The East Market District Association is celebrating its new name during the Trolley Hop. Entertainment and street activities will take place throughout the district, including a Bluegrass band that will perform in front of Bob Johnson's Emporium at 811 East Market.

• New street banners, designed by East Market Street resident Robin Williams Brohm and produced by Action Graphics, will be on display at Tom Gnadinger Photography, 707 East Market, during the April 3rd First Friday Trolley Hop. Contributing artists and galleries include: Mary Craik, John Strizak for Red Tree, Michael Brohm, David Schuster, Flame Run and St John United Church of Christ.
• The April Hop will also showcase new and established galleries, restaurants, antique shops and retail stores, many of whom will feature First Friday specials, in addition to area commercial businesses, professional firms and churches that will host open houses.
• Murphy’s Echo, a Bluegrass band, will perform in front of Bob Johnson’s Emporium at 811 East Market while other entertainment and street activities will take place throughout the East Market District
• Mary Craik will be giving free tickets to raffle one of her large wall hangings.
• For more details, click here

Frazier International History Museum, 829 W. Main St.

The Frazier International History Museum ushers in spring on April 3 with their “Blooming in the Bluegrass” Trolley Hop event.
Louisville-based Hickory & Friends brings their fun, upbeat, floor-stompin’ style to West Main Street for an evening of great music, cocktails and light snacks at one of the most unique venues in town!
Band leader Hickory Vaught, who plays mandolin, guitar and slide guitar, brings his buddies for a down-home jam session you won’t soon forget. Visit www.fraziermuseum.org for more on current exhibitions.

The Gallery at Actors Theatre, 316 W. Main St.
PHOTO ESSAY BASED ON THE WRITINGS OF WENDELL BERRY
by James Baker Hall     March 3 - April 26, 2009. James Baker Hall
Former Kentucky poet laureate, James Baker Hall has published many books of poetry and fiction. Hall has also been a working art photographer most of his adult life. Presently, a retrospective of his work is up at 21C Museum in Louisville. He has also published a number of photography collections, inlcuding one with Wendell Berry, Tobacco Harvest: An Elegy. Hall and Berry have been close friends since the 1950s and Hall's photographs of Wendell Berry span his entire life.
Guinever Smith
Smith's work has been in various solo shows and exhibitions throughout Kentucky. This series focuses on creating the sensation of walking through the woods. By limiting herself to black and white, Smith was able to focus more on the use of line, value, light and texture as means for description

• Make reservations at the Mayan Cafe this First Friday!
• You won't want to miss our refreshing house-made sangria or tasty salbutes of the day.
• Our chef, Bruce Ucan, features a different Catch of the Day every evening, and they're always complex and flavorful.
• Call ahead for a table because Trolley Hop nights get crazy! #566.0651
  

Cressman Center for Visual Arts Gallery, 100 E. Main St.

Ceramic Sculpture
MA Thesis Exhibition - Gayle Cerlan
April 3 - 11, 2009

Reception: Friday, April 3, 6 - 9 p.m.

Cressman Center Hite Art Institute, University of Louisville 100 E. Main Street Louisville, KY, 40202
PH: (502) 852-0288
All Cressman Center events are free and open to the public.
For more information on Hite Art Institute exhibitions and events, including our lecture series go to: www.art.louisville.edu

The Bodega at Felice, 829 E. Market St.
The Bodega will be open late for dinner.

We will be serving from our full menu.

Paul Paletti Gallery, 713 E. Market St.
We will be exhibiting a show called Some Things Old, Some Things New, Some Things Very Strange. The newest show at the Paul Paletti Gallery includes various works from Paul Paletti's personal collection. For the very first time, Paul is exhibiting this eclectic array of photography. The show includes works from well-known artists, such as Hugo Brehme who taught renowned Mexican photographer Manuel Alvarez Bravo European photographic techniques. The exhibit also showcases anonymous pieces. A few of the exhibited artists include; Ron Seymour, Le Mierroc, Richard Tepe, Paul Taylor, Meridel Rubenstein, Sister Mary Alice, S.C., Pedro Meyer, Eve Sonneman, Linda Butler, Todd Webb, John Mulvany, Paul Stone Raymor, Madison Lacy, Susan Fenton, Joseph Breitenbach, and Anne Noggle. All pieces, while interesting and diverse in content, display various ideas and visions. Some, that are very strange. The show will be exhibited from March through May 31st 2009. Gallery Hours are 9-5 weekdays, and by appointment. All pieces are for sale and range from $200 to $1,200.

