Joen Pallesen

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

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

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

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

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

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

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."