vanessa german: ...do you remember when you were the sky?
April 10 – June 28, 2026
Chellgren Gallery
This spring, artist vanessa german returns to the Speed Art Museum to present the inaugural exhibition of the Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program (SGVAP). This presentation of new work marks the culmination of german’s social- and community-based project in Louisville, which has unfolded over months of research, public discussion, and collaboration with local communities.
For her participation in the SGVAP, german began with research and community engagement across Louisville, including meetings with local historians at the Portland Museum, studio visits with University of Louisville sculpture students, and time spent in spiritual meditation at the Ohio River. These experiences informed a three-day performance series, Future Histories of Emancipation, in October 2025, centered on the history of the Colored Girls Dormitory at the Louisville Industrial School of Reform (now known as Gottschalk Hall on the campus of the University of Louisville, minutes from the Museum). This site, largely erased from public memory, was once home to fifteen girls, six of whom escaped in 1913. Through re-imagining their stories, german illuminates a legacy of resistance, self-determination, and courage—connecting past and present in profound and spiritual ways.
…do you remember when you were the sky? highlights german’s signature assemblage sculptural practice. Combining a vast range of materials—from rope, mineral crystals, skateboards, hand-sewn quilts, and doll parts to cowrie shells sourced during her nationwide travels—the sculptures in this exhibition become active embodiments of young girls in motion. The exhibition presents a phantasmagorical scene that invokes both dreams and nightmares: figures leap, some fall, and others soar, forming a living installation that binds local history to new imaginative terrains. These works call us to examine the immediacy of our own lives, as well as the radical acts toward freedom we too may choose to participate in. Artworks generated in collaboration with community members during german’s October performances have been integrated into this new body of work, making Louisville residents themselves co-creators of this unique exhibition.
Like Sam Gilliam, german pushes the boundaries of materials, storytelling, and form. Her Louisville project extends the mission of the Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program: to bring nationally celebrated artists to Louisville, spark meaningful public participation, and create site-responsive artworks.
This exhibition is organized by Diallo Simon-Ponte, Sam Gilliam Assistant Curator of Artist Programs. Additional support is provided by Taleah Gipson, Curatorial Administrative Assistant, Tyler Blackwell, Curator of Contemporary Art, and Adia Elam, Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program Intern.
Support for the Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program is provided by The Sam Gilliam Foundation.
ABOUT THE SAM GILLIAM VISITING ARTIST PROGRAM
The Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program, conceived of and presented by the Speed Art Museum, invites two contemporary artists each year to Louisville to foster fellowship and generate dialogue with Kentucky artists and community members. In addition to painters, sculptors, and photographers, this program recognizes writers, librarians, archivists, urban planners, community organizers, and agricultural scientists as creative practitioners necessary to the vitality of a local ecosystem. The Sam Gilliam Visiting Artists are invited to contribute a public presentation of their practice, educational workshops, studio visits, film screenings, and/or lectures, culminating in new approaches to public programming both at the Speed Art Museum and beyond. This program is made possible by the Sam Gilliam Foundation.
The Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program is led by Diallo Simon-Ponte, the inaugural Sam Gilliam Assistant Curator of Artist Programs. It is co-founded by Tyler Blackwell, Curator of Contemporary Art at Speed Art Museum.
Additional Related Programming
Future Histories of Emancipation | A Three-Day Performance Series
Drawing inspiration from the history of the Colored Girls Dormitory at the Louisville Industrial School of Reform and the research of UofL Professor Felicia Jamison, each performance invites audiences to engage with radical visions of freedom through poetry, live testimony, and interactive art-making.
Click here to learn more about these performances that took places on October 24 – 26, 2025
Critical Thinking Through Object Making: A Memory Jug Workshop
This workshop took place on January 17, 2026
This hands-on workshop blended critical thinking, cultural history, and creative expression. Participants explored the rich tradition of assemblage art within Black American visual culture, rooted in the spiritual and artistic legacies of the Bakongo people of Central Africa.
The session began with a brief lecture introducing the concept of Minkisi (sacred vessels) and their cultural transformations within African American communities, with a focus on the practice of memory jug making in the Black South. Memory jugs—commemorative vessels created to honor departed loved ones—were commonly found attached to grave markers throughout the South in the early 1900s.
The workshop served as a thematic continuation of the three-day performance series Future Histories of Emancipation, created by contemporary assemblage artist vanessa german. Held in October 2025, the series functioned as a ceremonial ritual honoring the Black girls enrolled in the Colored Girls Dormitory of 1896 at the Louisville Industrial School Reform, now known as Gottschalk Hall at the University of Louisville.
The workshop was created and facilitated by Sirene Martin, Assistant Curator and Repatriation Coordinator, in conjunction with the Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program at the Speed Art Museum. No prior experience was required, and all materials were provided.
