Anne Peabody's images of the Ohio River will be shown in "Sunspike," her exhibition which will run at the Moremen Gallery, 710 W. Main St., Louisville, from March 20th through May 8th.  It may be visited by appointment by calling 502-727-3909 or by emailing moremengallery710@gmail.com.

Anne Peabody's imagery on glass evokes 18th and 19th Century landscape drawings and prints and vintage photography: in contrast, reflectivity of the surface makes the viewer part of the work, giving the work immediacy and suggests that humankind and nature are inextricably linked. Early in her career, Peabody developed a drawing technique that utilizes manual and oxidative processes. A grid of sheets of silver leaf is applied to a glass plate: the image is then drawn from behind, using Peabody's fingertips and natural bristle brushes.  The natural oils in the drawing tools begin to tarnish the silver as soon as the drawing is exposed to pollution and humidity in the air.  The artist incorporates chance in her process, rolling dice to determine the number of days a work will remain uncovered before stopping the chemical alteration with a coat of paint.  Peabody thus makes depictions of nature that incorporate the action of pollution. 

Home is much more than mere shelter; it provides a sense of self and establishes community while also informing access and opportunity. From a history of poverty and assistance to shanty boats and alternative housing to public housing and segregation, this exhibit serves as a starting point to understanding the complex relationships and processes that have shaped how Louisvillians struggle to create home.

Presented by the University of Louisville Department of History, The Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, and the Louisville Free Public Library, with contributions from the Ball and Drag Scene Strength and Needs Assessment Project, University of Louisville Kent School of Social Work

Main Library | Bernheim Gallery

Gallery Reception: Saturday, October 26, 3-4:30pm • Free and open to the public

The Carnegie Center for Art and History, in partnership with the City of New Albany, is moving forward with plans to transform an outdated waterfront skate park into a skateable work of public art. Demolition of the former skate park is underway and construction on the New Albany Flow Park is slated to begin in August.

Complete with a steamboat and symbols of Ohio River bridges and land- and waterscapes, the design is the result of a collaborative process between the community, the Carnegie Center, and Hunger Skateparks , a nationally-recognized design and build firm based in Bloomington. The design is aesthetically pleasing, historically significant, and functionally interactive as a skate- and playpark.

The project provides a community gathering hub and safe space that integrates art and creativity with healthy living and the ongoing riverfront beautification efforts of the Ohio River Greenway Project. The New Albany portion of the Ohio River Greenway is now complete, connecting three Southern Indiana communities with a multi-use path through some of the area’s most scenic paths.  The New Albany Flow Park project and site enhances the recreational and artistic amenities of New Albany and the region, improving quality of life and economic development.

“Elements” will be an exhibition at the Kentucky Fine Arts Gallery celebrating the beauty of the Ohio River and the surrounding area. Featured artists are David Schuster, Robert Halliday, Jaime Corum, Greta Mattingly, Susan Hackworth and Mike McCarthy. More information here

Image by Greta Mattingly, “Down by the River” 30 x 24 Oil on Canvas

Paintings by Pam Folsom, Ellen Glasgow, Jan McKenzie Keen, Tatjana Krizmanic,  Cindy Overall,  Martin Rollins, David Shiner and Robert Stagg. Opening Reception, Saturday, July 27, 2-4pm. Gallery hours are M-F 10-5:30 and Sat 10-3.

More information here

Strategically situated on the Ohio River, New Albany, Indiana, was once one of the nation’s most prolific steamboat-building cities. While the industry quickly faded, the steamboat as symbol of New Albany’s identity has endured many generations. Through material culture—artworks, photographs, ephemera, and other objects—discover the history of the steamboat in New Albany from its heyday in the nineteenth century, to the twenty-first century nostalgia for a mighty bygone Steamboat Era.

From 1818, when the first steamboat was built in New Albany, through the 1870s, the steamboat was the core industry for this bustling river town. At least 290 boats were built in New Albany, but only one was built in the 20th century in 1904. New Albany artist George W. Morrison’s (1820-1893) paintings, both portraiture and landscapes, offer a glimpse into the social and economic role steamboats played during the height of the Steamboat Era. In his portrait of George Lee and Pamela Maynard Williams Hosea, the Kentucky couple’s farmhouse window looks out upon the Ohio River, New Albany’s fire house, and New Albany steamboat the Alex Scott. 

