Month of Makers

Derrick Snodgrass

2011-11-30T11:24:00.000-08:00

Derrick Snodgrass was born in Kentucky. He is a self taught artist and tattoo-artist. His work has been exhibited in
San Francisco, London and Mexico City. He enjoys drawing and painting surreal kaleidoscopic landscapes, as if
seen from the passenger window on a trip to a fantasy world of somnambulation. Previously situated in the Bay
Area of California, he currently resides in Louisville, KY.

Evan Patterson

2011-11-29T10:08:00.000-08:00

Evan Patterson.
Kentucky born and raised.
30 years of age.
17 years of playing rock music.
12 years of screen printing.
His desert dog, Betsy, loves to drink Maker's Mark.

Lisa Austin

2011-11-28T08:43:00.000-08:00

Lisa Austin has been a mixed media artist since 2003 after leaving a studio career as a potter. It was a difficult change because she had won many national and regional awards with clay but her health precluded her from continuing in that medium. She turned to mixed media assemblage as her new art form with the help of scholarship and grants. She has exhibited in international assemblage shows in Europe and America as well as participating in the International Wearable Arts Show in Los Angeles, California. She has also received numerous awards for her assemblage and has been featured in magazines and books about mixed media. She has work in private collections and has been featured in eighteen single and group shows both locally and nationally.

“I love the idea of encapsulating a moment in time with objects, words, and images: whether it is an emotion, a social commentary, a piece of history, a person, or a place. To capture that moment and to keep returning to it because it evokes a feeling is my purpose in making mixed media. I want the viewer to think about the piece, have feelings about the piece, and to make art part of the collective experience. It is leaving a piece of time and our world behind in its physical form as well as in memory.”

Glenna Pfeiffer

2011-11-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

Glenna Pfeiffer is a native of Elizabethtown Kentucky, and a graduate of the University of Louisville where I earned a Bachelor's degree in design. Middle school art classes sparked her interest in painting and creativity. She has taken classes from some of the leading teachers of landscape and portrait painting. Glenda loves color and the spirituality found in nature and seen on her travels and her art reflects these interests as she tries to share the beauty of life with others. Her paintings hang in corporate collections and private homes in the U.S. and Europe.

Maker's Creek

"I was taken by the beauty and solitude of the place. The limestone waters form the foundation of Maker's Mark."

Red Hot Rooster

"This was a fun painting to do using the palette knife and using wax as a part of the painting. Just as the rooster has its red comb, Maker's Mark has its red wax."

Mama Says Make Your Mark!

"The tour of the distillery made me realize how much Margie Samuels contributed to the brand and what it represents today. I thought of how the WWII poster "Rosie the Riveter" gave women courage and that a similar courage helped her make her mark on the company. This painting is for all women to have courage enough to make their mark on the world."

Tammy Burke

2011-11-23T10:27:00.000-08:00

In the age of immaterial communication, Tammy Burke believes in the power and place of the static object. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Herron School of Art in Painting and a Master of Arts in Media Communications from Webster University. She works in varied two and three-dimensional media, including painting, textiles, sculpture, and photography and has exhibited regionally. She works and lives in the Louisville area.

"The Maker's Mark distillery experience begins long before reaching the property with the winding, somewhat dangerous, pastoral roads and I wanted to reflect that in "They wait." This perspective is a created one, informed by my own photographs, Google satellite images, and photographs and videos found on the web. This image references all of the elements important in the creation of Maker's Mark bourbon whisky and was inspired by multiple distillery visits."

Nathan Morgan

2011-11-22T12:49:00.000-08:00

Nathan Morgan launched his career in woodworking in Birmingham, England. A third generation woodworker, his experiences in the Cotswold craft traditions of masonry and woodworking strongly influenced his pursuit of fine art carpentry.

He relocated to Louisville, Kentucky in 2000, and has since built a reputation in modern custom design furniture, retail space, cabinetry, and historic renovation. Recent installations include the Wiltshire Pantry on Market, the Home-O-Rama at Locust Creek, the Waterfront Park Place Penthouse, Basa Restaurant, the green building Java, and the Louisville Visual Art Association.