Flame Run contemporary art glass studio will feature Eoin Breadon, a glass artist whose work is influenced by Irish folklore and craftsmanship, in an exhibit that opens April 3 and runs through May 30. An opening night reception begins at 6 p.m. Breadon has trained in glass studios in Ireland, Australia and the U.S. He sees his role reflecting that of Celtic storytellers who passed down unwritten culture and history in the form of long lyric poems.
“I am transmitting the cultural experience of Irish folklore to the greater populace,” says Breadon. “I continue the artistic evolution through traditional Irish craftsmanship and the aesthetic and mnemonic value of imagery and composition set forth by the bards and monks.” Breadon received his MFA in glass from Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 2004. His art has been internationally shown in galleries and museums and he has taught at numerous schools and art centers around the U.S. He is a member of the sculpture and glass faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

• Art show upstairs in the Event Center with Local Artists!
• Live music by Big Poppa Stampley!
• $9 bottles of Wine!
• Wine master will be present for barrel tastings and tours!
• Trolley Hop After Party at 9:00 pm featuring a live performance by local diva Robin Shaw!

The Gallery at The Kentucky Center welcomes Celebrating the Center by Robert Halliday.

Join us, with the artist, for a reception on Friday, April 3, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., with live music by Trio Louisville.
"My Celebration of the Center is intended as tributes: to this beautiful place; to the community leaders and artists of the early years; to great performances and the artists who share their talent with us today; and to the grateful audiences whose enthusiastic support is vital to its ongoing success." -Robert Halliday
This free exhibit runs April 3 - June 8. If you work downtown, we invite you to check-out this exhibit when making a coffee run or while on your lunch break. The Gallery is a member of LOOK, the Louisville-area consortium of fine art galleries and artspaces.

Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft,
715 W. Main St.
Kentucky Artist Series: Brook Forrest White, Jr.
April 4 - May 23, 2009
Opening Reception, Friday April 3, 5 – 9pm - in conjunction with First Friday Trolley Hop
Steve Wilson Gallery
The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft is proud to announce the first solo exhibition featuring the hottest work from Flame Run Glass Studio and Gallery co-founder Brook Forrest White, Jr. The exhibition will be on display Friday, April 3, 2009 and run through Saturday, May 23, 2009. There will be an opening reception and chance to meet the artist in person in conjunction with the First Friday Trolley Hop on Friday, April 3, 2009 from 5-9pm.
An Owensboro, Kentucky native, White studied with Stephen Rolfe Powell at Centre College. Here he learned some of the most technically challenging glass blowing techniques being employed by contemporary glass artists from Powell and other visiting artists. White opened his first glass blowing studio in Berea before moving to Louisville. He now operates Louisville’s largest contemporary glass art studio and gallery. The renovated 12,500 square foot building in Louisville’s East Market Street Arts District showcases contemporary and original glass creations.
For White, the art of glass-blowing is magic, pure and simple. His discovery of it was an epiphany and his choice to pursue it full-time was life-altering. “Hot glass is magical, and I was spellbound from the moment I first encountered it at Centre College,” White recalls. “The physical aspect of working the glass and the fire captured my imagination.”
His work has also been recognized and viewed at the national level, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Huntington (W.Va.) Museum of Art, the Asheville (N.C.) Art Museum and the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art.
White is a Kentucky Arts Council 1998 Al Smith Fellowship recipient and a juried participant of the Kentucky Craft Marketing Program. Brook’s art is represented in the following galleries: Liz Beth Gallery in Knoxville, T.N., Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, K.Y., New Editions Gallery, Lexington, K.Y. And Marta Hewett Gallery, Cincinnati, O.H.

Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft,
715 W. Main St.
Best of Louisville Clay
February 28 – Mid-May, 2009
The Best of Louisville Clay features a wide variety of ceramic styles and techniques, from vessels to sculpture, hand-built to wheel-thrown, traditional to avant-garde by Louisville’s most accomplished clay artists.
The clay artists of Louisville are one of the most innovative and active art groups in the city. This show features a juried selection of new work selected by art Administrator and exhibition curator Gwen Heffner from the Berea Craft Center.

Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft,
715 W. Main St.
Gig Posters: The Art of Contemporary Music Promotion
March 6 – May 16, 2009
Mary and Al Shands Gallery
The best concert posters have always captured both the essence of the music they promoted and the spirit of the time in which they were produced. This is as true today as it was in San Francisco during the Sixties. This exhibition provides the general public with an opportunity to see fine poster art and to meet some of the artists who created it. Because of the universal appeal of music and poster art, the exhibition will include not only the best of American artists but also include a selection of artists from around the world.

Zephyr Gallery, 610 E. Market

Animal Images by Jenni Deamer.
Artists’ Reception April 3rd, 2009 from 6-9 PM.
Jenni Deamer's drawings of animals in charcoal and pastel on the backs of recyled ceramic floor tiles challenge the use of new materials in making art, and our relationship with animals. Because wood, paper, and cloth use valuable resources,artists must explore new materials for art making. The use of old floor tiles as drawing surfaces shows us another way to salvage waste.

As the planet warms, whole species disappear while others are created in the laboratory. The drawn animal images implore us to explore our relationship with animals. The animals we started out worshipping in cave art were admired for their mystery and power and how different yet similar they are to us. We hunted them and appreciated the food provided, but that has changed dramatically. Now we mass-produce them for food, purchasing our meat in tidy plastic packages at the grocery. The places where the animals are kept and butchered are not seen. Cloning may soon be the preferred method of meat production. Dogs, once important as companions and helpmates, have been transformed into “purse dogs”, backyard tokens of affluence, and convenient companions. My art was inspired by my relationship with dogs and my belief that our of animal connection gives us insight into our changing relationship with our environment and society. We are in danger of losing our natural connection to animals, and this before we even know who they are or why we are all here together.
Exhibit Dates: April 3rd through May 16th, 2009
Gallery Hours: Wed.-Sat. 11-6 PM.
Phone 502-585-5646
Web: www.zephyrgallery.org

Zephyr Gallery, 610 E. Market
Artists’ Reception April 3rd, 2009 from 6-9 PM

Joel Pinkerton continues his mastery of transforming domestic and mundane found objects into poetic works of art. In his upcoming exhibit, at Zephyr Gallery April 3rd through May 16th, Pinkerton has created work using deconstructed license plates, metal product containers, and painted steel signage as his primary materials.You won’t want to miss the fashionable spring (Derby) dress, complete with hat and stylish shoes Pinkerton created from Kentucky license plates. Several other garments fashioned from metal are a must see as well.Pinkerton also includes works that serve as ideas on the current financial crisis by using numbers and letters harvested from license plates. The works are grid-like and organized, but on closer inspection seem at least as complicated as the solutions we are seeking.
Exhibit Dates: April 3rd through May 16th, 2009
Gallery Hours: Wed.-Sat. 11-6 PM.

Swanson Reed Contemporary, 638 east market Louisville ky 40202

April 3, 2009 – May 9th
KY Jelly
This group show entitled, KY Jelly, is a stratum of artists in the region. There are 15 artists and the strata is an amalgamation of intersecting sphere or layers of poetic individuals. Many of the artists in the show come from various backgrounds and levels of interest in the communities of Louisville, and Lexington, and Southern Indiana. In past postmodern theory a quote by Kathy Acker, “the personal is political”, for this show is acknowledged as a past mantra of feminist and AIDS issues as they arose in the 80’s. For this show the reverse is explored by the humor of the title KY Jelly and a loosely based direction of ‘passionate issues’ to be explored. Within this concept the reverse of Kathy Acker’s quote is viewed, as “the political is personal”. With all this in mind the marginalized regional artist is looked at anew and context may be refreshed. Come and you, the audience, is the judge of this. Art cannot exist with out the reader response, or can you really hear the tree fall in the forest?
List of Artists: Anessa Arehart, Thomas deLisle, Chappell, Dima, Todd Dockery, Joel Feldman, Jake Heustis, Gwendolyn Kelly, Thaniel Ion Lee, Cynthia Norton, Oscar Parsons, Che Rhodes, Keith Spears, Marcy Werner, Mary Yates.

Below: Microscopic Self Portrait - Detail archival digital print

The 21c Museum will be featuring Constant World: The Work of Jennifer
& Kevin McCoy in the street level gallery for April's Trolley Hop.
Free docent tours will also be offered on the half-hour at 6:30pm, 7:30pm, and 8:30pm. To learn more about the exhibition, visit http://www.21cmuseum.org/museum/exhibits/mccoy-constant.aspx