current focus is on Frederick Douglass, Slavery in Maryland, and Underground Railroad (UGRR) Conductor, Harriet Tubman.

Each painting helps to memorialize a dangerous occupation that played a crucial role in the development of American society. In an ever-changing era these artworks are chronicles of an almost silent part of history. The viewer will find no noted heroes of the traditional kind. Those who play the role of hero and heroine in these works are the men and women who risked their lives and the lives of their families to preserve the UGRR.  

I began my research in 2003 and in May of 2004 following the routes on which Tubman took passengers to freedom. Many events have been recounted to me by noted historians, genealogists and descendants during my travels through Maryland, Delaware, New York, and Canada; retracing the steps of many who went before me on this route to freedom.  The wealth of personal experiences and detailed information I obtained is the foundation of this series of artworks.

The life of freedom seekers and those involved with the Underground Railroad was one of uncertainty. They carried on undaunted and these are the ideas that I strive to portray in this series. Figures are tugging and heaving, hoisting and dragging.  Figures depict the mental, emotional, and physical prowess needed to succeed on the UGRR.  Every muscle is strained to the limit.  

Vibrant color and light are used to lead your eye through the composition. I want the viewer to share both the positive and negative experiences of freedom seekers, their families, masters and various passengers on the UGRR.  My aim, as I think they would have liked it to be, is not to glorify them, but to acknowledge their fortitude, love of family and neighbor, and celebrate the value of all human life. In thus doing I hope to candidly portray the enormous effort that changed the tide of history for the African-American.

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/entertainment/arts/visual/2015/02/10/artist-paints-vivid-scenes-slavery/23183983/

Yasmeen Siddiqui, interim gallery director and head of the Critical and Curatorial Studies Program, and Eileen Yanoviak, PhD candidate, have an interview piece on the functions of the university galleries just published in BurnAway. Congratulations!

http://burnaway.org/talking-heads-three-curators-discuss-university-galleries/