Bold Artists
Who are the artists?
To complement the book’s stories, 36 Kentucky women artists have joined the Bluegrass Bold community. We spent hours reviewing the submissions, carefully selecting and pairing artists with stories to ensure that the artist and story complement one another. The artists were also selected to reflect the diversity of the women featured in this book.
From veteran artists to students, these talented women have added energy and life to the book.
See more about each artist below.
***Our artists include professionals with years of experience, as well as student artists.
Alyssa Sciortino
LEXINGTON
Amanda Crum
GEORGETOWN & WINCHESTER
Annie Allen-Groves
LOUISVILLE
Blake Snyder Eames
LEXINGTON
Brett Hartsfield
LEXINGTON
Brevyn Fleming
LOUISVILLE
Briana Smith
FORT THOMAS
Christiana Crout
NICHOLASVILLE
Ciara LeRoy
LEXINGTON
Dorothy K. Berryman
NICHOLASVILLE & LEXINGTON
Emily LaDouceur
BEREA
Emma Paez
LOUISVILLE
Heather Dent
BEREA
Holly M. Graham
GEORGETOWN
Jenna Elyse Mcguire
PRESTONSBURG
Jenni Phillips
LEXINGTON
Jessica Holly
BEREA
Kala Lewis
LOUISVILLE
Krista C. Graham
HARRODSBURG, DANVILLE, NICHOLASVILLE
Laura Gibson
LOUISVILLE
Leslie Nichols
BOWLING GREEN
Lina Tharsing
LEXINGTON
Liz Morse
LOUISVILLE
Liz Swanson
LEXINGTON
Mary Beth Harville Griffith
LEXINGTON
Melissa Noel Quinio
SHEPHERDSVILLE & LEXINGTON
Molly Mason
LOUISVILLE
Patricia Fulce-Smith
FINCASTLE
Sandra Charles
HAZARD & LOUISVILLE
Sherrie Graham-Greene
LEXINGTON
Skylar Smith
LOUISVILLE
Sophia Ratliff
FLOYD COUNTY
Tammy Oberhausen
RUSSELLVILLE & BOWLING GREEN
Tomisha Lovely-Allen
LOUISVILLE
Tricia Tripp
LOUISVILLE
Alyssa Sciortino
Instagram: @sciortinoa11
Facebook: @AlyssaSciortinosArt
Alyssa Sciortino has lived in Lexington for 7 years. She studied art as an undergraduate student at Southern Connecticut State University, in CT where she is originally from. She has always been interested in the human form and the way that gender is represented in the nude across art history. As she pursued a career in art therapy, she became interested in working with individuals on the Autism spectrum, which snowballed her professional interests in a different direction. She currently works as a KY licensed Pediatric Speech Language Pathologist that specializes in helping children with ASD communicate and interact with the individuals that make up their social network.
As her professional interests have veared away from the art world, she often uses art as a therapeutic tool that allows her to juggle a high stress career with a passion for painting and creating. In her most recent series, she re-approached the way in which gender is represented. This series will allow these women to reclaim the “power stance” and other traditionally masculine poses.
Amanda Crum
Instagram: @Mandycrumart
Twitter: @MandyGCrum
https://mandycrum.wixsite.com/mysite
Amanda Crum is an artist and writer from Kentucky whose work has graced the covers of Riggwelter Magazine and several books from local artists. Her first solo art show was held at John Irving Gallery in 2016; in 2018, she was invited to be a sketch artist on the television series “The Dead Files”. Amanda currently works as a writer and sketch card artist. She lives in Georgetown with her husband and two children.
Annie Allen-Groves
Annie is a 16-year-old high school junior from Louisville. She has been drawing and painting since 4th grade and mainly illustrates people. Her preferred medium is watercolors/ colored pencils. She also enjoys graphic design and plans on attending an art college after graduation.
