Opening Reception Friday September 10, 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. with an artist talk beginning at 7:15 and a free concert by Brooks Ritter and Mike Mangione beginning at 8:00. On view September 10 - October 10, 2010.

For the first time, after over three years of putting together exhibits of other people’s artwork at the 930, Gallery Director Michael Winters, together with his wife Mickie Winters, will share their own exhibit.

Artists’ Statement

“The great masters of the imagination do not make things up out of thin air; they direct our attention to what is right before our eyes.  They then train us to see it whole - not in fragments but in context, with all the connections.  They connect the visible and the invisible, the this with the that.  They assist us in seeing what is around us all the time but which we regularly overlook.  With their help we see it not as commonplace but as awesome, not as banal but as wondrous.  For this reason, the imagination is one of the essential ministries in nurturing the life of faith.  For faith is not a leap out of the everyday but a plunge into its depths.” - Eugene Peterson

We make it our job to see things as if seeing them for the first time.  It’s a hard job because it can’t be forced.  Renewed vision is a gift, like a pleasant dream.  You didn’t ask for it and you can’t control it, but it changes the way you wake up.  Startled and adjusting, you find yourself awake and in the light confusion of wonder.

In the biblical story known as Jacob’s Ladder, Jacob is on a multi-day journey through the desert and when he lays down to sleep he has a dream of a ladder “resting on the earth, with its top reaching heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.  There above it stood the Lord…”

The dream caused such a strong impression that Jacob concluded that God was present there with him in the desert.  “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”  The dream gave him a vivid vision of heaven and angels and God - but more importantly in some ways, the dream provided him with renewed vision for the earth and the physical realm of reality where he lived his daily life.  He says, “How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”  He was referring to the physical place where he stood.  He had been using a rock as a pillow.  He set up the rock in the dirt as a monument.

We like this story because it runs parallel to the experience of our art making.  Like receiving a good dream, we sometimes are gifted with the ability to see the world around us become unusually radiant.  The writer Annie Dillard even uses the word “transfiguration” and describes her experience of this phenomenon: “It was less like seeing than like being for the first time seen, knocked breathless by a powerful glance.   The flood of fire abated, but I’m still spending the power.”

When things light up this way, when our vision is renewed, we become aware that we were previously not seeing everything that was there before.  We were blind to something that we now have our eyes glued to.  Something has been revealed and it energizes us.

In this revelation of the visible, something invisible happens.   Our sense of wonder is enlarged.  The visible realm has an effect in the realm of the invisible, and the invisible realm is embedded in the physical realm.  The visible and invisible, the spiritual and the physical, are overlapping realities.  They’re all bound up together.

With these pictures we’re simply trying to put ourselves in a position where we might be gifted a heightened ability to see, and then we’re using photography to make a record of that to share with you.

Apply online at the bottom of this page.

This art and craft show is a one day event Saturday, October 16 in conjunction with a Fall Festival sponsored by Sojourn Church at the same location.  Both indoor table space and gallery wall space are available.
Outdoor booth space is available also.

There is no entry fee.  Donations from accepted artists are appreciated.  The jury process will be led by Michael Winters, the 930 gallery director.

ELIGIBILITY
Open to all artists and craftspeople. All art and crafts must be for sale and for $250 or less. Because this is part of a family-friendly event, some content may not be appropriate.

IF YOUR WORK IS ACCEPTED
If your work is accepted, you will be emailed by Oct. 6 with full details.  Artists must be present during the event to sell their own work.

IMPORTANT DATES
SEPT. 30 at Midnight- DEADLINE TO ENTER
OCT 6- notifications emailed
OCT 16- AFFORDABLE ART SHOW (set up 9-12, event 12-6p.m.)

OPENING RECEPTION Friday, July 23. 8:00 - 11:00 p.m. with an artist talk at 8:15 and a free concert by Eric Wilson and Empty Hearts with Saredren Wells beginning at 8:45 p.m.

Experimenting with Cyanotype Workshop on Saturday July 24. 10a.m.-1p.m.

My work illustrates a fantastic landscape. It represents nature’s subtle way of dealing with the peculiar aspects in the relationship with mankind. A giant glow-in-the-dark heart, or a pile of precious gems tells us that we are loved, just as blood squirting from an oak tree trunk says, all is not well. I am inspired by my conversation with the landscape, I imagine long monologues when pine forests make me laugh and mountains test my patience.

