Ashley Brossart : September 6th, 2016

Map by Ashley Brossart

Howdy listeners.

The other day I was thinking about how childhood memories, when looking back in retrospect, can be far more significant and formative than you once thought. For Ashley Brossart, one of those memories could be the mural her mother painted in her childhood home’s basement. It contained popular characters borrowed from television and coloring books—Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, stuff that made up so many 90’s kid’s lives. The influence of this collage style from her mother’s mural can be seen throughout Ashley’s work.

Louisville Map by Ashley Brossart

Ashley is my guest today. We chatted a little about her work last week in her studio. She is definitely a very hands on artist, and one that has a grasp on many styles & mediums. Her work is a natural consequence of all her experimentation, creating blended works full of movement. Ashley prefers large scale but she also has ongoing, kind of ‘creative geocaching’ projects, called Art Drops. With the Art Drop series ‘Places & Spaces Tucked Away‘, the found pieces recreate a map of sorts.

Ashley’s work tends to focus on how cities are always changing, and how we interact within them. With many of her pieces, she wants to give you the experience of exploring these urban locations. As an advocate of public art, Ashley is also a professional mural artist.

You can more of her work at ashleybrossart.com.

You can listen in to our chat using the player below, or subscribe to Blind Date on iTunes.

Rachel French : September 24th 2014

Sustainability.

I’m sure this is a buzzword you hear on a daily basis. I can understand if some of you are honestly sick of the word, but considering the present economic climate, sustaining oneself proves an increasingly important topic. In this pursuit of preservation, some times you have to get creative. And some times, you create out of necessity.

These kind of ideas make up Rachel French’s creative manifesto. Rachel is the owner/designer of Venomiss LLC as well as co-founder of Geisthaus. She comes from a very hands-on upbringing, her family making many of life’s necessities themselves.

Venomiss is the moniker Rachel makes under for her unique and custom couture. She does everything from daily wear to specialty costumes; even, at one time, muppets! Rachel also provides sewing lessons within the Metro Louisville area for a wide age range of students. Besides that, Venomiss LLC brings to you safe vegan friendly toiletries and cosmetics.

Now on to Geisthaus. Geisthaus is really a natural progression if you consider Rachel’s one woman fashion empire mixed with her very practical take on creation with the end goal of sustaining herself. Geisthaus, as you’ll hear, is a studio collective and garden. The ‘Spirit House’ partnership consists of Rachel and her sister Sarah French-Wilde. Their mission is to provide comfortable, beautiful work-spaces for local artisans and gardeners. In addition to studio space, there will also be a greenhouse, and other areas for planting. Geisthaus is located in the Schnitzelburg neighborhood.

To learn more, click on the various links above and listen to our discussion below.

Enjoy.

Coming up in September…

Photo by Stacey Reason

Hello everyone. As we slip out of August, we’re going to be hit by wave of art come September.

To start out, Friday September 5th at the Huff Gallery, there will be a special collection of prints from one of Louisville’s newest up and coming print studio. You’ll hear all about it next week, as I’ll be posting an episode featuring some of the folks involved. Till then….

Also on Friday the 5th is the Open Studio Exhibition and Launch Party at the Cressman Center. This is a pre-Open Studio show displaying samples of what you’ll see in the various spaces. The show starts at 6, and the actual Open Studio Weekend tour is on Sept. 13 & 14th. To learn more and snag yourself some tickets, you can go here. And, (shameful self promotion just to let you know), my fledgling collective will have a space on the tour at the Clifton Center. Consider stopping by, and saying hi.

If you need help finding studios, there’s a Louisville Art Finder app you can download for free. TECHNOLOGY!

And next Friday being the first Friday of the month, it will be the Gallery Hop on Market street. Always a good time, weather permitting.

Of course, I can’t forget Cropped Out Fest at the end of the month…Sept 26 through the 28th to be precise. Cropped Out is a locally ran music fest that celebrates musicians, artists, and artisans they feel reflect a greater undercurrent of sonic, visual, and conceptual exploration. Much like Blind Date, they feature talents often omitted, overlooked, or cropped out of “the big picture.” This year’s lineup features the Sun Ra Arkestra, Ma Turner, and White Reaper among many, many more interesting folks. Check out their website here.

I’m sure much more will pop up. That’s all for now though…

 

Goodbye July….

Photo by Sarah Katherine Davis

It’s been a interesting summer so far, blog goers. I’ve been all over the place with my hand in many different pies. So much is happening, so many changes…so, so much…

Considering this fact and my desire to keep the quality of Blind Date on the up and up, I’ve decided to cut posts down to when I have something extra special for you. Thing such as big announcements, events, and (of course) interviews! I think this way I can allot time to other projects and keep my sanity, but at the same time keep things interesting for you! I also promise more Instagrams…I swear! I know I’ve been neglecting you on that end….

