Visitors to Kentucky Crafted:The Market will have a chance to see a special exhibition, Made to be Played: Traditional Art of Kentucky Luthiers. As the result of years of fieldwork conducted by the Kentucky Folklife Program, this exhibit presents the work of 16 Kentucky artists viewed as masters in the construction and repair of guitars, fiddles, banjos, mandolins, dulcimers and other stringed instruments.
Kentucky Crafted: The Market is produced by the Kentucky Arts Council and will feature over 300 exhibitors of traditional and contemporary art and craft along with authentic folk art, Kentucky-related books, musical recordings and specialty food products at the Kentucky Exposition Center, South Wing B, in Louisville, March 8-9, 2008.
Kentucky Folklife Program Director, Bob Gates, will interview some of the artists featured in the exhibit, who will explain the art and traditions involved in their work on Saturday, March 8, on the Blue Moon Stage. On both Saturday and Sunday, children (ages 5-10) will have the chance to make their own stringed instruments. Participants will use rubber bands, screws, wood and wire to construct the instruments, and in the process they will learn about how strings vibrate to make pitch. The classes, presented by the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, are free but require registration in the Children and Family Traditions Area.
Dedicated to the memory of Homer Ledford, a master luthier, craftsman, instrument inventor and musician who passed away December 11, 2006, Made to be Played also features artists Roy Bowen, Winchester; Gary Cornett, Louisville; Cathy Currier, Richmond; Bryan England, Caneyville; Arthur Hatfield, Glasgow; Neil Kendrick, Frenchburg; Donna Lamb, Lancaster; Lewis Lamb, Lancaster; Scott Leedy, Winchester; Warren A. May, Berea; Art Mize, Lexington; Douglas Naselroad, Winchester; Frank Neat, Russell Springs; Frank Pittman, Bowling Green; Jimmy Robertson, Edmonton; and Larry Shepherd, Caneyville. Funded through a National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces grant, Made to be Played is sponsored by the Kentucky Folklife Program, an interagency program of the Kentucky Arts Council and the Kentucky Historical Society.
Learn more about the artists featured in Made to be Played at http://www.artscouncil.ky.gov/Luthier/Luthier_About.htm.
For more information about Kentucky Crafted: The Market 2008 and to receive $1-off-admission coupons, go to www.kycraft.ky.gov or call toll-free 888-833-2787.
Kentucky Crafted: The Market 2008
Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, South Wing B
Louisville, Ky.
Public Days
Saturday, March 8, 2008 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. (EST)
Sunday, March 9, 2008 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST)
Adults $8 (Children 15 and under free), Parking $5