My paintings are created with a photochemical process known as cyanotype. The cyanotype is a civil war era process that when exposed to sunlight and developed gives a vibrant blue image. I paint with this light sensitive medium directly on paper or canvas. With everyday items such as baking soda, bleach and peroxide I am able to achieve a range of colors and textures thru controlled chemical reactions. I repeat this process adding many layers until the image is fully realized, often finishing with watercolor painting or a collage element.

It’s not as nerdy as it sounds.

on view October 22 - November 28, 2010

Artist Statement

I want to share with you photographs of Haiti taken before the earthquake of January 12, 2010.

I visited the countryside and the now devastated cities of Port-au-Prince, Jacmel, and Léogâne. I also visited the northern city of Cap-Haïtian and the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of the Citadel (1805-20) and Sans-Souci Palace (1810-13), which were not affected by the earthquake.

Many of the people and places I photographed are now gone. It was a privilege to honor their lives. At the time, I wanted people in the United States to feel a shared bond with Haitians, because we both established the first democracies in the Americas. Following the earthquake, this need for compassion is even greater.

I think of myself as a politically commited photographer. I concentrate on the everyday lives of market women, farmers, sugar cane workers, the young and the old. I hope my photographs help you understand a people capable of remarkable acts of courage and dignity in the face of global economic deprivation and natural disaster. My artistic interpretation of Haiti seeks to lessen the distance between Haitians and Americans by re-examining democracy in a global context.

These photographs are paradoxically about beauty-a form of spirituality. I photographed scenes of scorched earth and the difficult lives of rural Haitians using a 2¼ film camera. The slow process of setting-up shots-loading film, taking a light reading, setting f-stop, speed, and focus-let my subjects relax their snapshot personas and express their true personality. I believe my strategy resulted in a unique body of work, which asks viewers to expand their ideas of where beauty resides.

These photographs are like a mirror, which reflect not darkness, but beauty. Therefore, they are elegantly lit, beautifully composed, and carefully cropped. Elegance, beauty, and care are all attributes of the people I met in Haiti.

My hostess, Madame Marèse Jean, for example, lives in a two-room house, yet her immaculately made bed reveals a much larger sense of grace. With the subtle tonalities of black-and-white film, I also tested the political idea that to be born with black skin is opposed to whiteness and light. I want viewers to linger in these images long enough to grasp the global politics of manual labor and the effects of environmental degradation upon Haitians.

This striving for beauty is very personal to me and the reason I have dedicated my life to art. I believe that art can take what is known but suppressed and make it visible. In my Haitian photographs, this means removing the masks of historic silences and superficial differences between two counties and making our shared humanity visible.

About the artist

Robert J. Mitchell is co-director of Zephyr Gallery in Louisville, Kentucky.
Mitchell’s MFA is from the University of Chicago and his BFA from the Atlanta College of Art. He has had solo exhibitions in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Frankfort, and Louisville.
The Artist Will Donate a Portion of Sales to Haitian Earthquake Relief.

Opening Reception Friday June 4, 7-10 p.m. with an artist’s talk at 7:15 and a free concert by Roman Candle and Dangerbird beginning at 8:00.

GALLERY DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

With Daniel Graham’s art, there’s always a story.  For example, there are Daniel’s personal stories about why he chose to make a machine that rubs eggshells together (Mouthpiece) or why he built a chair that sounds like a spray paint can when moved.  But more importantly, there are the stories that he’s teasing out through the pairing of images and titles.  Nothing is spelled out for the viewer, but there are hints of history and mystery and meaning.

Daniel Graham makes a lot of art.  In 2009 alone he participated in 11 exhibits around the country on top of his teaching responsibilities.  He teaches sculpture and printmaking at Georgetown College.   He wakes up at 5:00 a.m. each morning and goes straight to his personal studio on campus.  When his students start showing up around 9:00, he’s already produced art.

And the art Daniel Graham makes comes in many forms.  He uses printmaking techniques, sculpture of many kinds, traditional woodworking methods, performance art, and electronics.

One recognizable feature of Daniel Graham’s art in all its forms is an amazing level of craft and skill.  Equally with all types of materials, he builds images and forms meticulously.

However, when looking at Daniel Graham’s art, it’s pretty apparent that his work is not merely process driven, but is instead “conceptually driven to their means of production,” as his artist statement says.