Nathan is committed to utilizing sustainable, green building methods, featuring use of reclaimed and alternative materials locally sourced. His influences blend historic European craftsmanship and the Bauhaus movement in modern furniture design; while his work aims to showcases the seamless, organic beauty of objects forged with the form and function of both the organic material and design space in mind. He recently launched Salvo, a hand to home collective featuring handmade, functional art, which opened in July 2011.

David Metcalf

2011-11-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

David Metcalf earned his BFA from the University of Louisville in 2001. His primary mediums are painting, sculpture, and photography. In 2002, he began designing and making furniture with Pattern Shop Design, a four man collective in Beloit, WI. His work at Pattern Shop centered on reclaiming wood and metal industrial patterns from an abandoned paper mill. He returned to Louisville in 2004, and joined Birdsquare Carpentry, where he focused on custom cabinetry and furniture from reclaimed materials.

Presently, he is maintaining a practice in studio art, custom furniture in Louisville, KY. His work has been exhibited in galleries in Chicago, Louisville, and throughout Wisconsin. In July 2011, David’s work is featured at Salvo, a hand to home collective featuring handmade, functional art.

“The inspiration for this piece primarily came from the maker's mark label paper. I responded to the warm tone and texture immediately. I decided to create a lamp that showcased the barrel staves and the label paper as the inherent Maker's Mark icons that they are. The minimal armature attempts to subtly suggest sculptural form without distraction. Choosing the red cloth wire just seemed obvious. “

Jacqui Van Ham

2011-11-18T10:17:00.000-08:00

"The chandelier was inspired by my trip out to Loretto to see the Makers Mark distillery. There was a collection of bottles on a table by the door, and the light hitting them stood out to me, and I wanted to recreate that effect with found objects from Makers Mark. The rusted steel barrel rings, charred oak staves, bottles and signature wax all were sourced from the distillery. While it is tempting to cover the whole thing in that signature red wax, I was trying to emphasize that the bottle itself is also a signature, and that no labels or wax is necessary to identify the Makers Mark brand. I was also attempting a more vintage/period feel."

Jenny Zeller

2011-11-17T10:56:00.000-08:00

Jenny Zeller was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Shortly upon graduating with a BA in Arts Administration from the University of Kentucky, she moved to Key West where she grew both as an artist and as an individual. In addition to founding Off The Beaten Path Productions, which produced artistic events showcasing local artists in alternative spaces, she served as director of Archeo Gallery and the Haitian Art Company. In 2001, she was granted the Monroe County recipient of the prestigious South Florida Cultural Consortium Award for her documented images of Haiti, developed in the style of 19th century photographs. In 2006 was granted an artist residency at the Nantucket Island School of Art & Design by the Rodel Foundation. She has also been awarded Anne McKee Grants in 2000, 2005 and 2009. After 16 years of island living, she has returned to her hometown of Louisville in search of a life more affordable and less “career focused”, with time to fully pursue her creative interests. Rejuvenation is the word to best describe her reintroduction into an environment that is both familiar but fresh.

"The distillery tour at Makers Mark begins in the visitor’s center, a pre–Civil War distiller’s home that houses pieces from the Samuels’ collection of early-1800s furniture and other historical and craft items. I personally found kitchen of the visitor’s center to be the most visually stimulating room on the distillery grounds and knew almost immediately that I would begin my process with that mid century modern space. Early in the tour, one learns that Marge Samuels was responsible for the creative end of Makers Mark; by fashioning the logo still in use today as well as insisting the bottles should be dipped in red wax. Because I am currently combining encaustic wax with my photographic images, it was the obvious choice to enhance my piece with the red wax that is so synonymous with Makers Mark."

Wayne Stacy

2011-11-16T09:24:00.000-08:00

Mr. Stacy is a former U.S. Military man, Licensed Master Electrician, and electrical contractor. He calls himself the "consummate vagabond", as the third generation child of a family dedicated to military service, he has traveled the world as a military dependent and in his own service to his country. In total he is one of Eight generations of his family to serve his country, all the way back to the Civil War, including his mother. While born in California, he was raised primarily between Kentucky, Texas, and abroad in Europe and Asia. He calls Frankfort, Kentucky his home, where he lives with his wife (also a military veteran), their five dogs, and two cats. He has two sons, a grandson, and two granddaughters. Both of his sons are following in the family heritage of military service, and are on active duty in the U.S. Military.

