I was raised in the Butchertown neighborhood of Louisville KY. Not a product of means by any stretch, a culmination of hard work and luck has allowed me to graduate from some of the best educational institutions available and gain worldwide recognition for my work in glass sculpture, culture collecting and archiving, music and film production, large scale event planning and community education.
I obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Berea College in May 2015, with a Major concentration in Popular Culture and a Minor in Communication. In August of 2021 I completed a Master's degree in Popular Culture and a Graduate Certificate in Public History from Bowling Green State University (BGSU) and entered the BGSU PhD program in American Cultural Studies that same year. This will be the culmination of over 20 years experience culture archiving, preservation, and production. Since 2000 I have collected, produced, and released over 50 regional music collections under the name Louisville is for Lovers. These collections have been included in public and private archives including the Louisville Free Public Library, the University of Louisville Music Archive, Berea College Sound Archive, and Western Kentucky University Archive, and has been delivered around the world to 6 continents including Antarctica. Additionally, I have studied film and photography for 3 years at the University of Louisville and Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois.
I have also produced special audio programming for both radio and podcasts including programming for NPR affiliate WFPK in Louisville, Ky, and the BBC World Service. From 2011-2015, I worked as a Sound Archive Associate and audio engineer archiving audio files, creating educational guides & curriculum, and producing audio Educational podcasts on regional and historical music, including a 5 hour multi-chaptered podcast on Appalachian folk music called Celebrated Sounds.
I continually collaborate with creative professionals toward cultural archiving including my work at the Bowling Green State University Browne Popular Culture Library, and the Center for Archival Collections, were I have created many physical and digital exhibits and learning guides including a 9 stop audio walking tour of historically significant events and locations. I have also created the Northwest Ohio Independent Culture Archive that has a collection of hundreds of regional music fliers, histories, and ephemera of the greater Northwest Ohio region. Other projects include a 38 slide digital exhibit covering over 50 years of women in the political spotlight featuring 120 items from the Browne Popular Culture Library collection, as well as an hour long lecture on the collection for the National First Ladies Library. In the summer of 2013, I paired with Magnolia Photobooth on a grant from Berea College on a 3,000 mile archival tour of the southern Appalachian region, documenting subcultures through a Photographic collection called A Portrait Of Appalachia. In the summer of 2014, I worked with Guestroom Records in Louisville, KY to capture music in 3 distinct genres (Hip Hop, Pop, and Roots) music in the city. Some of these collections are also in private and public archives including the Berea College Archive and the Louisville Free Public Library.
After 2 decades working on archiving and education in culture in various mediums including Audio Collections, documentary films, still photograph collections, radio and podcast programs, and print formats, I continue chasing my passion for culture collection, archiving and education.
Employment and Professional Positions
Teaching Assistant American Cultural Studies, Bowling Green State University 2023 – Current
• Responsible for leading class discussions, grading assignments, administering tests, and developing lesson plans.
Media Assistant Preservation Lab, Center for Archival Collections, Bowling Green State University 2023-Current
• Responsible for collections preservation including preparing and creating custom containers.
• Responsible for preserving collections including antique documents, microfilming, scanning and creating OCR digital copies.
• Responsible for creating and installing physical exhibits.
Graduate Research Assistant Browne Popular Culture Library, Bowling Green State University 2019 – 2023
• Responsible for archiving, accessioning and deaccessioning items.
• In charge of donation processing and donor relations.
• Responsible for digitization, cataloging, metadata creation using:
Excel, Dublin Core, Omeka, Photoshop, ABBYY FineReader, ArchiveSpace, others
• Responsible for department’s social media campaigns as well as community workshops, events, and tours.
• Supervisor of student employees, oversee training, day-to-day schedules and special projects.
• Created over 25 physical and digital exhibits based on our collections, as well as informative videos and audio walking tours.
• Coordinated exhibits and talks with other museums and libraries with a focus on student and community involvement including assisting researchers.
• Helped other organizations with perseveration of physical items in realia collection.
Art Instructor StudioWorks by Zoom Group
Louisville, Kentucky 2018-2019
• Instructed neuroatypical adults with vocational skills for creating artwork sold in the Studioworks Gallery.
• Assisted in exhibit installation and event planning.
Associate Archivist Berea College Special Collections and Archives, Hutchins Library
Berea College 2011 - 2015
• Worked as an audio engineer for the Sound Archives.
• Responsible for restoring, digitizing and archiving historical recordings on many legacy formats.
• In charge of researching, creating metadata, writing biographies, and creating educational programs with the content.
• Duties included field work photographing, recording, and documenting cultural traditions of Appalachian heritage.
