Press Release

"Clarity in the Morning" by Sunny Ra

The 2009 Kentucky Girlhood Press Release
Louisville, KY - Jan 29, 2009

Murray State University is proud to host The 2009 Kentucky Girlhood Project, a statewide contemporary art project promoting Kentucky female visual artists, writers, musicians, performance and video artists. The project will host two opening receptions in different parts of the state: The 2009 Kentucky Girlhood Literary and Performance Night, will be held on Thursday, February 26th at the Rudyard Kipling in Louisville, Kentucky. Doors open at 6pm. This opening will include live performance and readings by authors Trish Ayers, Linda Caldwell, Twan Farmer, Claire Harris, Ethel Hazard, Shelly Jones, Jennifer McVeigh-Davis, Elizabeth Oaks, Sheila Pyle, Judith Shearer, Anita Stamper, and Meredith Swim.

The 2009 Kentucky Girlhood Project Exhibition, runs from February 27 through April 5, 2009 at the Clara M. Eagle Gallery at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. The show will open on February 27, 2009 from 6pm-9pm in Murray, Kentucky with work by Lisa Austin, Christina Bartsch, Courtney Bennett, Ashley Cecil, Katie Davidson, Freda Fairchild, Natalie Fisher, April Gastinger, Lindsey Griffith, Whitney Hunt, Hallie Jones, Essye Klempner, Annie Langan, Sarah Lyon, Ivy Mathis Bess McLaughlin, Terri Moore, Danica Novgorodoff, Anne Peabody, Sheila Pyle, Risa Puno, Stacey Reason, Jennifer Reis, Sunny Ra, Emily Ritter, Rachel Seed, Deirdre Scaggs, Joan Schulte, Sarah Smith, Skylar Smith, Shannon Seltzer, Robin Taffler, Aycia Thompson, Diana Wicai and Toni Michelle Wilds.

With work by over 30 Kentucky-affiliated artists, this year’s Kentucky Girlhood Project is an exhibition that addresses issues surrounding technique, audience participation and female identity. The straightforward mission of the Kentucky Girlhood Project remains consistent from its inception: to bring together female art makers whose practice is informed in one way or another by the state of Kentucky and seeks to free the audience of any preconceived ideas of what it means to be a Kentucky (based) female artist. This year the KGP chose to showcase work that represents each selected artist independently rather than imposing any overarching theme. The exhibition links artists who live anywhere from Los Angeles to New York City to eastern Kentucky with the common thread of history and experience in this diverse state. In multiple arrangements, this exhibition is nothing short of an exciting catalogue of current female artists - emphasizing new ideas and recent trends in contemporary art making in Kentucky.