Ranger: A new sound is on the rise. With strong influences like Metric, Radiohead, Feist,Florence and the Machine, U2, Fleetwood Mac, and The Smiths, a haunting, ambient sound is born. Stephanie Kincheloe, Derrick Royer, Jo those el Woodcock, and Kevin Buster thrive on irresistable vocals, innovative beats,and striking guitar work.

“Soft, mesmerizing, gorgeous, and haunting. We caught buzz-band Ranger…. and experienced all of adjectives and more.”—–Metromix, Indianapolis

Listen to Ranger here.

Rit Black & Co is the moniker of Joseph Dittman who recently transplanted to Louisville from Chicago, Illinois.  He plays piano-based original American fringe gospel and many 19th century favorites.  The album “Out of the Depths” was released on Christmas day 2011.

Listen to Rit Black & Co here.

“The musical storytelling of Christopher Paul Stelling embodies a long road full of lush folkloric, mythological and religious imagery.” - WNYC

“There is a reverence in and of Christopher Paul Stelling that is immediately perceptible. It’s striking and it’s powerful. It’s a draw. It’s a magnetism that sucks you right into the landscape that he sees.” - Sean Moeller, Daytrotter

Christopher Paul Stelling is releasing his debut album “Songs of Praise and Scorn” just days before this Louisville show.  Louisville is an appropriate stop on his tour since he recorded the album here last summer with Kevin Ratterman at The Funeral Home and with Cheyenne Marie Mize playing violin for the album.

Listen to Christopher Paul Stelling here.

JK Mabry will open the show with a trio of musicians playing new songs due to be released in the next few months, plus some familiar ones from his ep “Familiar Stranger”.

Listen to JK Mabry here.

“Matt Kinder (The Parade Schedule’s Frontman) is one of the best songwriters around anywhere”- Damien Jurado

“Matt Kinder’s sepia-folk style sets him apart from a lot of his contemporaries and his songwriting constantly captures loss, love, duty, and honor like few can. The Parade Schedule makes beautiful music that will stick with you like a familiar memory.” -Backseat Sandbar

The Parade Schedule has possibly played The 930 more than any other band due to their constant output of quality-crafted songs, but when lead singer Matt Kinder moved away to Seattle two years ago, he didn’t come back. Until now. The Parade Schedule is parading back to Louisville to give us a concert, and to visit with friends and family, and to record a new album. We welcome them back.

Listen to The Parade Schedule here on bandcamp.

House Ghost is known for making each of their concerts a unique experience.  Their surf-rock inspired indie tunes form the basis for creative performances with enough good humor to fill the room with joy.  During the first days of this year, they proved their awesomeness during a free show at The 930, so whether or not you experienced that, March 17 promises to be another vivid experience.

Listen to House Ghost here on bandcamp.

Ben Traughber will open with a solo set, pulling from his record “Spiral Stares” which came out in 2011.

Listen to Ben Traughber here on bandcamp.

Opening Reception Friday February 17, 7-10 p.m. / Artist Talk at 7:15 / Free Concert at 8:00 by Ranger and Rit Black & Co / On view Feb. 17 - March 25 

Artist’s Statement
By Joel Sheesley, 2011

I share the sentiment of Sylvia Plath’s poem, “Black Rook in Rainy Weather,” which speaks about “walking wary” of the chance discovery of content or meaning in everyday life.

“…With luck,
Trekking stubborn through this season
Of fatigue, I shall
Patch together a content
Of sorts, …”

To me, the patching together of content suggests an arrival at a turning point; a point at which our pervasive tendency toward oblivion is dispelled by an awareness that the status quo, oblivion’s usual way of manifesting itself, is illusory. At this turning point one senses that everything is important. It is important for what it reveals about everything else. We find ourselves in an indeterminate network of relationships that keeps opening up before us.

But here our energies and intellectual powers are taxed. How much of that indeterminacy can one absorb? How soon do we, in exhaustion, begin trading upon trivialities, banal coincidences? The world offers an endless supply of facts. We are pressured to understand how they are important to us.

Which facts relate in ways that bring us insight? Which coincidental meetings are actually important? It is under the pressure to know these things that we feel the whole world groaning. Art is one such sometimes-exquisite groan. In whatever manner or voice, art calls out the relations between things, even subdividing the “thing itself” into its own sets of relationships.

Painting is one avenue in a network of roads that comprise what Art is. To be professional about painting is to know its history and technical detail, to be enmeshed in its limits; to “walk wary” with it in the world, alert to its capacities for patching together a content of sorts.

Bio

Joel Sheesley is a painter who lives in the suburbs of Chicago. He graduated with a BFA in painting and drawing from Syracuse University School of Art, and from the University of Denver School of Art, with an MFA in painting and printmaking. He teaches art at Wheaton College. His work has been exhibited regularly in Chicago, including at the Chicago Cultural Center in 2010, and in other cities across the country. Mr. Sheesley received an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in 2002. In 2008 Mr. Sheesley’s painting was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University.

Opening Reception Friday February 17, 7-10 p.m. / Free Concert at 8:00 by Ranger and Rit Black & Co / On view Feb. 17 - March 25, 2012

Ryan Adrick (b.1979) was born in Jacksonville, Florida. His childhood was spent growing up in a military family, and moving all over the United States. He received his B.F.A. degree from Jacksonville University and his M.F.A. degree from Florida State University in 2006. He has taught courses at Florida State University and for the Florida State University International Program in Florence, Italy. Most recently he taught at the University of South Florida as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Photography. Currently he lives and works in Dayton, OH. His work explores the relationships that we form with those around us, the environment, and with ones self. His work has been shown regionally, nationally, and internationally. He has also received a number of teaching, scholastic, and artistic awards.

