No.18: Jessica Winters - Co-Founder of PRHBTN

Art Throb

Episode 18 of the Art Throb podcast features Jessica Winters, one half of the husband/wife team who in 2011 founded PRHBTN, Lexington's first street art festival.
For more than a decade, Jessica and John Winters have facilitated the installation of large-scale murals by international artists throughout Lexington and have hosted annual gallery events to provide opportunities to local and regional artists. PRHBTN is an annual celebration of art forms that have been criminalized, marginalized, and under-appreciated in the mainstream, featuring public murals alongside an exhibition of street art works in a space that complements the raw, powerful nature of the message and artistry of each piece.
“The name PRHBTN originated because we felt like street artists and graffiti artists, folks of that ilk, were kind of prohibited from appearing in standard galleries and from being part of the art establishment,” John said. “That would be a kind of prohibition. We're in Kentucky, too, and since it’s bourbon country, we thought people would think the name is kind of funny.”
The shortened version came along after John and Jessica decided the word was too long and decided to omit the vowels to make it more concise and easier to put on the flyers and stickers.
In 2022 they decided to no longer produce mural, although the gallery exhibition of work will continue at The Lexington Art League's Loudoun House. Now Jessica and John are shifting toward transformative, interactive pop-up pieces such as Call of Joy.

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