McKinley Moore

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

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

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

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!"