******** home about project about this building our journey location about alt.spaces sustainable vision louisville art contact ********




Project Concept - 2005-7 Nelligan Hall Art Studios the LAVA House archive Aron Conaway Hallie Jones shoot the messenger studios home about project about this building our journey location about alt.spaces sustainable vision louisville art contact

Who are we?


This project began in 2005 as a search for a perfect space. Inspired by our successes and frustration at the LAVA House, we set out to purchase a building of our own, to manifest our own destiny and steer our own fate. We've met many barriers and failures, but kept on to 'TRY HARDER'. It seems the stars have finally aligned and we're on the fast track to completing this leg of our journey.
Hallie and I (Aron) are completing 5 years of ongoing rennovations to our house and preparing to put it up on the market. We're trying to get a few people ready to get involved as we approach transition time. Following that point we would love to share a building full of artists, activists, gardeners, musicians, and other creators to join us in the experience.

For more background on us, see bios below and/or our personal websites of our past endeavors:

  • Aron Conaway, M.A. is an interdisciplinary artist and curator born, raised and living in Louisville. He has a BFA in photography and a Masters Degree in Critical and Curatorial Studies from the University of Louisville. Aron is manager of the Open Doors community outreach program at the Louisville Visual Art Association, freelances as an artist and occasionally conducts community art projects and workshops through the Speed Art Museum, KY Center for the Arts and the Nothing Collective. His work has been exhibited at the Speed Art Museum and various galleries in Louisville and New York, and has been acquired by several private art collections, including the Deutsche Bank and Maker’s Mark. Aron is represented by Swanson-Reed Contemporary Gallery on East Market Street in Louisville.

    Aron co-founded the Louisville Assembly of Vanguard Art (LAVA House) in 2001, and served on the boards of WXBH and the Brick House in 2006-07. He is one of several founding artists serving on the board of directors for Ohio Valley Creative Energy, a non-profit with a mission to build a fire-arts (glass, metal, ceramics) studio next to a Southern Indiana landfill in order to utilize excess methane for creative means. Aron served as director/ head of the Communications Committee on the Green Convene of Louisville's board of directors throughout 2009.

    With wife, Hallie Jones, he owns North End Investments LLC and Nelligan Hall, a 4,000 sf historic social club in the Portland Neighborhood, which the couple have converted to an art studio complex. They are currently working on a project to build a multi-use, sustainable community of art studios and living spaces in a 150 year old, 90,000 sf warehouse. Aron believes whole-heartedly in the power of the arts and new media to transform our community on many levels, through individual participation, collective experience and education.

  • Hallie Jones, M.A. – Hallie is the PAINT Program Manager. She has been with Center for Neighborhoods since 2004. As Director of Marketing & Communications, she designs new programs and initiatives, works on fundraising and development, developed and maintains CFN’s website, e-newsletter, databases, and the video/photo archives. Hallie develops and designs all marketing, print, public relations, and promotional materials. She serves as a Program Assistant for the Neighborhood Institute and the Brownfield Institute’s Public Art Committee. Hallie provides technical assistance to neighborhood associations, and organizes events and public meetings for Center For Neighborhoods. Hallie is also an artist who is actively involved in Louisville’s vibrant art community.

    She was a member of the former LAVA House (Louisville Assembly of Vanguard Art) for 6 years and is a recipient of a Kentucky Foundation for Women Artist Enrichment Grant. Her work has been exhibited at the Speed Art Museum and various galleries in Louisville and New York, and has been acquired by several private art collections, including the Deutsche Bank and Maker’s Mark. Hallie is represented by Swanson-Reed Contemporary Gallery on East Market Street in Louisville.

    She and her husband are the owners of Nelligan Hall in the Portland neighborhood, which is an old Democratic social hall they have converted into an artist collective studio and gallery space. She is currently earning her Masters of Art in Teaching Art Education (M.A.T.) at the University of Louisville and will be a certified k-12 art teacher. She is entering Indiana University at Bloomington in the fall as a Doctoral candidate in Art Education. As she works on a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction, she will continue managing her portfolio of work at Center For Neighborhoods.

    • the LAVA House - 927 Shelby Pkwy Louisville KY
    Nelligan Hall - 2010 Portland Ave. Louisville KY
    Shoot the Messenger Art Aron Conaway Art Hallie Jones Art

    aronconaway@hotmail.com
    758.8338

    halliejones@hotmail.com

    Video Tour of the LAVA House Alt.Space Oct. 2007 (6 videos)