Blake Snyder Eames
Instagram: @blakeeamesdesign
Facebook: @blakeeamesdesign
Twitter: @blakeeames
https://www.blakeeamesdesign.com
Blake Snyder Eames is a professional artist who has exhibited her work in multiple venues for more than 20 years. Her paintings, design, murals and furniture pieces can be found in homes, businesses and collections across the country. Her style is pop art infused and art deco inspired resulting in vibrant patterns that inspire the senses and soothe the mind’s desire for structure. Well known for her bold, geometric paintings, Eames is also the owner of Blake Eames Design, an independent enterprise specializing in commercial and residential interior design and furniture redesign. Her art and design studio are housed in a refurbished gas station on Old Vine Street in downtown Lexington.
Brett Hartsfield
Instagram: @bretthartsfieldart
Brett Hartsfield is an artist and muralist living and working in Lexington, Kentucky. Previously, she lived and worked in Chicago for 15 years on various murals. She attended several classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (her favorite museum in the world). She loves to work in graphite and charcoal and absolutely loves to depict the human face in various forms of portraiture. There are an infinite number of gestures and expressions and nuance that can be conveyed in various mediums when it comes to a human face. It’s incredibly interesting to convey and always informs her art.
Brevyn Fleming
Instagram: @vynnbeverly
brevyn-fleming.com
Brevyn Fleming is a young illustrator who has lived in many different places throughout America, but she has spent the most time in Louisville, KY where she attended the Visual Arts program at duPont Manual High School. Brevyn has always been interested in history—especially historical women—and being raised by feminist parents gave her a real respect for the women who have made and are making a difference in America. Her mother is a public school teacher in Louisville, and Brevyn currently works at the Art Academy of Cincinnati in Ohio. The importance of higher education means a great deal to Brevyn, and her goal is to contribute to the education of children on the significance of independent women.
Briana Smith
Twitter: Mrs. Smith's Artroom @GES_artroom
Instagram: @briana.smith01
Briana Smith is an elementary art teacher, wife and mother of two. As a little girl, she remembers seeing her grandmother’s quilts on every bed of our house. She was drawn to the idea of stitching memories into a functional piece of art, an heirloom to be treasured forever. As she got older she channeled that desire to preserve memories using fabric. A scrap from the dress her daughter wore on her first day of school, a piece of cloth from her favorite shirt. Layered with love and stitched to cement these ideas and memories, stretching beyond a photograph.
Christiana Crout
Instagram: @ceejisfear
Twitter: @ceejisfear
www.society6.com/ceejisfear
Christiana has lived in central Kentucky her entire life. She enjoy drawing, music, and is currently in college for Psychology and Graphic Design. As she has grown as an artist and as a person, she has grown as an activist. She hopes in the future to become a comic book writer with themes regarding our current culture today and to bring light to more issues.
Ciara LeRoy
Instagram: @prettystrangedesign
www.prettystrange.design
Ciara LeRoy a.k.a Pretty Strange, is a native Ohioan but has lived in Lexington, Kentucky for over a decade. She works as an independent artist specializing in hand lettering, illustration and embroidery. In 2017, she started her creative firm Pretty Strange Design, with a mission to make bold, beautiful, and offbeat creations that inject imagination into everyday life.
Her goal is to make work that is well-crafted and aesthetically pleasing, but also deeply thoughtful and socially conscious. She is passionate about connecting art with community development and using creativity to build bridges and explore deeper questions.
Dorothy K. Berryman
Instagram: @dottyink
Dorothy K. Berryman, or Dotty, is a portraitist and illustrator living in Lexington, KY. Portraiture has long been her greatest passion because people are endlessly fascinating. After moving to Cincinnati and receiving a B.A. in studio art from Northern Kentucky University in 2018, she’s returned to her hometown where she currently has three jobs: Teaching Assistant with On The Move Art Studio, Fashion Merchandising Assistant at POP’s Resale, and freelance commission artist. It’s her goal to be a full-time artist, but in the meantime, she’s grateful to have employers that value her skills and allow her to work with the community. She considers herself lucky and excited to live in a city that’s cultivating tenacious creativity, endorsing cultural exchange and redefining what it means to be a Kentuckian.
