June

Louis Robert Thompson - Actor & Immersive Experience Artist

Actor Louis Robert Thompson is most known for his performances in American Tales with Stage One, the film The Art of Self Defense with Jesse Eisenberg, and the upcoming season of Into the Wild Frontier: 1700s for Amazon Prime. He has directed commercials for Captain Insurance and theatrical productions for The Griot Project. Louis gained the desire and knowledge necessary to create and sustain nontraditional arts spaces during his time as the Immersive Arts Coordinator for CBF Productions in Ventura California. While there, he was able to contribute his artistic and technical knowhow to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition, Louvre Fantastique , and Monet by the Water.

In an effort to take a more active role in the selection of narratives, he has stepped into the roles of Producer and Director of Immersive Experiences for his own company, Ouroboros Louisville, where Louis has produced art exhibitions, benefit concerts; and even the Where?haus Unofficial Forecastle After-Party & Arts Showcase. Most recently, Louis is excited for his contribution to the Immersive Experience “A Wizard’s Christmas” where he portrays Divination Professor Kai Decoteau.

July

Grace Rogers - Musician & Writer

Louisville’s Grace Rogers is a musician, poet, and essayist from Owingsville, KY. Raised in the east Kentucky old-time music community, she has been playing traditional music and writing songs since childhood. Now all grown up, Grace often performs live, including both her original music and collaborations with local fiddler Blakeley Burger, breathing new life into traditional fiddle and banjo music.

Currently, she is a Charlie Whitaker Memorial Apprentice under east Kentucky banjo player John Haywood and a 2023 archival fellow at Berea College, studying the banjo music of Magoffin County, KY.

In January 2023, she released her own EP, Cowpocalypse, on the Louisville label Obsolete Staircases. Her poetry and essays have been featured in the Columbia Journal, Inverted Syntax, and Cold Mountain Review, and she was a 2018 artist-in-residence at the Kentucky Foundation for Women Hopscotch House.

August

"Sunshine Joe" Mallard - Fiber Artist

Born in Summit Mississippi, “Sunshine Joe” Mallard learned needlecraft at the feet of his great-great-grandmother, Mandy Green, a woman born into slavery in the Deep South. Joe has been stitching and quilting ever since, and his exquisite tapestry quilts--consisting of thousands of tiny stitches and hand-tied knots--and large-format quilts take years (sometimes even decades) to complete.

For more than 50 years, Joe has chronicled events--both personal and global--through his vibrant and intricately detailed thread collages which have been showcased nationally and abroad, and he’s been profiled in Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine, inducted in the McComb Mississippi Wall of Fame, and honored with the ArtsReach “Living the Vision” Award. In 2022, he was artist-in-residence with the Children’s Defense Fund national youth program at the Freedom School in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Joe deeply enjoys teaching students the craft of quilting while discussing history and culture, everywhere from classrooms, community centers, homeless shelters, libraries, and universities.

Join COLLIDER Artist-in-Residence "Sunshine" Joe Mallard for this inspiring talk and art-making workshop. The 80-year-old artist will display his famous quilts and tell the story of how his great-great-grandmother—a former slave—taught him how to quilt and instilled in him a set of principles and values that stimulates his creative process today. Afterward, participants are invited to try a hands-on project using creative embroidery to translate their vision with a needle and bright, bold colors of yarn onto muslin burlap pieces they can keep.