Robin Plank is a Louisville-based farrier, blacksmith, and metal artist. Robin has been an equine enthusiast nearly all her life. At age 13 she saved up enough money to purchase her first pony and has had a horse by her side ever since. She was professionally trained at New England Farrier School, where she studied equine physiology and became skilled in the art of shoeing horses.

She began doing forge work and welding at age 19 as a blacksmith student. Naturally, she migrated to the Bluegrass state, where horses are appreciated, adored, and abundant. Here she became the first woman to earn her Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) blacksmith license to practice on the backside at Churchill Downs.

Moreover, she became the first female farrier ever to serve as a paddock blacksmith for the world famous Kentucky Derby. While Robin continues to shoe many horses all over the Ohio Valley, she is a dedicated metal artist, running RedStone Forge in Louisville. Find her at RedStone Forge on Facebook.

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CLAIRE KRÜEGER is inspired by analog experiments, love of camp, and melancholic humor. Her work takes the form of videos, photographs, illustration, and zines.

She is passionate about community arts, printed matter, and accessible media. She received an MFA in Photography & Film from VCU in 2013. Claire is based in Louisville, KY.

Hear her talk anxiety, love of camp, and personal practices with Joyce Barbour on their podcast Blind Date: Blind Date Podcast

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Nedra (they/them) is a queer electronic artist. They make interactive sculptures, synthesizers, novelty electric vehicles, wearables, and light installations.

Their work has been displayed in Revelry gallery on Market, KMAC, and other galleries around Louisville. Nedra's work focuses on themes of sustainability and self-making, though repurposing of abandoned materials.

They have never had formal training on the arts or electronics, instead learning from others in community settings like at LVL1 Hackerspace, where they now regularly teach others as young as 5 and and old as 80 how to solder.

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Morgan McGill graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Drawing from the University of Louisville in 2018. She focuses on exploring various painting techniques involving the theme of hands to convey community.

After studying painting in Spain, she was commissioned to paint a mural on the Jefferson Community and Technical College campus, install drawings with Kentucky Refugee Ministries around Louisville to promote art collaboration with refugees, and create a mural at Churchill Downs for Downs After Dark. She is currently working on a grant project with the Kentucky Foundation for Women, using feminism to motivate her paintings, and she will be traveling to California in the fall to participate in an artist residency at there.

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Merlin T. Lee is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist and designer currently based in Louisville, Kentucky. Merlin has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Indiana University where he focused on Digital Art and Art History.

He has shown work in numerous local, national, and international exhibitions, presented at several regional conferences, and received multiple grants and fellowships to produce work. Inspired by his times in limbo, Merlin’s work focuses on uncertainty, liminality, and existence. Through this work he works through the times while creating a sense of solidarity with others in a place of limbo.

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A Louisville native, Norman Spencer is a self taught print maker from Louisville who specializes in hand printed linocuts and woodcuts.

His work focuses on themes such as identity, community, and the human relationship to our surroundings.

Norman's artwork has been showcase in a variety of shows and project locally. Additionally, his artwork is in private collections around the country.

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Martin Edlin is an artist who works in several disciplines of traditional art media. His artwork is technically rigorous yet highly imaginative, giving shape and form to emotions and ideas in sculpture, pottery, paintings, and drawings. He studied art at the University of Louisville under renowned potter Tom Marsh and earned a Master’s degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago under sculptor and art therapy pioneer Don Seiden. His artwork has been exhibited publicly since 1984.

Martin teaches workshops for many schools and community programs with people of all ages and has been directing a community art education center for many years. He worked as a stained glass craftsman for glass artists Peter Eichhorn and Bob Markert while in high school and college and has practiced art therapy in a multitude of settings.

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Maizie Clarke is an illustrator, designer and entrepreneur based in Louisville, Kentucky. She owns Maizie Clarke LLC. which specializes in wholesale home goods featuring her original illustrations that have expanded her portfolio to include boutiques, hotels, and museums.

Maizie specializes in water colors and her llustrations feature the built environment and she loves sharing her knowledge of drawing with all ages. Maizie earned her BA in Interior Design and her MA in Exhibition Design.

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Tim Robertson has spent much of his adult life moving and living in places that are new to him--places where the culture is different from the one in which he was raised (Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Northern Indiana and now Louisville). Observing these contexts and the ways in which people live and connect in them forms the main current of inspiration for Tim's work. Much of his work comes about as a result of interaction and collaboration with others.

The process of creating images is an important part of Tim's work. Photography helps him explore and understand the world around us and alternative printmaking gives him a way to process and respond to what he finds. He often experiments with different photographic formats and printing techniques and materials, such as pigment transfers and risograph prints.

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Randy Gray II began his career at a young age copying the cartoons he would see on tv and in the newspaper. He is a graduate of duPont Manual High School's Visual Art program and the University of Kentucky.

His work includes My Quest for Cool and Lil Dude, while his comic book Lil Dude and Rooney Explore Black History was put into circulation at the JCPS library. Randy has extensive experience leading cartooning comic book creation workshops for summer camps and schools. He draws every day, illustrating children's books and creating caricatures.

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Joan Brannon is a Percussionist, Teacher and Drum Circle Facilitator based in Louisville, Ky. Joan respects the drum as a sacred instrument that utilizes rhythms for ritual, celebration and as a tool for strengthening community. She performs and teaches throughout the US and studied in Guinea, West Africa. Joan is a teaching artist with Kentucky Center’s ArtsReach and the Kentucky Arts Council

Joan facilitates dynamic rhythm experiences for organizations, community groups and in schools. She founded the group Sisters of the Sacred Drum, who perform rhythms of West Africa and original compositions. Joan has performed live and recorded with Sabari Bengoma, American Spiritual Ensemble, Sistah La La and a host of other artists.

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The COLLIDER welcomes back 2019 Artist-in-Residence Liz Richter to be 2021’s first virtual COLLIDER artist. Liz is a muralist, visual artist, and illustrator living and working in Louisville, KY.

Born in Paducah, and raised in rural Southeast Missouri, Richter moved back to Kentucky in 2009 and taught art for over six years before pursuing opportunities as a freelance artist. Richter is primarily focused on painting and drawing, but also explores wearable art, printmaking and other mixed media. Look for several art tutorial videos from Liz coming soon to this page, then be sure to join us for her Zoom class on January 28.

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