Actors Theatre Gallery Opens MAPS OF THE IMAGINATION Today

Actors Theatre Gallery and Kentucky Women Photographers Network announce Maps of the Imagination-a collection of work that takes you on a visual journey with twelve of Kentucky's finest women photographers, tonight, September 2, through October 25, 2015.

The exhibit will feature the work of Dobree Adams, Ruth Adams, Kit Cottrell, Suzanne Feliciano, Rene Hales, Nori Hall, Marcia Lamont Hopkins, Libby Jones, Susan King, Lee Ann Paynter, Sharon Ruble, and Deidre Skaggs.

An artist reception will be held on October 9 from 5:30-8 p.m. at Actors Theatre Gallery, Actors Theatre of Louisville, 316 W Main Street, Louisville, Ky. 40202. For more information, visit ActorsTheatre.org or call 502.584.1265 ext. 3145. Admission to the gallery is free.

A photograph is a document, a document of time, of light, of possibility... It is a representation of creation and imagination. It is a glimpse into the creative mind and point of view of another -- into how that artist sees the world. Maps of the Imagination is a collection of work that takes you on a visual journey with twelve of Kentucky's finest women photographers. Come along won't you?

Maps of the Imagination is part of the 2015 Louisville Photo Biennial being held September 25, 2015 to November 7, 2015 throughout Louisville Metro, Southern Indiana, and surrounding communities, including Frankfort, Bardstown, and Lexington. For more information visit, louisvillephotobiennial.com.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Dobree Adams

Photographer and fiber artist Dobree Adams lives on a Kentucky River farm north of Frankfort. She is one of the three founders of the Kentucky Women Photographers Network.

Ruth Adams

Ruth Adams, a nationally recognized artist, is the Associate Director of the School of Art and Visual Studies and an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Kentucky. Ruth's photography deals with issues of intimacy, voyeurism, mindfulness, death and rebirth. She loves combining new imaging technologies with the traditional sensibilities of a photographer and is one of the pioneers in the field of Scanner Art. She has exhibited internationally, won numerous awards and grants, and her photographs hang in numerous private and public collections. Ruth holds an MFA in Photography and Digital Art from the University Of Miami, a BFA in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology, and a BS in Computer Science from Syracuse University. An experienced photographer, digital artist, and educator, Ruth has developed a reputation as a dynamic instructor and an innovative artist, and enjoys introducing students and patrons of the arts to both the digital and analog techniques available to today's photographer.

You can see Ruth's work at www.RuthAdamsPhotography.com and you can contact her at ruth.adams@uky.edu.

Kit Cottrell

Kit Cottrell was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1958. Cottrell has exhibited in the US, including shows at Paul Paletti Gallery in Louisville, KY and Berea Arts Gallery in Berea, KY. Imagination is the beginning of communication and key to the creative process of photography. Cottrell lives and works in Lexington, KY. Her work is visible at www.kywopho.com.

Suzanne Feliciano

Suzanne Feliciano is an award winning photojournalist having worked for newspapers in Kentucky, Ohio and Mississippi. She brings a sense of "moments" to her work professionally and personally shooting news, sports, portraits and feature photographs. Suzanne is currently a freelance photographer and lives in Frankfort, KY.

Rene Hales

Rene Hales is a photographer living in Lexington, KY.

Nori Hall

I began as an architect and went on to work in real estate. But after marrying and having children, I discovered photography. From the first, I felt that something auspicious was happening in the darkroom. For over 20 years, I have been interested in creating photographs that have a dreamy, sometimes dark mood. My images do not portray what I see through the lens of my camera. While I have found in photography a great outlet, a refuge from the demands of daily life, and a magical arena where I can play, the basic purpose of what I do as a photographer is to offer myself and viewers of my work pure aesthetic pleasure. By emphasizing order and solidity that I find in the landscape, I arrive at a kind of abstraction of color and shape. I am interested in creating sensitive arrangements of form, color, and texture that are beautiful. In that respect, my work is decidedly romantic.

Marcia Lamont Hopkins

Marcia Lamont Hopkins holds a BFA in Film and Fine Art and a Ph.D. in psychology. In making art she explores the visual mystery, opening the door to the unknown, to multiple realities, both real and artificial so that one questions what is really happening; a process related to exploring the psyche and deeper layers of consciousness.

Libby Jones

Libby Falk Jones is a landscape photographer whose work has been exhibited in galleries in Louisville, Morehead, Cadiz, Lexington, and Berea, Kentucky and published in Berea Magazine. Her photographs are part of the permanent collections at St. Joseph Berea and St. Joseph East Hospitals. She has studied contemplative photography with George DeWolfe and Lydia Goertze and has made presentations locally and nationally on photography as a means of seeing mindfully. A member of Kentucky Women Photographers Network, she has co-taught photography and writing classes at Berea College where she is Chester D. Tripp Chair in Humanities and Professor of English. She and her husband, Roger, have lived in Berea, KY, since 1988.

Susan King

Susan King is an artist and writer who grew up in Lexington and strayed to California for 30 years. Her dad and aunt were both amateur photographers. Known for her work in the field of artist's books, she is interested in the role photography plays in her family history and her sense of memory. Her work is in numerous collections including the Getty Research Library, the Museum of Modern Art, UCLA Special Collections, and the Lucille Little Art Library at the University of Kentucky.

Lee Ann Paynter

Lee Ann Paynter is an artist, an activist and an educator. She is a Kentucky native and a Lecturer in UK's School of Art and Visual Studies. She received her MFA in Photography and Media from California Institute of the Arts in 2011, and a BFA from the University of Kentucky. Her oeuvre consists of traditional methods of photography, digital media, video installation, social engagement and interventions. Paynter's work takes on social and political issues examining the ideas and agency around intolerance and acceptance, particularly focused on inequality, liminal space and relation to the other. Committed to social justice issues, she has both an active socially engaged practice and an active exhibition schedule. Lee Ann's work has been exhibited regionally and nationally. You can see her work at aperturienne.com.

