COVINGTON, Ky. – Thanks to the 2024 FotoFocus Biennial, the largest photography and video biennial in the United States, there’s some very cool art to see in The Cov this weekend.
The FotoFocus Biennial theme is “backstories,” meaning stories within photographs that are not immediately understood, so you’ll want to study on the images, then maybe discuss and argue about them over a bourbon or beer (couple of events this weekend where you can do just that).
So, go forth and see art, make art, and think about art. It’s a cerebral weekend in The Cov, and bourbon, beer, kittens, and a drag show make it all the more fun.
You don’t have to be a skilled and sophisticated collage artist to know that the key to creating a masterful collage is to do so in a roomful of kittens.
A purring kitten serpentining between one’s ankles is an underestimated muse. You’re sure to create your finest work at Purrfect Day Cat Café’s Collaging and Kitten Cuddles with Annie tonight.
Purrfect Day Cat Café will supply all the materials – including a variety of papers, magazines, scissors, and glue – for you to make a themed collage, an inspiration board, or a tribute to something or someone special. Annie will guide you, while the kittens inspire you.
Back in October 1976, mere weeks before the Nov. 2 presidential election between Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter and Republican candidate Gerald Ford, Rolling Stone magazine tasked photographer William Eggleston with documenting Carter’s birthday of Plains, Ga.
Rolling Stone never published Eggleston’s images, but in 1977, 100 original prints from the assignment were published in two leather-bound volumes, housed in a linen box. The elaborate Election Eve, published by New York’s Caldecott Chubb, became Eggleston’s rarest collectible book. Having aimed his lens at quiet restaurants, abandoned bicycles, empty roads, and lonesome mailboxes, Eggleston’s photographs showed an image of the small southern town starkly different from the media’s idealized version.
Fast forward nearly 50 years, with a presidential election just a month away, and the interest and curiosity in the concepts of place and life in the South continue.
Tonight, Southern Democrat opens at The Carnegie. It’s an exhibit that features the work of an array of artists whose art meditates upon place and change, in dialogue with Eggleston’s Election Eve.
The exhibit is curated by Phillip March Jones, founder of Lexington’s Institute 193, a nonprofit contemporary art space, and owner of MARCH, a curatorial platform and gallery in New York City. Southern Democrat is part of the 2024 FotoFocus Biennial.
Ever wonder what makes some street trees “good” and others “bad?” Covington Urban Forester Patrick Moore and Kenton County Cooperative Extensive Agent Brandon George will teach you everything you need to know to make the distinction during Saturday’s Urban Tree Walk: Eastside.
Moore and George will talk about invasive plants and invasive species that are on the horizon, such as the spotted lanternfly. Expect to stop at about 30 trees on the walk, including ones that are in the public right of way and those on the edges of private property.
So, slip on your most comfortable walking shoes, plan to meet up at the parking lot at the corner of Scott Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/12th Street, behind the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, and have an informative start to your day.
Better yet, how about “Off to the Opera Cream Stout?”
With a cry of “Let them drink cake!” Braxton Brewing Co.’s Opera Fest on Saturday celebrates the release of its BonBonerie Opera Cream Stout and will offer six “decadent” opera cream stout variants on tap: Pistachio, Blackberry, Mocha, PB&J, Raspberry Cheesecake, and Bananas Foster.
And guess what? There will actually be an opera performance. Grace Graham will provide the trills and wide melodic leaps, followed by live music from Last Scouts.
Think the evening can’t get any better? Think again. Braxton will have BonBonerie Opera Cream cupcakes to go along with your Opera Cream Stout flight.
Saturday’s Drink Draw & Drag at Creative House of Art & Design will be an evening of creativity, cocktails, and an “unforgettable” drag performance, all inspired by the master of the macabre, the eerie, the dark, the mysterious, the modern day detective story: Edgar Allan Poe.
There’s a fee that includes instruction, all art supplies, your first drink, charcuterie, and that fabulous drag performance. Nevermore will you have so much fun.
Before September, which is National Bourbon Heritage Month, gets away from us (and, wow, did that ever fly by?), Old Kentucky Bourbon Bar will celebrate with an OKBB Single Barrel release of Buzzard Roost, a special bourbon talk, and tasting.
The OKBB Buzzard Roost Barrel Release on Sunday features Mike Adams and the Buzzard Roost crew to talk about bourbon heritage and the unique bourbon aging process that they employ. This OKBB Single Barrel was re-barreled in a new, lightly charred and toasted barrel at 116 proof.
Local artist Mark Schlachter’s “Familiar Faces” Opening Reception at the Behringer-Crawford Museum on Sunday is a “fauxtodocumentary” project that aims to share the hidden stories of a one-of-a-kind, diverse community nestled in Indiana somewhere between El Dorado and Brigadoon.
Part of the 2024 FotoFocus backstories Biennial, Schlachter’s keen eye captures the unknown and unseen realities of a faux Indiana community that’s both diverse and equitable, its faces and stories meant to share a humorous and familiar take on culture and humanity.
Tonight: The Missy Werner Band at Molly Malone’s Irish Pub & Restaurant … Alex Poteet at Smoke Justis … Beyond the Stage Live: Spirit Board at Madison Live.
Friday: Kenny Cowden at Smoke Justis … Ricky Nye Inc. at Juniper’s … Bleghs! For Beth at Madison Theater … A Better Trip with Shane Mauss at Madison Live … Torture at The Rooftop at Madison Theater.
Saturday: The Bluebirds Duo at Smoke Justis … Doug Hart Band with Jamie Carr Band at The Village Theater … Angie Coyle Quartet at Juniper’s … The Collection – Little Deaths Album Release Tour at The Rooftop at Madison Theater … Telehope Album Release Show at Madison Theater … Bikini Trill with Harold at Madison Live.
Sunday: Hanabie at Madison Theater.
Tonight: AniManga Night at Kenton County Public Library … Fall Cocktail Release & Market at Juniper’s … Thirsty Thursday Bingo at Frosthaus.
Friday: Graeter’s Monthly Donut Pop-Up at Braxton Brewing Co. … Feud at Frosthaus … Karaoke at Frosthaus.
Saturday: Covington Farmers Market at 425 Madison Ave. Parking Lot … MainStrasse Village Food Tour. … Scarlet Begonia’s Flower Truck at Crafts & Vines.
Sunday: Belly & Brunch at The Roost Latonia.
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