2026 KENTUCKY BOURBON FESTIVAL ARTISTS

 Dana E. Muhammad is a self-taught portrait artist from Louisville, Kentucky. Her work captures the emotional depth, beauty, and vulnerability of her subjects, with a particular focus on the Black experience. 

Favorite Non-Profit: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) 

 Lauren Hewitt is an artist from Frankfort, Kentucky and a graduate of Western Kentucky University with a degree in Art Education. Through oil painting, she explores memory, loss, relationships, and human connection through the figure. 

 Favorite Non-Profit: Yes Arts 

 Melody Brooke Wright is a self-taught artist from Georgetown, Kentucky and a University of Kentucky graduate with a degree in Animal Science/Pre-Vet. Inspired by animals, Kentucky, family, and faith, she creates paintings that blend realism with fantasy and storytelling, giving viewers a sense of both home and adventure. 

Favorite Non-Profit: Primate Rescue Center 

 Brad Howard is a Louisville-based Creative Director and artist whose work balances clean design with hands-on creativity. He explores bold colors, retro patterns, and raw textures across physical and digital mediums, with an emphasis on craftsmanship and storytelling.  

Favorite Non-Profit: Brotherwood Coffee

 Todd Spencer is a University of Louisville Fine Arts graduate and full-time Special Education teacher in Bullitt County. His paintings celebrate Kentucky’s heritage through landscapes, farms, bourbon, and Kentucky Derby-inspired subjects. Add a short description.

Favorite Non-Profit: Tourette Association of America 

 MJ Mays is a self-taught Louisville artist whose work is rooted in curiosity, introspection, and human connection. Their layered compositions explore emotion and identity, creating a visual balance between anxiety and calm, chaos and clarity. 

Favorite Non-Profit: A Recipe to End Hunger

 Felicia Clause is a Crestwood, Kentucky artist who spent many years as an elementary art teacher before becoming a full-time painter. Known for vibrant colors, rich textures, and subjects inspired by flowers and animals, she incorporates the word love into every piece as a symbol of compassion, hope, and human connection. 

 Favorite Non-Profit: Good News Homes 

 Brandon Hein is a self-taught Louisville artist whose work ranges from realism to surrealism, often using organic imagery to express emotional states. He was accepted into the Kentucky Crafted Program in 2025, and his painting Bloom was featured in the Governor’s Derby Exhibit at the Kentucky State Capitol. 

 Favorite Non-Profit: Tribe Animal Sanctuary 

 Emmy Hunter is the Richmond, Kentucky artist behind Antler & Oak Art. A self-taught acrylic artist, she specializes in live event painting and realistic bourbon bottle art and has painted more than 100 bottles, including one displayed at Maker’s Mark. 

Favorite Non-Profit: Affirm Women’s Health 

 Paula Decker Haynes is a self-taught mixed media artist who has been showing and selling her work since 2013. She builds her pieces through layers of paper, pencil, ink, found objects, acrylic paint, and words, and has earned several ribbons while exhibiting throughout Kentucky. 

 Favorite Non-Profit: Gathering Grace Center for Women’s Ministry