Emily Bealer
Instagram: @embillustrations
Emily Bealer is a student attending Indiana University Southeast. She is majoring in Fine Art, concentrating in Drawing with a Painting minor. She enjoys working in all mediums and find inspiration in her life and the people around her.
Emily LaDouceur
Instagram: @emilyforberea & @artbiz_by_emily
Twitter: @emilyforberea
Emily LaDouceur is a city councilwoman and local artist in Berea, KY. She spent many years working in higher education before shifting her efforts to being part of the change she would like to see in the world. By running for public office and utilizing her talents, she hopes to be an impetus for positive change in the systems that impact the health and vitality of our communities. She is the mother of two boys, a role she regards as her most prestigious.
Emma Paez
Instagram: @emmapaez07
Facebook: @emmapaez2011
Emma Paez is a self-taught artist that developed a technique to bring images to life on paper, with paper. She developed this technique in 2010. The intricacy of her art allows the artist to get lost in her work and just enjoy the process. She feels like it is the creator working through her hands. The artist loves the result, a piece that has the look of a painting, but is in fact completely made of paper. The artist started working with collage because she enjoyed paper art. However, she found that working with this medium limited her style so she explored other methods. She developed a technique with shredded paper that enabled her artwork to be much more detailed. The uniqueness of her style differentiates her from other artists in her field. She uses the shredded magazine paper keeping the integrity of that shape in her composition, as well as adding very fine delicate cuts and forms depicting dimension, lighting, and shading to her artwork. The artist aspires to share her love of this art technique with others in hopes that they will appreciate the creativity and intricacy of her work.
Heather Dent
Instagram: @heatherdentstudio
Facebook: @heatherdentstudio
Website: (linked below)
Heather Dent uses art to connect people to nature. She is the founder of Berea Outdoor Adventure, a movement committed to encouraging families to get outside and develop a sense of creativity and self-reliance. She also created the Berea Story Trail, a series of panels along a 1/4 mile pathway at Berea City Park featuring monthly stories and activities. Heather teaches art workshops to all ages, but focuses primarily on cultivating the next generation’s love and appreciation for the outdoors.
Holly M. Graham
Instagram: @hollymgraham_day_to_day
Website: hollymgraham.com
Holly M. Graham is a Virginia native who earned a BFA from Longwood University. She has held professional appointments in the photographic, curatorial, and art management fields. Three books have been published featuring Holly’s illustrations and one book featuring her “New Life Doll Project” photographic series. Holly has participated in group, joint and solo exhibitions in Virginia and Kentucky. She currently lives in Kentucky with her husband and two children, whom she home schools while making art.
Jenna Elyse Mcguire
Instagram: @whenshecreates
Facebook @jennamcguireart
Jenna Elyse, a visual Artist from Eastern Ky, draws her inspiration from the subtle and phenomenal power of both Women and Nature. Her passion is learning from the history and endurance of both, she hopes to tell a story with her work that will inspire many to re-connect with their own power. Jenna believes, “Art is a Gateway to our souls Desire, a Vision that connects us to ourselves and tells those who come after us the story of our World.”
Jenni Phillips
Instagram: @jenni.phillips.art
Jenni Phillips is a freelance illustrator, located in Lexington. She works in multiple mediums and draws inspiration from science, horror, history and contemporary art. She splits her time between working as a dessert chef and running her independent art business selling originals and reproductions of her own work. Her work has be exhibited in galleries both nationally and internationally.
Jessica Holly
Instagram: @jessdholly
Twitter: @jessicadholly
Jessica Holly is a freelance creative from Berea, Kentucky. She’s passionate about thoughtful design that has social impact. Her work has been featured in shows across the country, with a focus on abstract storytelling and whimsical imagination. Some of her work can be found in the 2020 poetry publication by Liz Hodge titled ‘Poetry Tattoos: Ink Scarred Hearts’. She has a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Berea College, with a Masters in Design Strategy + Innovation from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design.