Mr. Stacy has always been an artisan. He has been a sketch artist, and painter since before he could walk. In 2002 Mr. Stacy was injured during and accident on a job; while enduring four surgeries on his hand, he could not draw or paint for nearly three years. Mr. Stacy was given his first serious camera on his birthday during that time by his wife, as a “therapeutic tool”. One of his first images was entered into the 2007 Kentucky State Parks, Summer photo essay contest and won, that next year the image was included in a coffee table book. He was invited to be a participating artist in the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games Art Festival, a 2010 US National Park Service Photo Study that included nine national parks across the United States, he was an applicant artist for the 2011 Al Smith Fellowship and Emerging Artist Award presented by the Kentucky Arts Council. A "Monster was unleashed" in Mr. Stacy, as his wife puts it, and he has never looked back. Little did she know she would be the catalyst for such an insatiable passion.

"The photograph is taken from the center of “Whiskey Creek” which runs through the Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loretto, KY. The frame is made from actual Oak Staves used in making Maker’s Mark Bourbon. The Mat is designed from the actual linen paper used to create the labels for Maker’s Mark Bourbon. I wanted to make the work as completely representative of Maker’s Mark as possible and use as many of the actual elements from Maker’s Mark that go into the bourbon as I could."

McKinley Moore

2011-11-15T12:05:00.000-08:00

McKinley Moore left the hills of Eastern Kentucky for the metropolis of Danville, KY in 1999. It was there, during his time at Centre College, that Moore discovered glass. After spending several years under the tutelage of internationally renowned glass artist, Stephen Powell and receiving a BA in 2003, Moore has been employed as a resident artist and instructor in various studios throughout New Orleans, Chicago, and Kentucky. His fine art is known to incorporate found objects and non-traditional media; and is usually focused on non-traditional glass themes of environmentalism, politics, and religion. Nevertheless, his functional work demonstrates a keen understanding of the mechanics of glassblowing, and a balanced eye, offering a distinctive handmade quality to everyday objects. McKinley Moore is currently a resident artist and instructor at Louisville's Glassworks. His work has been exhibited in numerous regional museums and galleries, including the The Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center, The Lexington Art League, Louisville Visual Art Association and the Green Building Gallery. In addition to glass art, McKinley Moore is known for pursuing multiple creative endeavors, playing in Louisville band Natives, managing multiple bands and promoting concerts. (And being a Makers Mark ambassador.)

"I assumed the work in this show would be about all of the different ways that Maker's Mark is great. I wanted to do something different, so this piece is about the heart wrenching pain that it can bring to your life. It is about the sadness that comes with every bottle...

... at the end when it is empty."

Liz Zeller

2011-11-14T12:46:00.000-08:00

Liz has been creating art since she was a small child, & has spent over 17 years developing as an artist. She studied both sculpture & painting at Bellarmine University, which has led to her constructing two-dimensional work with sculptural overturns. Her art is created and inspired from objects people would normally disregard or throw away, making the ordinary extraordinary.

“I wanted to create a mixed media piece that not only incorporates the atmosphere in which Maker’s Mark is typically consumed, but also literally uses the materials of Maker’s Mark to create the art. Items that I incorporated into my piece include labels, wax & barrel staves.”

Jae Grady

2011-11-11T07:55:00.000-08:00

35 year-old artist and musician Jae Grady was born in Chicago and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. His style is a hybrid of urban, street art influence and Kentucky folk art. An admitted fan of absurdity, Grady enjoys exploring human relationships through stylized images of nature and cartoon-like animals. Grady currently resides in the Germantown neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky.

“My piece is called 'On Star Hill' and was conceived from my curiosity about the origin of the star in the famous Maker's Mark seal. After researching I found that the star stood for Star Hill, where Maker's Mark Distillery sits. I then thought of how beautiful that area of Kentucky is during the fall, and wanted to capture the colors and the motion of the wonderful foliage we have. The oil pen drawing is done on layered glass and plexi-glass to add depth and presence, while the incorporation of the bourbon barrel stopper features the star icon (and a slight hint of bourbon barrel scent). My hope is that the viewer gets a feel for the colors and smells of an autumn visit to the Maker's Mark Distillery.”