Speaking of the projects I have in the works, at the end of August I’ll be uploading my interview with Camera Lucida. They’re an awesome aural/visual experience based duo.

I’ve also been working with Stacey Reason from the Louisville Artists Syndicate. I’m putting together an exclusive exhibition only interview with Rudy Salgado and Susanna Crum, available for listen at the show! We discuss the art of printmaking, their up & coming print shop, as well as their print collection which is the subject of the exhibition. I’ll keep you in the loop as I get more details…

Along with that, I’ve been trying to get together with my friend Lindsay Smith, to discuss a really awesome project she is doing along with her medical studies. I’m super excited about this as well…

One last thing, I’m participating in this year’s Open Studio Weekend with a small collective of friends. We’re putting together a small sound installation and working on a large collaborative piece inspired by Mandalas.

Sometime after this I’d also like to try to have an art yard sale.

We’ll see which way the wind blows…

 

Chapter Two…

Hello everyone.

I must say I’ve been pretty preoccupied lately, so not much to report this week on the Blind Date front. Of course, what I’ve been up to will ultimately (hopefully) benefit the program.

First off, Sarah and I finalized the purchase of our first home today (excited, nervous, scared, etc…a ball of conflicting emotions). With this new private space, I plan on setting up a much more appropriate studio for recording; sound proofing, new gear, all that jazz. This being the beginning of the second chapter of Blind Date, I think this is pretty good timing. Expect better quality episodes in general, in all aspects. So, in saying all that if you or someone you know has access to a truck, let me know…haha, kidding, but seriously, we’re going to need help…

Also, I’ll be participating in the Louisville Visual Art Assn’s Open Studio Weekend in September. OSW is pretty self explanatory; basically artists open up their studios for public tours all over Louisville and Southern Indiana. I went as a ‘tourist’ last time, and saw some great spaces. This year I decided to sign up as an artist with a fledgling art collective I’m in called Hot Garbage. We’ll be doing an in-studio installation with the purpose of constructing an environment conducive to creative thinking. I’ll have original pieces, Psychic Skin cassettes, and possibly Blind Date merchandise for sale along with the work of Jesi Evans and Jason O. Mudd.

You can learn by hitting up LVAA’s website.

Don’t worry though, friends, I planned for all this and worked ahead. I have some awesome discussions lined up. I’ve got Jim Marlowe at the end of this month, Camera Lucida the next, and something special in the works for September.

Stay tuned.

Sept 4th, 2013

Happy Wednesday listeners.

Today’s show features the talented Lindsay Sant. A goodhearted artist who has a hand in many different ‘pies’, so to speak. An U of L Alumni whose focus has taken some major shifts; from print making, to film, to video projection, to Graphic Design, Radio show host, and so much more. Definitely an interview which I regrettable had to edit down quite a bit. Computers can only handle so much, I suppose…

Also, quite a soothing interview, I might add (I listened to it enough to know!)

For more information about Lindsay’s show on ArtxFM Louisville, you can go the following links:

https://www.facebook.com/AlienJingles

artxfm.com

And if you’ve yet to subscribe to the podcast, you can click the player below.

Below is a short teaser clip of Lindsay doing projections for Connor Bell of Shedding, at the Land of Tomorrow Gallery in Louisville.  Above are photos from that performance (all by SarahKatherineDavis.com).

Lately..

Ben Traughber, playing songs from his music project ‘Dream Eye Color Wheel’.

Lately, I feel like I’ve been everywhere. And I’ve seen some really awesome stuff..

I’ve seen much more of musicians than I ever thought I would (thanks to Cynthia Plastercaster), some awesome photography of NY in the 70’s by Paul Zone, and an amazing array of vintage t-shirts telling the story of the Sexual Revolution…there was a Kitten Natividad shirt I was insanely smitten with! All this is on exhibit at Land of Tomorrow Louisville gallery as a part of the El Campo de Mañana pt. II exhibition. On view at Land of Tomorrow, Louisville
August 1st through September 7th

Speaking of Land of Tomorrow, a couple of weeks ago I went to Audioptics At Dark featuring Shedding (www.shedding.org) with Lindsay Sant doing projections. Norrin Radd with visuals by Seethings (www.vimeo.com/seethings). Visiting Nurse with visuals by  Jonah O’Neil.

Just last night, I attended a performance by Dream Eye Color Wheel at one of my favorite venues, the Rudyard Kipling. It was an awesome set, with a full band. Congrats Benjamin!

If you see me out and about, say hello. Especially if you’re interested in being featured. I’m always on the lookout for new talents….

-B