Saturday, June 10, 2006

Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft

While in Louisville, we visited the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft. It is located not far from several hotels and is close to many other museums and places of interest.

Second floor gallery
During our visit we saw a furniture show and wood turning show. Both were enjoyable and worth seeing. The museum works to share the art and craft of Kentucky artist, but also reaches out to weave in national artists and craftspeople. It makes for a good mix. The museum is spread over three public floors and has a good amount of work on exhibit, definitely worth a trip.
Fin Spin by Bruce Mitchell
The Museums gift shop is also of note displaying the work of dozens, if not hundreds of Kentucky artists. It is a show in itself and quite densely packed, so walk through it twice, or even three times to not miss anything.

The museum also has a permanent collection, part of which is on display. I was somewhat less impressed with this section. There are several good examples of ceramics, wood turning, and an exceptional quilt, but it also had some questionable folk art, or outsider art as some like to refer to it. I appreciate genuine folk art, but it is a title used far too loosely and it did not seem to fit well with the museum's focus on craft.

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