Joen Pallesen

2011-11-10T09:59:00.000-08:00

Joen Pallesen (b. 1979) grew up in the suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1999 he finished his education of screen-printing at København Tekniske Skole. He has practiced and created graffiti art since 1994 and in 1997 created an assemblage of other graffiti artist under the name Open Your Mind, or better known as OYM. He has been a contributing member of the artist collective, Copenhagen Cruise since it’s beginning in 2002. He has exhibited his work at Øksnehallen in 2003, Støberiet from 2005-2007 for their monthly event, Rytmisk Legestue with fellow artist Mikel Kvisgaard. Over the course of the past decade he has been commissioned to paint several murals and facilitate art events for the city of Copenhagen. In May of 2011 he has recently moved to Louisville with his family and has had the opportunity to create artwork for events held by the Louisville Visual Art Association, Salvo Collective and Center for Neighborhoods.

Amy Lemaire

2011-11-09T11:15:00.000-08:00

Amy Lemaire is an artist and educator based in Louisville, KY. She received a BFA in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2000, and an MFA from Pratt Institute in 2011, also with a focus on painting. In addition to her paintings and performative artworks, Amy has been working with glass since 1997, and specializes in flameworking, with an emphasis on soft glass sculpture, beadmaking, and botanical replication. She exhibits her work nationally. Additional information can be found at www.amylemaire.com.

Lemaire’s recent series of works contemplate wearable sculptures as political art. Historically, necklaces, headdresses, bracelets and other jewelry pieces have been worn to communicate status and rank, and to make a visual statement to others particularly regarding political and social affiliations. Displayed on the body, touching the flesh, a piece of jewelry is also intensely personal, reflecting the wearers individual style . It is through this duality of public/personal that a connection is made to political art.

BH Choker, by Amy Lemaire, was constructed from oak plugs which are used to seal bourbon barrels during the aging process. Once the bourbon is extracted from the barrel, the plugs are discarded. By salvaging, carving and refining these oak pieces, and combining the reworked pieces with flameworked glass, the plugs are transformed into a wearable, sculpted necklace which carry the history of the materials through the gravity of the wood and glass.

Brandon Bass

2011-11-08T06:26:00.000-08:00

Brandon Bass is a mixed media artist and graphic designer currently living in Louisville, KY. Like a crate of old vinyl contains samples for a music producer to rearrange into an original creation, a stack of magazines and paper ephemera from yesteryear serve as the palette for BBASS' mixed media work. Combining this collage style with elements of typography gives each composition a message that attempts to unite the visual subject matter and communicate an idea that goes beyond the original intent of the 1950's advertisements, newsprint, and illustrations employed in the designs.

"In sorting through vintage Maker's Mark ads, I found a 1966 promotion that touted it as "The softest spoken of the bourbons". The phrase stood out as an unusual way to describe liquor, and when combined with the image of a wax-tipped pistol, seemed even more juxtaposed. The gun, taken from an old Maker's Mark magazine ad, belonged to distiller Bill Samuels, whose photo can also be found in the piece. Using bottle labels and other imagery from the distillery, the composition feels both cohesive and jarring- much like the experience of drinking a nice Maker's on the rocks."

Andy Cook

2011-11-07T10:39:00.000-08:00

Andy Cook is an artist, musician, poet, welder and photographer born and raised in Louisville. With a natural affinity and talent for the arts, he has developed his skills through his own efforts without formal instruction. His training has been gained through the process of creating art for the past 30 years including the discovery that he could draw ambidextrously. In the earlier part of his life, he studied photo-realism and then moved on to abstract expressionism and then some impressionism. By trade Andy is a welder, metal speaks for him when the drawing and painting mediums don’t know what to say.

“Waiting is from a photo I took while taking a tour of the Maker’s Mark distillery. I made my canvas out of the wood slats that are inside the Maker’s “46” barrels. I painted my picture in acrylic paint and framed the piece with the same wood slats, clear coated the whole piece in a water-based clear coat and to top it off I melted the Maker’s red wax down the sides and a little bit down the front. This was a really interesting piece to make since we had to use out of the ordinary materials. Hope you enjoy it like I do!"

