THE KENTUCKY ART AND CRAFT GALLERY

ANNOUNCES 2003 EXHIBITION SCHEDULE

Louisville, KY – The Kentucky Art and Craft Gallery is proud to announce its 2003 exhibition schedule as follows:

Current Location: 609 West Main Street, Louisville, KY

An Early Times Sampler

January 16, 2003 – March 15, 2003

Opening Reception: Wednesday, January 15, 2003, 5:00 – 7:30 PM

This show will feature new work by past and recent winners of the Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation’s Early Times Scholarships. Every year since 1988 the Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation has awarded approximately four scholarships, generously underwritten by Early Times Kentucky Whisky, to Kentucky craftspeople. These scholarships have allowed artists to study in outstanding programs and with renowned master artisans from across the U.S. and beyond. This exhibition will showcase scholarship winners’ work and how it has been impacted by their studies.

New Location: 715 West Main Street, Louisville, KY

The Glass Vessel: An International Invitational

April 11– July 19, 2003

Opening Reception and Grand Opening: Thursday, April 3, 2003

This exhibition marks the grand opening of the Kentucky Art and Craft Gallery’s new location at 715 West Main Street. We have invited a broad array of glass artists, both established and emerging, to interpret the vessel for this international invitational exhibition. The definition of the word vessel has been left to its loosest interpretation to encourage the artists to be as creative as they wish. Over 50 artists from Australia, Japan, Sweden, Netherlands, Italy, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Venezuela, Latvia, and the U.S. have agreed to contribute a group of works. Participants include studio glass artists as well as commercial glass producers. The exhibition will coincide with a major citywide initiative, Celebration of Glass 2003. This will include an exhibition of work by Dale Chihuly at the Glassworks Marta Hewett gallery, a comprehensive international architectural glass show at the Louisville Visual Art Association, and an exhibition at the Speed Art Museum entitled The Light Within: Glass Sculpture from Louisville Collections.

Rick Beck

April 11, 2003- July 19, 2003

Opening Reception and Grand Opening: Thursday, April 3, 2003

This exhibition also marks the grand opening of the Kentucky Art and Craft Gallery’s new location at 715 West Main Street. It will feature a body of work by master glass artist Rick Beck. Beck is known for his large-scale cast glass

sculpture depicting industrial, everyday objects such as screws, bolts and clamps, objects that usually are viewed as inconsequential parts of larger items. Beck enlarges the shapes and forms of these mundane objects and creates fascinating and unique images of them in cast glass. By using a fragile material, glass, to depict items usually regarded as sturdy and nearly indestructible, Beck creates an interesting balance and contradiction in his work.

KidArt Day Camp I: June 2-6, 2003, 10am-3pm, at the Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation, 715 West Main Street.

KidArt Day Camp II: June 9-13, 2003, 10am-3pm, at the Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation, 715 West Main Street.

Blackacre I: June 23-27, 2003, 9:15am-2:15pm, at the Blackacre Nature Preserve.

Blackacre II: July 7-11, 2003, 9:15am-2:15pm, at the Blackacre Nature Preserve.

A Tribute to Rude Osolnik: An Exhibition of Contemporary Turned Wood

Opening Reception: Friday, August 8, 2003, 5:00 – 7:30 PM

Wood turner Rude Osolnik was a leading figure in the contemporary craft field. Considered to be one of the fathers of contemporary wood turning in America, Osolnik is something of a folk hero. Although an accomplished woodworker, Osolnik’s greatest impact was in woodturning. A composer on the lathe, he first wedded classical form and proportion to modern simplicity. In so doing, he updated a long-practiced craft. Osolnik was widely admired as one of the finest wood turners and educators in America. His workshops and seminars were in demand around the world. This exhibition will feature a selection of Osolnik’s work from private collections, complemented by new work from more than fifty artists who were Rude’s contemporaries or who established their careers during his lifetime.

Master Makers: Byron Temple

Opening Reception: Friday, August 8, 2003, 5:00 – 7:30 PM

The Kentucky Art and Craft Gallery is proud to present this retrospective of work by renowned ceramist Byron Temple. Temple, an Indiana native, studied at the Brooklyn Museum Art School and the Art Institute of Chicago, and then from about 1958 to 1961, worked in England as an apprentice to Bernard Leach, a legendary potter and philosopher. Then from 1962 to 1989, Temple produced a range of tableware at a production pottery studio that he operated in Lambertville, New Jersey. After retiring from this production-focused work, he moved to Louisville to pursue his interest in making more creative vessels, which earned him a reputation as one of the leading potters in the world. Temple’s work, mostly small vessels, jars and boxes, has been described as straight-forward, restrained, inviting, and stripped of details extraneous to function. Temple’s influences include the Bauhaus movement and Japanese pottery, and he once said, “I wish for purity and precision in objects that extol the virtue of harmony and proportion.”

Ironworks

Opening Reception: Friday, November 7, 2003, 5:00 – 7:30 PM

The Kentucky Art and Craft Gallery, in association with the Kentucky Blacksmithing Association, is pleased to present this invitational traveling exhibit of contemporary ironwork. The mission of this exhibition is to put the art of blacksmithing on the main stage of American cultural life, and to reach and inform potential collectors of this intriguing art form. This exhibition will feature the work of over 75 of today’s finest blacksmiths.

Holidazzle 2003: Fifty Favorites

Dates and Opening Reception: TBA

As the Kentucky Art and Craft Gallery continues to present its special holiday extravaganza, Holidazzle 2003 will feature fifty special objects carefully selected by our curators and a number of guest curators from a wide range of backgrounds. The exhibition will not only showcase the range of fine objects being handcrafted in Kentucky today, but will serve as an excellent source of one-of-a-kind gifts for holiday shoppers.

About the Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation

The Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1981 to continue and advance the art and craft heritage of Kentucky through educational outreach to Kentucky's schools; two exhibition galleries featuring Kentucky, regional, and national artists; a sales gallery representing over 400 Kentucky craft artists; an informational newsletter for craftspeople and the public; and professional development and scholarships for craft artists. The Foundation, currently located at 609 West Main Street in Louisville, Kentucky, is supported in part by the Fund for the Arts and the Kentucky Arts Council, a state agency of the Education, Arts and Humanities Cabinet.

Gallery visitors can view and shop for handcrafted items Mondays-Fridays from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, contact the Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation at (502) 589-0102 or visit www.kentuckycrafts.org.