More of his artwork can be viewed at www.ryanadrick.com

Opening Reception Friday January 6, 7-10 p.m. / Artist Talk at 7:15 / Free Concert by House Ghost at 8:00

Craig Hawkins received his B.F.A in Fine Art from Valdosta State University(2001) and his M.F.A. at the University of Georgia(2011). Hawkins grew up in multiple cities including Laurinburg, NC, Greer, SC, Roanoke Rapids, NC, Warner Robins, GA, Valdosta, GA, Newcastle, England, and Athens, GA. Describing his work, Hawkins says, “I collect moments of revelation and try to give them away as a drawing or a painting.”

Written by Emily Rosser for Daily Serving:

Craig Hawkins‘ work enhances the beauty of the world around us through the expression of a rich and deeply spiritual faith. Meditating on the word of God, Hawkins hones in on elemental truths of the Bible. The artist creates vivid imagery through transcendental compositions, high contrast narratives, and expressive mark making. The result is an intriguingly unique perspective on religious parables.  Hawkins describes his work as, “the evidence of taking truth and imagining it”. Brilliantly honest, his work moves beyond the confines of the canvas to provoke vivacity, challenging the viewer to see with new eyes. The artist uses paint and charcoal to illustrate and unite the dynamic nature of the world around us with specific scriptural references. Using media as a form of conversation, the canvas becomes an open journal to actively demonstrate the work of his hands. Each mark is wholly significant, a means used to thrust the viewer into a matrix of emotion. Through Hawkins integrity in creation, the viewer moves closer to the truth, feelings, and experiences of the body.

Inspired by the fantastic website, Dear Photograph, we asked people to photograph a picture from the pastin the present.

The 16 resulting images were printed, framed, and hung in the gallery.

Images by Courtney Grace, Maria Johnson, Kelly Karcher, David Sankey, Sam Swift, and Anna Winters.

Opening Reception Friday November 11, 7:00-10:00p.m. with a free concert by Philip James Revell and Wayne Graham beginning at 8:00p.m.

Rabbit Trails is an exhibition of the eclectic work of Chicago-based artist Dayton Castleman. Representing whimsical perspectives on the world around him, Castleman’s genre-bending artwork eschews loyalty to any single medium in favor of wildly careening investigations of everything from quotidian formalities, to personal psychological anxieties, to place-and-memory, to quirky romantic metaphors. Sculptural works created from cardboard, cotton swabs, plaster, home-made machines, fabric, wood, paper, rhinestones, and pipe, accompany traditional drawings, and acrylic and oil paintings on canvas. The artworks are at-once gravely serious, and laced with disarming sense of humor and tongue-in-cheek irony.

On view August 5 - September 12.

OPENING RECEPTION Friday August 5, 2011, 7:00-10:00p.m. with a free concert by Action! and Hanzelle beginning at 8:00p.m.

Part of what makes art great is its ability to ‘stir’ things up.  Art stirs our emotions, our intellect, and our imagination.

This exhibit of art quilts, paintings and photographic prints is stirring indeed.

Denise Burge’s large pieces from the series “Procession of the Great Destroyer” tell an apocalyptic tale using a comic book sensibility, stitched together into a quilt.   Inspired by the political battles surrounding the 2004 presidential election, Burge combined biblical, sales, and political speech to create a zealous narrative, spoken in first person.

Matt Dobson’s equally large pieces fill the walls with portraits and statements all constructed of uniquely shaped painted plywood.  One of these portraits speaks “you should keep going.”  Another says “hating is wasting your time.”  A green monster says “we aren’t out of the woods yet”.

Dominic Guarnaschelli’s “Canon” series shows us modified book covers from the debate over evolution, intelligent design, and how science is taught in public schools.  Guarnaschelli has removed all text from the covers, leaving only the ambigious 1960’s designs, worn edges, and creases.  His stated goal is to “collapse competing motives and ideologies into an elusive space verging on abstraction.”

Denise Burge is an associate professor of art at University of Cincinnati and is part of the artist group “Maidens of the Cosmic Body Running” which just had an exhibit at the Contemporary Art Center earlier in 2011.

Matt Dobson is a local artist and graphic designer.  Known for his colorful Actors Theater Posters, Matt now is a partner of MPerfect design.

Dominic Guarnaschelli is a new addition to the Louisville community of artists.  After receiving his BFA from Notre Dame and his MFA from Florida State University, he has taught at a number of colleges around the country.

12:00-6:00 p.m. in conjunction with Sojourn Community Church’s Fall Festival

Over 30 artists and crafters have been chosen to sell their creations at this annual event. They are:  Erin Althaus, Lauren Argo, Rebecca Crutcher, Robby Davis, David Dawkins, Female Art Collective, Christal Harkleroad, Danielle Hudson, Tessa Janes, Brittany Jennings, Kristen Koenig, Lee Kristen, Mary Le, Madpixel, Andy J. Miller, Adrian Minotti, Nasha Creations, Only Embry, Jenni Owens, Pedale Design, Posies and Plume, Pretty the Fool, Red Poppy Jewelry, Royal Buttons, Pamela Muss Runningwater, StudioWorks, Deborah Thomas, Sarah Truman, Alan Vales, Lindsy Wallace, Kristen Warning, and Mickie Winters.

Over 2000 visitors are expected to come out for the art show, free food, games, and live music.  Bring the whole family and come enjoy!

This art and craft show is a ONE day event on Saturday, September 17 in conjunction with a Fall Festival sponsored by Sojourn Church at the same location.