Sharon Ruble

"Essentially the camera makes everyone a tourist in other people's reality, and eventually in one's own." - Susan Sontag

Raised on a farm in Henry County, my first photography job was hand-coloring portraits in a small town photography studio. After college I spent many hours in a Lexington color lab darkroom hand dipping rolls of film. That led me into a 28-year career supervising the digital photo-imaging department at the Lexington Herald-Leader, and offered the opportunity to work closely with many excellent photojournalists. So after a long romance with post photo production, I am exploring the camera to find the muse of my own creativity. I am passionate about film and digital photography, music, visual arts, newspapers, and the people, farms and mountains of Kentucky.

Deidre Skaggs

Deirdre A. Scaggs is the Associate Dean for the Special Collections Research Center at the University of Kentucky Libraries. Previously Deirdre served as Director of Archives and as the University Archivist. Within the field of archives her specialty is in photographic resources, education, and history; Deirdre is also a photographer and part-time photography instructor. She holds a MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA from The Ohio State University. Deirdre A. Scaggs is the author of The Historic Kentucky Kitchen: Traditional Recipes for Today's Cook and Women in Lexington, a pictorial history of everyday and notable women. Her photographs have been published in 25 Under 25: Up and Coming American Photographers and in Row by Row: Kentucky Garden Stories (forthcoming Ohio University Press, Fall, 2015). She currently lives in Lexington, Kentucky with her son Dean.

DETAILS:

Maps of the Imagination

September 1- October 25, 2015

Artist Reception: October 9, 2015, 5:30 - 8 p.m.

Hours of Operation: Tuesday - Friday: 5 p.m.- 10 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday 1 p.m. - 10 p.m. Closed on Mondays and non-performance days, however exhibits are available for viewing by appointment at 502.584.1265 ext. 3145

The Actors Theatre Gallery is located at 316 West Main Street, Louisville, KY 40202.

For more information, visit www.actorstheatre.org, www.kywopho.com or louisvillephotobiennial.com.

About Kentucky Women Photographers Network - In the summer of 2005, three Kentucky women photographers came together to explore and share their artistic experiences, to exchange ideas and information, and critique each other's work. Because of the energy that came out of that first meeting of a tiny art group, each of the three made significant progress and decisions in their individual creative work the very next week. This led to conceptualizing the next steps required to build a community of Kentucky women photographers. Women thrive on community, networking, and sharing. These three women wanted to make a difference with their personal artwork, but beyond that, they wanted to foster a cohesive community of Kentucky women photographers that would support exhibition opportunities, promote diverse work, and provide a forum for an exchange of ideas and information. These three women hosted a gathering in Berea during March of 2006. Despite swirling snow flurries, a large group of women from across the state braved the storm to discuss their art. Very quickly, this led to an online Yahoo group for the exchange of information, a shared online critique space, and to monthly gatherings to share work. This network, open to all Kentucky women photographers, is thriving at a time of major changed within photography, especially in the areas of digital imaging and printing. All photographic techniques including film, digital, and scanned images are embraced by the group.

About Actors Theatre Gallery (Curated by Roanne Victor) - The Gallery's mission is to serve the local arts community by featuring a diverse group of visual artists in tandem with Actors Theatre productions. Actors Theatre presents more than 500 performances each year: the Gallery is a great way to utilize the foot traffic of more than 200,000 patrons that visit Actors each year by offering another experience in a conjoining space for art-lovers and theatre-goers alike. The convenience of the space allows those who may not actively seek a gallery experience to be exposed to new original work by nationally renowned visual artists

About Actors Theatre of Louisville - Approaching its 52nd Season, Actors Theatre of Louisville, the State Theatre of Kentucky, is the flagship arts organization in the Louisville community. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein, Actors Theatre serves to unlock human potential, build community, and enrich quality of life by engaging people in theatre that reflects the wonder and complexity of our time.

Actors Theatre presents almost 400 performances annually and delivers a broad range of programming, including classics and contemporary work through the Brown-Forman Series, holiday plays, a series of free theatrical events produced by the Apprentice/Intern Company, and the Humana Festival of New American Plays-the premier new play festival in the nation, which has introduced nearly 450 plays into the American theatre repertoire over the past 39 years. In addition, Actors Theatre provides more than 17,000 arts experiences each year to students across the region through its Education Department, and boasts one of the nation's most prestigious continuing pre-professional resident training companies, now approaching its 44th year.

Over the past half-century, Actors Theatre has also emerged as one of America's most consistently innovative professional theatre companies, with an annual attendance of 150,000. Actors Theatre has been the recipient of some of the most prestigious awards bestowed on a regional theatre, including a Tony Award for Distinguished Achievement, the James N. Vaughan Memorial Award for Exceptional Achievement and Contribution to the Development of Professional Theatre, and the Margo Jones Award for the Encouragement of New Plays. Actors Theatre has toured to 29 cities and 15 countries worldwide, totaling more than 1,400 appearances internationally. Currently, there are more than 50 published books of plays and criticism from Actors Theatre in circulation-including anthologies of Humana Festival plays, volumes of ten-minute plays and monologues, and essays, scripts and lectures from the Brown-Forman Classics in Context Festival. Numerous plays first produced at Actors Theatre have also been published as individual acting editions, and have been printed in many other anthologies, magazines and journals-making an enduring contribution to American dramatic literature. www.ActorsTheatre.org

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