In the woodcuts, symbols that you couldn’t prepare for are paired.  As viewers, we’re left to make sense of the side by side images.  In “The stars were meant to shine for you” we see a sinking ship and we see a circus scene.  It takes a mental leap to fit the two images into one meaning, but at the same time, upon contemplation, there’s an immediate neurological response that starts to occur, stirring around the textures and colors and the symbols with the works title.  In the end, it’s unclear if there’s a “message” trying to be communicated, but there’s certainly poetry happening.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

My work is an investigation of comparative relationships through personal narratives.  Existing in multiple mediums my pieces are conceptually driven to their means of production.  Whether in the form of sculptural autonomous machines or variations in printmaking, my work is based in storytelling.  I was raised in an environment where it was believed anything could be fixed or figured out.  A large amount of my work starts as a means of breaking down, fixing, or figuring out a personal matter.  Not a means of catharsis, but a means of interpersonal communication.  I often rely on a process of forcing images against each other to dilate a previously unscripted narrative.  I have never been short on words, but when it comes to explaining emotion I often am short on the right words.  There is a practice in dream therapy in dealing with partial memory where the client will start telling their dream until it gets unclear what happens next.  At this point the therapist will make up the rest.  The client will contest, saying “No it was not like that.  It was like this,” going on to finish a dream they had up until then forgotten.  The memory comes forward to defend itself.  I am both the client and the administrator.  I force comparisons in hope of a defensive dialogue coming forward to defend the visual narrative as a valid interpretation of each personal investigation.

ARTIST’S BIO

Raised in a military family, I moved around every two years of my life.  I come from a family of storytellers and sharers.  My mother is the one who introduced me to making things, my father taught me how to fix just about anything.  I am a professor at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky.  I teach courses in Sculpture, Printmaking, 3D design, Ceramics, and Package Design.  I received my Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Georgia and my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The University of Florida.  I have the pleasure of working with the best faculty and staff ever found in the country and I love working with the students of Georgetown College.  I love working on my vintage Vespa and I also love my wife’s Bill Cosby impression.

J. Daniel Graham currently lives in Georgetown Kentucky with his wife Holly and their daughter Olive and their dog Clover.

His website is jdgraham.net.

The 930 is pleased to welcome back Eric Wilson & Empty Hearts, with special guest Saredren Wells!

On first listen, the title track from Eric Wilson’s debut EP, Quarterfuse (out Oct 7,) is a civil-war story. Rather, Wilson uses the setting to portray how chaos and fear in life can push us forward. With his band “Empty Hearts,” songs shift from acoustic to rock in a Petty-esque fashion, seasoned with a bit of twang from the steel guitar. Wilson and band had been drawing crowds in the southeast for a couple of years before The Carnival Music Group heard the buzz. In addition to signing him as a writer with the publishing company, Carnival is releasing the EP from previously recorded material.

Saredren Wells’s debut LP, “Memories are Hunting Horns…,” is unmistakably a product of and tribute to his home. As Wells describes, “When I started making the album, I wanted it to be a kind of homage to the city of Louisville, to its musical past and the artists who we all, as Louisvillians, grew up listening to.” To that end, Wells made a real effort to connect the dots of his musical past.

on view April 30 - May 30, 2010

OPENING RECEPTION Friday, April 30, 7-10 p.m. with a free concert by Interstates and Fork in Socket beginning at 8:00 p.m.

Conspiring With Nature is a multimedia art exhibit featuring local and regional artists whose work gets them interacting with the natural world in interesting ways.  For example, Louisville-based artist Todd Smith ends up in treetops to make his art.  By photographing long exposures of himself climbing trees while wearing a suit of lights, he makes a visual record of his tree climbs.

Other artists in the exhibit work with natural materials in slightly more traditional ways.  Jo-Ann Van Reeuwyk and Cortney Moses work with sticks, eggs, rocks, plants, and animal guts to make their sculptural art.

Maidens of the Cosmic Body Running is the two person artist team made up of Lisa Siders and Denise Burge. They say their work seeks to “reflect and personify the constant state of ecstasy (metamorphosis, decay, birth) that is the natural world.”  For this exhibit, they show two pieces - Double Fantasy, a string drawing of the text ‘fanstasy’ mirrored in a circular shape, and Maiden in the Forest in the Maiden, a video of a female running projected onto two charcoal drawings of a forest.

In Laura Hartford’s photo-based artwork, she often combines flora and fauna with contemporary portraiture.  Over the last eight years she has photographed her son, Jake, in elaborately constructed scenes made up mostly of natural materials.  Her artworks are meditations on home and family as much as they are meditations on the fecundity and cycles of nature.