• Created digital and physical exhibits based on the field work holdings.
• Produced video documentaries about regional culture, including a documentary on pinball culture in Kentucky, and a 5-hour audio podcast on the history of Appalachian Music.
Director and Founder Louisville Is For Lovers. 2000-2021
• Responsible for all aspects of collecting regional music and culture, working with thousands of artists, releasing over 45 albums, responsible for organizing over 100 events in ranges from 50 attendees to 45,000 attendees.
• Responsible for layout and design, sound engineering, and promotional projects.
Director Asterisk Art Gallery, Brooklyn New York. 2004
• One year appointment overseeing all aspects of the gallery including exhibit curation, event planning, sales, and artist relations.
Director 953 Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky, 1999-2002
• Oversaw every detail of the gallery from curation of the exhibits, organizing events, sales, donations, and artist relations.
Assistant Student Director, University of Louisville Gallery, Louisville Kentucky, 1996-1999
• Through a Federal grant I primarily worked as preparator under the director in installing exhibits, framing and preservation, patron tours, and artist relations.
Academic Degrees
Ph.D. American Cultural Studies [In Progress] Bowling Green State University.
Expected August 2025
M.A. Popular Culture. Bowling Green State University, August 2021
Graduate Certificate in Public History, Bowling Green State University, August 2021
Internship: National First Ladies’ Library
B.A. Popular Culture, Communications Minor. Berea College, May 2015
Invited Lectures and Presentations
“The cultural significance of the film Back to the Future”
Classic Movie Night, Hancock Historical Museum, Findlay, Ohio, 2023
“Representations of Women in Political Realia at the Browne Popular Culture Library”
Virtual History Series, Wood County Museum, Ohio (virtual), 2021
“Female Representations in Political Pins 1976-2016”
National First Ladies’ Library, Canton, Ohio (virtual), 2020
“On Sight: Literal and Figurative”
Berea College, Berea Kentucky, 2018
“On Regional Music Collecting”
International Association for the Study of Popular Music, Louisville, Kentucky, 2015
Awards and Grants
Lois Jean Steel Stiffler Scholarship
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, 2023-2024
Cleveland Humanities Collaborative Summer Faculty Seminar participant
Case Western Reserve. Cleveland, Ohio. 2023.
Graduate Student Employee of the Year Award. Friends of the Library
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, 2022
School of Cultural and Critical Studies Stoddard-O’Neill Grant
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024
Berea College Research Grant
Berea Kentucky, 2013
Early Times Grant for Further Artistic Education
Louisville Kentucky, 2002
Residences
Artist in Residence, Louisville Free Public Library
Louisville, Kentucky, 2018
• Created hands on art classes for the community as well as educational demonstrations of glass art techniques.
Artist in Residence
Brown Hotel, Louisville, Kentucky, 2004
• Educational demonstrations of art glass techniques. Finished work displayed in hotel.
Artist in Residence
Bernheim Forest and Arboretum, Bardstown, Kentucky, 2003
Created Glass sculptures to be placed in the forest to promote community engagement.
Invited Artist
Guggenheim Museum, Venice Italy, 2002
• Tasked with interacting with visitors and photographing culture at and in the area around the museum as well as at the Biennale.
Service
Founding President Ray Browne Association on Class and Culture, Bowling Green State University, 2024-2025
• Responsible for managing staff, overseeing operating budgets, grant writing, working with donors, vendors, and University Administration.
President Popular Culture Scholars’ Association, Bowling Green State University, 2023-2024
• Responsible for managing staff, overseeing operating budgets, grant writing, working with donors, vendors, and University Administration.
Committee Chair, Founder, and Co-Organizer for the Bowling Green State University Class Conference, 2022-2024
• Responsible for programing the event with over 30 presenters, over 100 guests and vendors. Developing website and PR materials, creating merchandise, staying on budget and developing a sustainable strategic plan.
Area Chair on Class Midwest Popular Culture Association and Midwest American Culture Association, 2021-2023
Executive Planning Committee Member Popular Culture Scholars’ Association Annual Conference, 2020-2021
Panel Chair on Politics Midwest Popular Culture Association and Midwest American Culture Association, 2020
Member of the Prophetic Council Poor People's Campaign, National Organization, 2018 - Current
Professional Memberships
Kentucky Council on Archives, Melungeon Heritage Association, Midwest Archives Council, Poor People’s Campaign, Popular Culture Association, Popular Culture Scholars’ Association, Ray Browne Association on Class and Culture, Society of American Archivists
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| Teaching art instruction at Louisville Free Public Library |