This exhibition features many never-before exhibited objects from the Carnegie Center’s collection, as well as the Floyd County Library Stuart B. Wrege Indiana Room. Among the highlighted subjects will be the great steamboat Baltic that was built in New Albany and captained by the Meekin family. New Albany artist Ferdinand Graham Walker (1859-1927) captured the famous 1858 race between the Baltic and the Diana in his painting A Steamboat Race on the Mississippi. Other memorabilia include furniture that was aboard the same ship.

While the show features many objects from the 19th century, man other items, such as a photograph of the Robert E. Lee steamboat replica tour bus from the 1966 Floyd County, Indiana Sesquicentennial parade, illustrate the endurance of the steamboat as both symbol of the community and economic driver.

From social status marker to kitschy marketing gimmick, images of the Ohio River steamboat are rooted in a shared sense of pride in place that is distinctly New Albany. 

Carnegie Center for Art and History - Sally Newkirk Gallery

Image credit: George W. Morrison, George Lee and Pamela Maynard Willaims Hosea, 1848. Oil on canvas. Floyd County Library Collection. 

Dudley Zopp - Landscapes, Vessels and Jars / June 7 thru July 6

Moremen Gallery / 710 W Main, second level, Louisville.

Dudley Zopp returns to Louisville to participate in “AFLOAT: an Ohio River Way of Life.”

Dudley Zopp, former Louisville artist and Zephyr Gallery member, will exhibit this summer at the Moreman Gallery as another exhibition in the series of historic and contemporary art exhibitions celebrating the Ohio River, that are grouped under the banner of AFLOAT: An Ohio River Way of Life.

Read more about this exhibition HERE

GALERIE HERTZ presents Ray Kleinhelter  "Views from the Ohio River" (literally painted on the river)  

opening on March 17th,  1PM to 4PM through April 27

1253 South Preston Street, Louisville, Ky.

galeriehertz@att.net

502-595-9154

Artist Ray Kleinhelter has long been inspired by the Ohio River, even refurbishing an old cruiser to be a floating studio.   Kleinhelter’s paintings and drawings balance between description of the river and its shoreline, and a concern for abstract order.  Kleinhelter’s gift for color and rhythmic composition make his work a vital addition to the long roll call of artists selecting the Ohio River Valley as their principal subject matter.  There will be an open house on March 2nd from 1pm-7pm.

The least-known, but arguably the best, of Harlan Hubbard’s artistic media are his watercolors. Fresh, improvisational, and spontaneous, Hubbard’s watercolors are visual equivalents to the lively, brief descriptions of the natural world found in his journals. Like Hubbard’s observations of the natural world, the watercolors are notable for their immediacy and for the artist’s enthrallment with the sights he encountered in his life along waterways. This will be the largest exhibition of Hubbard watercolors to date. The University Press of Kentucky is scheduled to publish a book on the watercolors in 2020. Opening reception on Sunday, February 24 , 2 - 4 pm.

An art installation by Wes Modes.  He will bring his shantyboat down the Ohio in the summer of 2019. Modes is creating an archive of personal histories of people who live along major American rivers.

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independent as far as possible from a system of division of labor in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. — Harlan Hubbbard

Shantyboating begins from and returns to Harlan Hubbard's ethos of human dignity through self-determined labor with the central symbol of a shantyboat - a small crude houseboat from times now past.  Garner paints allegories of conflict, injustice and resistance. Mules and boats counter hostile ideas about bootstrapping and homelessness. Invasive plants, fish and birds reference economic migration and refugees.

Garner writes, "There is no simple read on the paintings because the territory I cover isn’t simple. Layered, multidirectional narratives ask a lot from people. I promise the works are lucid even when surreal; that’s metaphor at work. I demand my paintings be meaningful. I’m surprised by the beauty that comes about from painting as truthfully as I can about un-beautiful things."

Shantyboating is just one part of "Afloat: An Ohio River Way of Life," a regional celebration of the Ohio River. "Afloat..." was inspired by the works of Kentucky's Thoreau, Harlan Hubbard (1900-1988), and takes place throughout 2019 in several museums, galleries and academic organizations.

The opening reception is concurrent with Currents: Contemporary Artists Along the Banks of the Ohio at Swanson Contemporary, with over a dozen regional contemporary artists reflecting on the Ohio River.

View the show online: 

http://angiereedgarner.com/shantyboating.html

An exhibition of recent art in several media, depicting or inspired by the Ohio River and the lives of Harlan and Anna Hubbard.  14 artists are represented. Media include painting, sculpture, installation, photography and video.

The exhibition compares the Ohio, the Ganges, and the Yangtze Rivers in term of use, characteristics, history and folklore.