Kala Lewis
Instagram: @kalapotatoart
Kala Lewis was born and raised in Louisville. For the longest she can remember, she has always loved expressing herself through art. She drew on any paper or surface she could get her hands on. Her foundation for the arts was very much reinforced by her parents who encouraged her. And even though her parents would not readily agree with her, she truly grew up in a household that enjoyed art. Her father was an amateur photographer and enjoyed music immensely. Her mother is an ardent reader who equally loves attending plays, listening to music, and dancing. So it was a no brainer that she would take up some space in the arts. After finishing high school at Presentation Academy, she continued her arts journey at Jefferson Community and Technical College and Northern Kentucky University. She graduated with a Bachelors in Fine Arts, and found herself wanting to continue working with the arts in Louisville. So since 2016, she has worked at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, currently working in their education department. However, she has not forgotten her roots in making art and is working on establishing herself as an illustrator.
Krista C. Graham
Instagram: @kcgraham.art
Twitter: @kcgraham_art
Facebook: @kcgraham.art
Krista C Graham is a Central Kentucky artist residing in Nicholasville. Raised in Harrodsburg, graduated from EKU with a BA in art, and strong aspirations to become an illustrator. She primarily works with pen and her illustrations can be found in several art/lit journals online and in print. She’s had a solo show and participated in group shows with the Lexington Art League.
Laura Gibson
Laura Gibson is a Freshman at Highlands Latin School who takes art lessons through the Louisville Visual Art Association. She enjoys writing and has published several books. She studies acting at Commonwealth Theatre and has performed in many shows around Louisville.
Leslie Nichols
Instagram: @leslienicholsart
http://www.leslienicholsart.com/
Leslie Nichols is an American artist known for her works created on manual typewriters which are featured in Typewriter Art: A Modern Anthology and The Art of Typewriting. She uses typewriters, handwriting, stamps, and letterpress to create images of women with text. Her recent series In Her Own Words focuses on women in South Central Kentucky who work to make it a better place, especially for women and girls. Her work has been recognized with grants from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, AAUW, Women’s Studio Workshop, Kentucky Foundation for Women, and the Great Meadows Foundation. Selected collections that feature her work include Yale University, the Library of Congress, and the Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry. Her studio is in Bowling Green, Kentucky where she teaches at Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College.
Lina Tharsing
Instagram: @linercat
Website: http://linatharsing.com
Lina Tharsing is a Kentucky-based artist whose work has been shown across the Southeastern United States. In 2012, she was named a superstar of Southern art by Oxford American. Her most recent exhibitions are Portals and Passages at the Lexington Art League, Sugar Babies at The Food Connection at the University of Kentucky, and Studio Wall at 21c Museum Hotel Lexington. She was most recently featured in group shows: Off the Menu at the University of Kentucky Art Museum, Where We Once Were Someone at Young Space, Summer Studio at the Elaine de Kooning house in East Hampton NY, and Swimming Them Homeward at the Atlanta Contemporary. She has been featured in Garden and Gun Magazine, Whitehot Magazine, Burnaway, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Journal, RadioLab’s blog, SFMOMA’s blog, Hyperallergic, and Booooooom.
Liz Morse
Instagram: @mizlorse
Website: www.dot-dot-dash.com
Liz is an illustrator, graphic designer, and illustrator in Louisville. She loves exploring color, classic design principles, historical elements, fine art techniques and calligraphy and am always seeking new ways to challenge the boundaries of her creative processes by fusing these worlds to create work that is impactful, memorable and truly one-of-a-kind.
Liz Swanson
Instagram: @lizaswanson
Website: www.lizswanson.com
Liz Swanson is an artist and human being with over 47 years of experience. She is also an Associate Professor of Architecture who has been teaching at the University of Kentucky since 2001. Her research centers on the social, cultural, and spiritual import of the built environment and exists at the intersection of architecture, art, and storytelling. Much of her work focuses on drawing as a mode of visual representation and the role images play in the development of identity and community. Her projects range in scale from illustrations, children’s books and experimental drawings to public artworks, installations, and urban planning proposals that aim to create meaningful experiences for people. She loves to collaborate with creative people and organizations she admires. A part of everything she earns is donated to causes, charities and non-profits that do good work for the world.
