During KRM’s We Create festival in Louisville, Kentucky, from June 16-23, art from over 20 artists will be featured:
Aaron Rosenblum
Aaron Rosenblum (b. 1981, Mount Kisco, NY) connects people with their environments through active listening, field recording, and reflection upon the soundscape. His installations have been heard at Gallery TK, Northampton, MA; the Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft, Louisville, KY; the Huff Gallery, Spalding University, Louisville, KY; and Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, Clermont, KY. His radio works have appeared on Incubate Radio at the Incubate Festival, Tilburg, NL; Stress.fm at ECOS, Lisbon, Portugal; WFMU, Jersey City, NJ; CKUT, Montréal, QC; and WXOX/ARTxFM, Louisville, KY. From 2013 to 2017, he produced Radio Presque Rien, a weekly radio program exploring field recording and soundscapes in art, ethnography, and the natural sciences. He is the co-curator of the SONICBernheim lecture/performance series at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, and has curated the shows Necromancing the Screw (Butcher Block Gallery, Louisville, KY, 2007) and Understanding the Indescribable: Paintings by G. Caliman Coxe (Filson Historical Society, Louisville, KY, 2017). He is a recipient of the Great Meadows Foundation Curator Travel Grant (2017). He received a BA in experimental music from Hampshire College and a Masters of Library and Information Science from McGill University. He lives with his wife, sound artist Andrea-Jane Cornell, and their dog Lorraine in Louisville, KY.
Ada Asenjo
I was born in the Dominican Republic where flowers bloom all throughout the year. Pressing flowers is something I have enjoyed doing for decades! Pressed foliage has been used to elaborately embellish gifts and items for ages. I strive to convey a feeling using them in a minimalist way. This, I believe, highlights their natural beauty. Each petal and leaf is intricate beyond compare, yet they are often overlooked. By juxtaposing different elements, their exquisite details become apparent.
Our existence is transient, and everything hinges on what or who came before. Nothing happens in isolation. I feel I must convey this hopeful message of the flowers: Today we live in Joy and Love.
Amberly M. Simpson
Amberly M. Simpson is a local dancer, aerialist, and choreographer currently working with Suspend Productions. Before moving to Louisville, she attended Purdue University where she received a minor in Dance. During this time, she trained and performed with the Purdue Contemporary Dance Company (2011-2015) where she traveled and performed in multiple American College Dance Association Festivals (2013-2015), the American Dance Festival (2013), two TED Talks (2013, 2015), and the Prague Quadrennial (2015), as well as co-directing a production for Obsessive-Compulsive Dance (2014). Additional performance and choreography credits include Voices HEaRD (2017-2018), Blackbird Dance Theatre (2015-2016), the Allegro Dance Project (2016-2018), and the 6th No Borders Project (2018).
Amira Karaoud
Amira Karaoud is a Documentary Photographer and Visual Anthropologist based in Louisville. Five year ago, she left her career on Wall Street to pursue her dream and passion for advocacy for women’s and migrants’ rights.
Karaoud shows her work in galleries nationally and internationally. In addition to her artistic achievements she has published scholarly work as a Visual Anthropologist. She recently was accepted to join the renowned International Center of Photography for their program New Media Narrative.
Karaoud’s passion for exploring and investigating human conditions has led her to visit over 46 countries. Throughout her travel, she created documentaries on women’s right to public space, society’s pressure on women and the myth of “Prince Charming”, refugees’ conditions and immigration policies, and many other journalistic and humanitarian subjects. The aim of her work is to build a bridge between communities and cultures for better understanding and to help fight stigmas.
Karaoud is working on her first photography and stories book, Homeland, a collection of stories on the meaning of home for Palestinian refugees living in West Bank, the occupied territories of Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and the US. She also received a grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women to work on a new project, Voices of Arab Women in the US, which showcases Arab Women’s identity.
You can see her art work at www.amiraart.com and read about her journey at www.wandertheworldwonder.com.
angela ramsey robinson
Angela Ramsey Robinson has acted as a trusted guide and coach for those exploring higher creativity for over 25 years. With a Master’s level Art Therapist, she is deeply committed to her own creative expression. A prolific writer and visual artist, she has created a large body of mixed media paintings focusing primarily on self-portraits and figures. She paints fearlessly, beginning with bold scribbles in a process that is similar to dreaming on canvas. In addition, for the past two years, she’s been immersed in filmmaking and has since been on over 30 films sets. She enjoys being on both sides of the lens as an actor, director, screenwriter and producer.