Artist Website Links:

Laura Hartford

Maidens of the Cosmic Body Running

Cortney Moses

Todd Smith

Jo-Ann Van Reeuwyk

The 930 is glad to welcome back Matthew Perryman Jones with special guest Kim Taylor.

Ambition is evident in Matthew Perryman Jones’ third record, but first proper release [Swallow The Sea]… this record is the sound of Jones simultaneously putting his neck on the line and shedding musical inhibitions, and finding his voice in doing so. “I’m a product of the 80’s and my musical taste was shaped largely by bands like The Pixies, REM, U2, Echo and the Bunnymen and other underground bands of that time. It was the era of epic art-rock and smart pop. I ate it up. This record certainly nods to my influences without apology.”

Listen here.

Kim Taylor’s connections to fellow Ohioans Over the Rhine are hard to ignore: The singer/songwriter has performed with the band on tour and her sultry voice is a dead-ringer for OTR’s Karin Bergquist. But lately Taylor has been hiding out in a barn in Indianapolis, recording a new album and perfecting a style uniquely her own. -Paste Magazine

The 930 Art Center is pleased to host Chicago’s finest experimental rock band, Califone! Louisville favorites, Shedding, support.

In an underground music landscape where 140 characters equals “journalism” and lone MP3s propel bands to momentary internet stardom, bands are here today and gone tomorrow. Califone is a band that defies this blueprint. Their albums are full of layers and textures, offering endless depth, entire universes to lose yourself in – and beyond the thick spectrum of sound, they do something even more important: They write great songs. Califone is a band that will stand the test of time.

The band is at the peak of its powers on All My Friends Are Funeral Singers, its sixth song based album. The songwriting is fleshed out, the musical vision is boiling over, the sonic experimentation is indulgent and dense, yet there’s a great cohesion, a sense of purpose and a newfound focus to this Califone effort. Never has the band felt so vibrant, so alive, on one of their albums. All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is built for the long haul. Make space on your record shelf, because this one is here to stay.

Shedding was Connor Bell, at least that’s the way it had been for the better part of a decade. That was until Bell made a definitive move away from the hermetically sealed confines of his sample-collage/electro-acoustic soundscapes back towards more extroverted forms of expression. For these ends he conscripted Louisville underground rock stalwarts Tim Furnish and Joey Yates, themselves having emanated from the arcane climes of combos like Crain, Parlour, and Sapat. Shedding has become a band, leaving behind its intangible chrysalis to emerge a full-blooded, flesh and bone concern.

]]> http://www.the930.org/2010/02/19/califone-with-special-guest/feed/ http://www.the930.org/2010/01/25/katie-herzig-and-matthew-perryman-jones-with-larkin-poe/ http://www.the930.org/2010/01/25/katie-herzig-and-matthew-perryman-jones-with-larkin-poe/#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:04:01 +0000 Kevin Janes http://www.the930.org/?p=2008 Saturday, August 7, 2010 / 7:30 p.m. / Doors open at 7 p.m. / $12 advance, $15 day of show / Tickets on sale NOW!

The 930 is pleased to welcome back both KATIE HERZIG and MATTHEW PERRYMAN JONES for a very special co-headlining show! Larkin Poe will open.

In 2006, after several years of fronting the critically acclaimed Colorado-based band, Newcomers Home, Katie Herzig moved to Nashville to strike it solo. Before leaving Colorado, she single-handedly recorded and produced Weightless, a tour-de-force of innovative sonics and songwriting. Since then, Katie’s song “Heaven’s My Home” received a 2007 Grammy nomination and she has steadily become a fixture in Nashville’s up-and-coming indie music scene. Her last studio record Apple Tree, birthed songs like “Wish You Well,” “Hologram,” “I Hurt Too” and “Forevermore” that have become musical staples in the hearts of Herzig’s fans. This music is at once playful and impassioned challenging and comfortable -intimate and epic… which is exactly what listeners have come to expect of Katie Herzig.

Ambition is evident in Matthew Perryman Jones’ third record, but first proper release [Swallow The Sea]… this record is the sound of Jones simultaneously putting his neck on the line and shedding musical inhibitions, and finding his voice in doing so. “I’m a product of the 80’s and my musical taste was shaped largely by bands like The Pixies, REM, U2, Echo and the Bunnymen and other underground bands of that time. It was the era of epic art-rock and smart pop. I ate it up. This record certainly nods to my influences without apology.”

A set by Larkin Poe will open the evening.

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