Liz is a graduate of the University of Michigan and received her Master of Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley.
Mary Beth Harville Griffith
Facebook: @mbhg1
Twitter: @Mary_griffith
Mary Beth Harville Griffith was born in Lexington in 1958 and has been an artist since she could grip a pencil. She attended UK on a music scholarship and graduated from UK’s law school in 1984. She and her husband considered leaving Lexington for jobs in other parts of the US upon graduating from law school but decided Kentucky was a great place to live & raise a family. She practiced employment law until 2001 (never a good fit) but has always created art, even during her lawyer years. She primarily paints people and animals, mostly in oil, but also do watercolors, pen and ink, pastels, and other media. She is pleased to see how much Lexington has evolved over the course of her life–from a small, backward, racist/sexist town to a far more progressive place. Raising two daughters heightened her awareness of how sexist our world still is. Working in employment law also sharpened her views of how we are still battling oppression based on race, sex & other traits.
Melissa Noel Quinio
Instagram: @Melissa_noel_quinio
Facebook: @ChiisanaHana
Melissa Noel Quinio went to the University of Louisville to study Fine Arts and Psychology. She currently lives in Lexington, KY with her 4 children, 2 cats and her husband, Edward. She has illustrated several books by Kentucky authors Linda Penn, Frank Feger and Sarah Morgan Lose.
Melissa teaches art to children at Artworks at Carver Center with Lexington Parks and Recreation. She is also the director of Art Kids Camp in Lexington.
Molly Mason
Molly is a student artist who was raised in Louisville, Ky. She currently attends Indiana University southeast where she is working towards a Bachelors in fine arts degree with a focus in drawing. Art has been a passion of hers for as long as she can remember. She hopes to become a children’s book illustrator after graduation.
Patricia Fulce-Smith
Instagram: @pjshands
Patricia Fulce-Smith considers herself to be a multi-media artist. Her passion is creating pieces that depict women and girls–especially those who’ve had to be strong. She finds herself in each woman or girl that she paints or creates. Patricia says, “I breathe through my art. I find myself through their stories.” She is happy to join this project because of the strong women profiled. “I see them as women who advocated for other women. I love that these women are servants as well. I appreciate their service.”
Sandra Charles
Instagram: @Sandraspaintings
Scharlesart.com
Sandra Charles is a Louisville Kentucky oil painter. Her work revolves around issues that affect African American women in today’s society. Sandra began her career working as a batik fiber artist. Images of her work appeared in several magazines and books. In 2015 Sandra obtained a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in painting from the University of Louisville. She retired in 2016 and now works as a full time artist. She was one of three artist who received a Kentucky Foundation of Women (KFW) 2016 Summer Residency Grant. Her series titled “The African Warrior Queen Project” was the result of the residency and was included in the group exhibit at The Art Sanctuary Gallery. In 2017 she was selected to exhibit in the African American Art Exhibition at Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Roanne Victor Gallery and received the Mellen-Oberst Family Merit Award for her painting. She was one of 15 artist selected in the 2017 Community Foundation of Louisville Hadley Creatives’s six month program. In 2018 Sandra’s work was exhibited at Wayside Expressions Gallery in a solo exhibit titled “Portraits of Us.” In 2019 she participated in the Carnegie Art Center exhibit titled “The artwork of Elmer Lucille Allen, Sandra Charles and Barbara Mosley Tyson and a solo exhibit at the Roberta Marx Gallery. Sandra is also one of four artist to receive a Great Meadows “Bully Grant” to the Venice Biennale.
