Hite Art Institute presents “,” an exhibition of mixed media drawings and assemblage sculptures by California artist Joan Tanner, on view Sept. 14 through Oct. 27 in the .

The traveling exhibition is organized by Julien Robson, independent curator and director of in Kentucky, and a friend of Tanner’s.

“Joan is compelled by a curiosity to engage contradiction and an impulse to disrupt assumptions about spatial relations,” said Robson, who served as curator of contemporary art at the from 2000 to 2008.

Over a career spanning six decades, Tanner’s art has developed across disciplines to encompass many media, including painting, photography, video, sculpture and assemblage. With an instinctive resistance to conventional ideas of order, she has created provocative works that defy simple categorization and sometimes logic.

She has exhibited across the U.S. since 1968, beginning shortly after she moved to Southern California from the Midwest. Her work is held in a number of collections, including The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles; Harvard University, Houghton Library, Department of Printing and Graphics, Cambridge, Massachusetts; New York Public Library, Spencer Collection; Speed Art Museum and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California. 

Tanner has also served as a visiting lecturer at the University of California Santa Barbara; Ohio University in Athens; Illinois State University at Normal and, most recently, as an artist-in-residence at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Tanner’s current exhibition has traveled to numerous other galleries this year, including the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia. 

that Tanner’s art hasn’t been given the exposure it deserves,  which is part of why he created this show.

“In recent years, there has been a growth of interest in older woman artists who have been overlooked,” he said.

There will be a lecture associated with the show 7-8 p.m., Sept. 13 in room 100 of Bingham Humanities building. 

The is 6-8 p.m.,Sept. 14 at the Cressman Center, 100 E. Main St.

The prestigious $5,000 award is an opportunity for local artists to enhance their careers through a targeted enrichment experience of their own design.

“My most recent body work has been on Jewish memory, identity and legacy,” said Szwedzinski. “As an artist, I am continually mindful of who I intend as my audience. I question why it is important for me to make work about Judaism and how my work connects to contemporary issues.”

Szwedzinski will use the award to visit the Jewish Contemporary Museum and the Holocaust Center in San Francisco, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Archives in Washington, D.C., and the Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana, as well as to take a course at the Rare Book School in Philadelphia.

“I believe that the act of remembering is a powerful tool in fostering empathy and breaking barriers of bias,” Szwedzinski said. “It’s important, now more than ever, to remind people that when true diversity is present in a community is when we all thrive.”

honored Szwedzinski with a June 21.

The Hadley Prize is awarded from the George and Mary Alice Hadley Fund at the . Focused on the arts and humanities, particularly visual arts, crafts, theater and the Louisville Free Public Library, the endowment has supported the community for more than 25 years.

The winner is selected through a blind process by a diverse panel of arts professionals from Louisville and the surrounding area. The 2018 prize drew 40 applicants from the greater Louisville area, including Southern Indiana, whose work demonstrated mastery in ceramics, graphic design, drawing, crafts, painting, photography, sculpture, video, film and printmaking.

“Art soothes and calms our collective souls. Art causes us to question and to think. Through the years, art has been used to tell the story of those who came before. The work of KCJ Szwedzinski is powerful and will cause those who see her work to pause and reflect on this horrific period in our history,” said LVA’s Executive Director, Lindy Casebier. “Louisville Visual Art is pleased to partner with the Community Foundation of Louisville in support of KCJ’s growth as an artist and in turn share that personal growth with others in our community.”

Szwedzinski’s itinerary has been designed to fuse personal history and artistic inspiration, “to synthesize seemingly disparate bodies of knowledge – archival practices for historical information and my personal inherited legacies.”

“This experience will broaden my ability to make work that is rooted in my own Judaic heritage,” said Szwedzinski, “while facilitating engagement of a more universal audience.”

The Hadley Prize is just one of the ways that the Community Foundation of Louisville supports local artists. Hadley Creatives is the Foundation’s six-month comprehensive professional development program for working artists that recently celebrated its inaugural class with an exhibition running through July 1 at . Five Hite graduates participated in the program and exhibition: Miranda Becht (MFA 2017), Sandra Charles (BFA 2015), Rebecca Norton (BFA 2004), Cynthia Norton (MAT 2004) and Autumn Lindsey (BFA 2017).

Surrounded by their art, he congratulated Miranda Becht, Tom LeGoff and Marie-Elena Ottman for becoming the first class to graduate from Hite’s Master of Fine Art program. The first courses for the 60 credit hour degree began in 2014. It’s the only MFA program in Louisville.

“I want to thank you for all your work these past three years,” Massey said to resounding applause.

The MFA Thesis Exhibition runs through May 27 in the Cressman. The diversity of art forms in the show reflects the diversity of offerings in the MFA program. Students may choose to practice in a variety of mediums or narrow in on one. Courses include ceramics, drawing, fibers, glass, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, design, mixed media, book arts and new media.

“I loved that the program let me explore,” Ottman said. “It was the perfect opportunity to grow as an artist.”

Her work at the Cressman, titled “Transplant: Fruits of their Labor,” features winding vines of ceramic, glass and metal. Ottman, who is from Panama, used the vines to metaphorically consider topics such as immigration, migrant labor and translation.            

Classmate and photographer Tom LeGoff displayed photographic cabinet cards to develop a visual story and mythology of a destroyed town.

He said he perused the MFA to better his craft and to “submerge myself more deeply in photography.”

He hopes to teach and Indiana University Southeast and the University of Kentucky have shown interest.

The program started small with just a few students a year as there wasn’t enough studio space to accommodate more. But, are coming to fruition. Construction begins this month and the space should be ready for students in spring 2018, Massey said.

The Portland space will allow the program to expand and broaden its reach in the city, which can only be a good thing, said Chris Reitz, Hite’s director of galleries.

“Artists trained in the global principles and practice of contemporary art-making are a real benefit to the city,” he said. “You really need an MFA program to become a nationally and internationally recognized arts center.”