Angela’s underlying intent and vision is to live her life as authentically and creatively as possible. Angela hopes to embody feminine principles and to act as a catalyst for positive change through the healing power of art as she brings her own creative voice to the world.
ashley thursby
Ashley Thursby grew up in Richmond, Missouri, and began her studies in tap, jazz, and ballet at the age of three. She received her formal training at age nine from the Kansas City Ballet School (KCB) on full merit scholarship and went on to study at The School of American Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, LINES Pre-professional Program, and Jillana. After spending her senior year as a Student Apprentice with KCB she went on to study Ballet and Journalism through Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. There she had the privilege of working with Violette Verdy, Helen Starr, Cynthia Gregory, Deborah Wingert, and Michael Vernon, and was awarded the Friends of Music Scholarship and the National Society of Arts and Letters award.
In 2008 Ashley joined Louisville Ballet and enjoys dancing in the classics as well as contemporary works. Ashley is a passionate advocate for the power that performance art can give to a community, and was honored in receiving the 2015 Artist Enrichment Grant for her choreography through the Kentucky Foundation for Women. She was also the first Collider Artist-in-Residence last June at the South Central Regional Library thanks to generous support from Councilwoman Madonna Flood. After a day of dancing Ashley shares her passion for movement within the Louisville Ballet.
Dan trabue
There is a Wild-ness in every step we take, if Wild, we wish to be.
Dan Trabue wishes to be wild. His artwork (mostly watercolor and pen and ink) tends to focus on natural themes, the sky, the land, the trees, and the wildlife in the area. Infused into these natural themes, Dan works in people playing music, dancing, poetry, and working for a more just and green world. His art tends to be whimsical and fun, bright and cheery, but there are heavy matters at play in his art as well.
Dan is a relatively new artist, but he has shown up at local festivals (The Forest Festival, Mighty Kindness Festival, and others) and has displayed his art at the Wayside Expressions Gallery. Dan loves collaborating with other artists across media, embracing the Community of the Wild wherever it may be found.
Deb ogburn
Deb Ogburn, a Louisville native, is a visual artist and expressive arts coach specializing in women’s empowerment and social change. In addition to her private coaching practice, Deb contracts with the Kentucky Center Arts in Healing program where she works extensively with military veterans among others, and with Kentucky Refugee Ministries where she has facilitated expressive arts programming for youth, teen and elder programs. Deb has a B.A. in Design from the University of Cincinnati and a professional degree from the Expressive Arts Institute San Diego. She completed her M.A. in Expressive Arts Therapy, Coaching & Consulting at European Graduate School in Saas Fee, Switzerland.
gabriel walker and purion parker
Gabriel Walker is a theatre, music, and sound artist. He’s been working with theatres, dance companies, painters, and writers since 1983. He leads workshops including Writer as Performer. You can reach him at soundspeculiar@gmail.com.
Purion Parker is a portrait painter living in Louisville. He’s been painting for ten years and began painting professionally when he came to Louisville three years ago. He’s shown in Tim Faulkner Gallery, Indianapolis Library, Open Gallery, Ultra Pop, and won a Merit Award at Actor’s Theatre. He is scheduled for a solo show at Art Sanctuary in June of 2019.
joe welsh
Joe Welsh is a middle school teacher and artist residing in Louisville, Ky. He creates paintings, illustrations, comics, and political cartoons. He has written songs for and played in the band Adventure for the past 12 years. A graduate of Murray State University with a focus in painting, Mr. Welsh is presently pursuing his Master’s of Arts in teaching at Spalding University. He teaches Graphic Arts to middle schoolers, a career he finds incredibly rewarding. Influenced by the gaps in the concrete of American contemporary life, Mr. Welsh creates work as a way to make sense of things.
kasari dance
Kasari Dance is a modern dance collective under the direction of Katie Kasari, with a commitment to furthering dance opportunities in Louisville through performance, artist collaboration, and community outreach.
Email: kasaridance@gmail.com
Website: www.louisvilledanceseries.com
Facebook: facebook.com/louisvilledanceseries
Instagram: instagram.com/louisvilledanceseries
lizzie gulick
Lizzie Gulick is originally from the Louisville area. She studied textile processes in several sessions at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina between 1996 and 2007. She received her BA from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, in 2005 with a focus on Cross Cultural Communication, minoring in Fine Art. From 2007-2009 Lizzie apprenticed with La Lana Wools in Taos, New Mexico, learning wild crafting and applications of dye plants and Mill preparations for yarn production. She travelled to Mongolia, Turkey and the Middle East researching traditional Felting and Weaving traditions and is currently working towards her Master’s degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis on creating a research based art practice. Lizzie currently participates in Fine Art and Craft shows in the US and is a movement teacher, mother and a regular volunteer with the KRM Elder program since 2014.
