LouLife

The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft’s Traveling Art Suitcase Program has been in existence since 1996 and currently houses 23 suitcases ranging from Folk Art, Ceramics, Fiber Art, Walking Sticks, Woodwork, Traditional Craft, Basketry, Photography, Printmaking, African American Art to Native American Art.  Each suitcase is a self-contained mini-exhibit that is used by schools, libraries and community centers.  All of the art work is made by Kentucky artists/artisans and each suitcase contains biographical info about the artists, descriptions of the works of art, books related to the subject, audio and video as well as lesson ideas that are connected with Kentucky core curriculum.  The program is generously supported by UPS who provides shipping.  Grants from the Barth Foundation, the Gheens Foundation, the Hadley Foundation and the Norton Foundation have provided funding to revamp out-of-date suitcases and re-align lessons with Kentucky's current core content standards.

The Native American Art suitcase is the most recent addition to KMAC’s series of Traveling Art Suitcases.  The suitcase features works of art made by Native American artists living right here in Kentucky.  Through the exploration of this suitcase, students and their teachers will have the opportunity to explore Native American art from a contemporary perspective.  The suitcase contains information about each of the artists along with information about the work(s) of art that they created.  The included lesson plans explore the history and culture of Native American art and also encourage students to make correlations and explore their own culture and history.  The lessons are all connected with Kentucky's core content and reinforce the academic standards through hands-on project ideas, discussion questions and writing lessons. 

Artist of the Native American Art Suitcase include Kevin Payne who lives in Louisville, KY and is an art teacher at Saint Xavier High School., Hawk Laughing, a Mohawk Indian living in Welch's Creek, KY, Matt Cordes who resides on a small farm near Radcliff, KY that he shares with his wife, author Lynny Prince who contributed the rawhide rattle and his wife, Lynny, who is of Cherokee descent submitted a signed copy of a book she wrote, Scattered Leaves: The Legend of Ghostkiller, Martha "Momfeather" Erickson, founder of Mantle Rock Native Education and Cultural Center in Marion, KY, Vallorie Henderson, a member of the Bird Clan of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee (tsa-la-gi-yi) Indians, living in Louisville, KY and Judy Sizemore from eastern KY. Digital images available.