Folk Art and More Cousins

Then we hit the road early on Sunday. We had planned to go to Gettysburg, but because of the rain, we scrapped that plan and just started toward Kentucky. We drove through Pennsylvania, Maryland and on to West Virginia. Stayed overnight in Charleston, WV and continued on to Kentucky on Monday.

Because our cousins wouldn’t be free until late afternoon, we took our time and stopped at the Kentucky Folk Art Center at Morehead State University. What a wonderful place. One of my secret passions is folk art and this museum has wonderful examples of traditional as well as modern folk art. We spent a couple of hours enjoying the exhibits and then it was on to Lexington, KY.

Various Artists

Denzil Goodpaster

By Larry Hamm

Garden of Eden Cane by Steve Armstrong, 2017.

By Steve Armstrong

Circus Cane by Steve Armstrong

Kathy Insert: When I was checking up on some of the artists, I found articles describing the difficulties currently affecting this historical and contemporary museum. In an article in Louisville Magazine…”the Christian Science Monitor called it a ‘Rosetta Stone’ for understanding the evolution of folk art.” Unfortunately, in 2016, when the University was having budget problems, it cut its $100,000 in support. This year the state of Kentucky eliminated the rest of the museum’s funding by cutting its $200,000 appropriation. They were 5 employees, including a curator-grant writer, and are now down to one contract employee. Other institutions have offered to take the museum (Berea College which has a history of preserving Appalachian folk art and culture and KMAC (founded as the Kentucky Museum of Arts and Crafts) in Louisville, but the University is not discussing this. Here are photos of work at the Museum (they said we could take photos and now I am very glad I did.)

Left: DONCHA HEAR POOR MAMA CALLING by LaVon Williams, 2003?. Right: SWEET HOME, SON HOUSE by LaVon Williams, 20??

Left: Red Lady by LaVon Williams, 2018. Middle: Dancer by LaVon Williams with Dave Henry, 2009. Right: Racine by LaVon Williams, 1993(or 8).

A STUDY IN HORSE LOGIC by Bruce New

RIDERS TO THE SEA by Bruce New

Work of Marvin Finn, Louisville, KY.

By Minnie Adkins, Elliott County, Kentucky

We then met up with our cousin Kelly Cassidy in the late afternoon, and later joined her sister, Shelagh and her family for dinner at a nice gastro-pub. We had a fun dinner sharing food and trying flights of cider. Then we 4 ladies returned to our hotel and stayed up talking until midnight. Kathy and Kelly spent some time talking genealogy and family stories. It was a great visit.