Melinda beck
Melinda Beck is a Teaching Artist & Interpreter at the Frazier History Museum. In the past, she has worked on staff in various capacities with Commonwealth Theatre Center, Kentucky Shakespeare, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Seattle Shakespeare Company. Recent commercial work includes Bluegrass Cellular and Kentucky Lottery. She has been lucky to participate in the Walden Alumni Company (Rhinoceros), where she devised Camerado, I Give You My Hand, using Walt Whitman’s poetry in a performative 3-actor workshop ensemble production. She has also written and performed her solo show Agatha as part of the Slant Culture Theatre Festival, and Single Shots: A Two-Night Festival of Solo Theatre. She holds a BFA in Theater with an emphasis in Original Works from Cornish College of the Arts.
See her at the South Central Regional Library in October 2018 as part of the COLLIDER Artist-in-Residence Program. www.artistmelindabeck.com
oscar vasquez martinez
Oscar Vasquez Martinez was born on October 19, 1986 in Havana, Cuba. In Cuba, Oscar worked in many different fields: welding, ironworking, Information Technology, masseur, acupuncturist, and many others. He arrived to the U.S on July 12, 2017.
scz and yared sound – Rhythm Science Sound
SCZ(pronounced “seize”) and Yared are deejays, producers, and educators at Rhythm Science Sound, a collective which works to preserve, develop and promote global dance music culture.
You can see and hear more of their work at: RhythmScienceSound.com.
sebastian duverge
Sebastian Duverge’s work is best known for its vivid colors. Whether it his oils pastels, watercolors, stamps or pottery, you can expect joyful themes and a superior handling of bright electric colors. Sebastian has a special way of looking at the world. Large headed humans go face to face with small animals or insects. Colors and forms unite in an exquisite sense of quirkiness. You may also find geometric shapes that float in a sea of color or a self-made stamp that repeats on colorful paper or canvas.
Sebastian lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where he is currently studying pottery with Candy Wheat. He received his High School Art education at Ballard High School with Daryl Smith. He has attended JCTC studio art classes as well as having received support with his work from various local artist, Penny Lentz, Collis Marshall and Daniel Trabue.
Sebastian’s interest in art started very young. At the age of five he would turn himself into a cat by making paper ears and whiskers and then gluing the whiskers to his very own nose.
Some of his art and pottery has been featured at the Webber Gallery and sold at silent actions for charity. He had his first solo artist show August 2017 at Expressions Art Gallery in Louisville.
stephanie lee
Stephanie Lee, from Louisville, KY, began performing in her formative years. She received formal dance training from the Youth Performing Arts School, Chestnut Street Family YMCA, and University of Louisville. In spending two years with Belize Dance Intermix, the group has performed at many venues such as Churchill Downs 2017 Opening Night, WorldFest Louisville, Bowling Green International Fest, Bud Dorsey’s “Available Light” Book Release, Kentucky Center for the Arts: Keepers of the Dream MLK Celebration & Lipstick Wars Poetry Slam and more. From Indiana Wesleyan University, she graduated with honors and earned a BS in Business Management.
susan e. brooks
Susan E. Brooks, M.Ed., has taught art and created paintings and drawings, specializing in portraits, since 1987. She moved to Mozambique, Africa, in 1996 with her family, where she taught art and English at an international school. After returning home and teaching in Kentucky high schools for nearly ten years, she then traveled to Turkish Cyprus in 2009, where she taught American Literature and English at Near East University. Susan returned again to Kentucky in 2011 where she currently enjoys painting, drawing, and illustrating her own children’s books while teaching art at Portland Christian School. She currently sells her art at etsy.com and fineartamerica.com, and her children’s books are available at lulu.com. Her work is included in private collections in Germany and the US.
yunier ramirez cedeno
Yunier Ramirez Cedeno, 37 years old, born in Holguín, Cuba. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance in 2004 and Master’s degree in history and culture in 2016, at the University of Holguín in Cuba and was a professor of that university for nine years. He has had two exhibitions: one for painting in 2007 and one for photography in 2018.
“I believe that art is a necessity and that photography can be a powerful tool of telling stories. I dedicated myself to teaching philosophy, culture and photography, and to collaborate with the special system of education introducing autistic children to the universe of photography.”
Find out which artists will be featured in which We Create Festival events at the Facebook pages of each event. You can find those links here. Stay tuned for more information about our musical artists who will be showcased throughout the week and at the final showcase on June 23 at Brown Theatre!