Chris Chappell

2011-11-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Chris Chappell is a 33 year old self taught artist, life long Louisvillian and a dabbler of several mediums. His passion is making instructional paint videos and public murals, and whenever possible, live painting. His subject matter could be anything on any given day, but mostly he likes to explore the idea of life consisting of 2 parts, 1 half joy and 1 half tragedy. His work, including videos can be seen at clchappell.com.

"Since my day job is working around glass, I wanted to do this piece in glass and make it kind of sculptural but for the wall. I am a painter so I always work 2 dimensional and wanted to challenge myself to something different. Basically I wanted to see how nice I could make something new & different with the tools and equipment that I have access to."

Clare Hirn

2011-11-03T07:23:00.000-07:00

Clare Hirn, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, received her masters in painting and drawing from the New York Academy of Art - Graduate School of Figurative Art. After graduating she worked for a mural design firm in NYC, learning the techniques of working large scale. Here in Louisville, Clare has had local one-person gallery shows, participated and received awards in many regional shows, and presently works out of her studio/gallery space in downtown Louisville. Her paintings and murals are in many private and public collections. Commissioned murals in public lobby spaces include “Integral Spaces” in the UofL Health Care Outpatient Center and Ohio River-themed murals in Waterfront Park Place. Clare’s mural projects with youth have complemented existing community programs in the Louisville area and she co-developed the Art for Health program using art and experiential activities to explore the theme of healthy food and sustainable agriculture.

"In search of pure, iron-free water, farmers in the frontier state of Kentucky began distilling what came to be known as bourbon, with its limestone rich water as the centering ingredient. Made of natural elements and cycles of the seasons, we have since elevated the surprising preciseness of bourbon to a slightly mystical status. Charred white oak barrel slats, pictures of oak trees through the appropriate number of seasons, rain and sun, and a diorama of the eight generations of the Samuels family (with Bill Samuels, Sr., the creator of Maker’s Mark, burning the old family recipe) are thus enshrined."

Andrew Cozzens

2011-11-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

Andrew Cozzens (b. 1983) is a Louisville native who received his MFA from Washington University in St. Louis in 2010 after earning his BFA from Murray State University in 2008. He has exhibited his work nationally and internationally at Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, MO, the Arenes du Lutece, Paris, France, SLOSS Furnaces Historical Gallery, Birmingham, AL, and the Siena Art Institute, Siena, Italy. In 2010 he was the recipient of the Milliken Travel Grant and the Cite’ Internationale Des Arts Residency in Paris, France. He currently lives and works in Louisville, KY.

"Walking into the Maker’s Mark Distillery, I was bombarded by the comprehensive sensuality of the space. The sights, smells, and sounds of the distillery meshed together like few places do. The collaborative aroma of bourbon and oak distinguish themselves from the rest. My intention for Ol’ Factory was to use the bourbon-soaked oak barrel staves to reproduce the smell of the distilling process. As the viewer moves in to view the organic display of the Maker’s Mark signature red wax, one cannot help but notice the bold oak fragrance complimented by the sweet trace of bourbon."

David Schuster

2011-11-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

David Schuster was born and raised in Louisville, Ky.,where he received a solid foundation in visual art at Trinity High School. He continued his studies and began his professional career as an artist at the University of Virginia. He has since become an accomplished painter, working in several genres including: portraiture, figurative, landscape,animal and mixed media. David has murals and paintings in both private and corporate collections across the country.

The techniques and skills that he has acquired, in conjunction with a keen interest in teaching led David to a second career as an art instructor. He began offering private classes in drawing and painting in June of 2003. David’s background in Cognitive Science allows him to take a unique approach to teaching painting and drawing. "I focus on teaching my students about perception, and how the brain processes visual information. I strive to change the way in which they observe the world around them. Art Instruction provides a forum for me to teach novices the joy of the creative act and to help other artists improve their own artwork. I find that in the process of teaching, my own skills are honed and my love for painting and drawing is renewed." David owns and operates David Schuster Fine Art,where he teaches, creates, and shows his artwork.

We will be launching the program tomorrow, November 1st!

2011-10-31T13:20:00.000-07:00

Be sure to come back and check out all the amazing Maker's inspired art!