Flame Run contemporary art glass studio will celebrate the Beatles in “Twist and Shout,” an exhibit that will open the weekend of Abbey Road on the River, a Beatles festival that drew 25,000 people to Louisville last year.
The exhibit opens May 23 and runs through July 25. An opening night reception is from 6 to 9 p.m.
Flame Run co-owner Brook Forrest White Jr. said the idea for the exhibit came to him when he realized the Beatles’ song “Twist and Shout” could be about glass blowing.
“Glass blowing is about action, motion and vitality,” White said. “When you blow glass, you are constantly twisting and turning the blow pipe.”
The show includes work by John Miller, of Champaign, Ill., and Eoin Breadon, of Cleveland, as well as artists from Louisville; Brook White and Flame Run co-owner Susie Slabaugh, Matt Randy, Casey McMains and Tiffany Ackerman.
White said the art reflects the artists’ diverse response to the show’s theme. “Some pieces have been inspired by Beatles songs and other pieces are simply representative of song titles,” said White, who noted that the show includes a yellow submarine and a silver hammer, a reference to "Maxwell's Silver Hammer,” a song from the Abbey Road album.
Abbey Road on the River featured 60 bands, performing on eight stages last May. It was the sixth year for the festival which has made Louisville its permanent home.