Sherrie Graham-Greene
Instagram: @s.grahamgreene
Twitter: @sgrahamgreene
Sherrie Graham-Greene, born and living most of her life in Kentucky, is redefining her life as an artist. Since retiring as a teacher of special needs students in 2014 after teaching for 30 years, she has regularly been painting in both watercolor and oils. Art has played a significant role beginning early in her life with private art lessons and her family’s business of jewelry design and antiques. Other interests that have influenced her artistic expression include gardening, cooking, and creating a home sanctuary that nurtures creativity, joy, and peace. Yoga and meditation bring balance to her life, and she enjoys spending time with family and friends. Sherrie joined Artists Attic as an associate member in 2019, and has enjoyed showing her work in several regional exhibitions. Her current inspiration is rediscovering the joys of seeing life through the eyes of a child, as she regularly cares for her 15 month old grandson.
Skylar Smith
Instagram: @skylarsmithart
https://www.skylarsmith.com/
Skylar Smith is an artist, curator, and educator. She is a founding member of Kentucky College of Art + Design (KyCAD), and helped build the school from the seed of an idea to a living and evolving entity. Smith has taught college-level studio and art history courses for over ten years, in addition to teaching in non-profits and alternative-education venues. Her artwork deals with micro and macro perceptions of the natural world, and human-scale politics that influence perception.
Sophia Ratliff
Instagram: @ratliff_sophia
Sophia is a 17-year-old girl born and raised in Floyd County, Kentucky. She calls Eastern Kentucky home, but homes are not always perfect. She says she has always had a love/hate relationship with Eastern Kentucky, but as she has grown older she realized that every place has its conflicts and you shouldn’t abandon them.
For most of her life she has called herself a “feminist” and is proud to have that title. Most of her role models have been the women in her life and the ones on screen. Being born to a single mother, she has watched one of the most important women in her life grow and wishes to see all the women in Eastern Kentucky grow and pave their own paths. Art has always been a passion of hers and she learned that she can use art to speak in ways that she verbally cannot. She may be seen simply as a seventeen year old girl who attends the highschool “on top of the hill” but is also a girl with a voice. Someone who has always aspired for change and acceptance.
Tammy Oberhausen
Instagram: @tammyoberhausenrastoder
tammyoberhausen.com
Tammy Oberhausen is a high school teacher, self-taught artist, and writer. She creates mixed-media pieces using acrylics, photographs, text, found objects, and ephemera. She holds degrees in English, advertising, and writing from Western Kentucky University and earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University. A native of Russellville, she lives in Bowling Green with her husband, daughters, and devoted dog.
Tomisha Lovely-Allen
Instagram: @LovelyAllenArt
Facebook: @LovelyAllenArt
etsy.com/shop/LovelyAllenArtStudio
Tomisha Lovely-Allen is a self-taught artist from Louisville, KY. For as long as she can remember she has always loved to create. Napkins, envelopes, notebook papers and anything within arms reach were always fair game to enhancements with any mark making tool. Though she enjoyed her season as an accounting professional she was compelled to return to one of her first loves–ART. While experimenting with various art mediums, she came to appreciate the buttery consistency of oil paint and is always excited to advance her knowledge in its use and flexibility. She’s most intrigued by capturing her subjects as in a glimpse of time; naturally poised and slightly invasive. Through her work one of her goals is to pique the curiosity of the viewer by allowing them to connect with the subject and ask questions regarding their thoughts, emotions and activity. Tomisha’s artistic goal is to take advantage of this small God-given gift she has neglected for so long and share her love of it and Him with others. Whether through paint or pencil, perfection or error her desire is that her art inspire, inform and impart joy to the viewer.
Tricia Tripp
Instagram: @wintermagnoliadesigns
wintermagnoliadesigns.com
Tricia Tripp is a Kentucky-born mural and scratchboard artist. She has traveled the world painting murals everywhere from Berea to Zagreb, Croatia. Tricia sells her scratchboard prints under the name Winter Magnolia Designs, and is the front woman of the NC based honky tonk band, Hearts Gone South. She has done public and private commissions. The driving force behind her art is an against all odds spirit, rooted deep in love and determination, that creates possibilities for greatness and inspiration in this world.