To support commonwealth-made products, December is “Give a Gift from Kentucky Month.”
“The commonwealth has a wide variety of local businesses that offer a great selection of Kentucky-made products, including foods, crafts and gift cards,” said Gov. Steve Beshear. “Your loved ones will not only get a gift that is uniquely Kentucky, your purchase also helps inject dollars into our state and local economies.”
To make shopping for unique handmade gifts easier, the Kentucky Arts Council has developed Kentucky Crafted Gift Ideas, a guide featuring items created by artists in the Kentucky Crafted program. Find the guide at artscouncil.ky.gov.
A Kentucky Crafted Directory at artistdirectory.ky.gov/craft/ features nearly 200 Kentucky artists and craftspeople selected for their work’s artistic excellence.
Images by Artist Mary Hagy Will Appear on Limited Edition Maker’s Mark Bottles
Nelson County oil painter and landscape artist Mary Hagy’s rendition of a winter scene at the Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loretto was chosen to grace the label of a limited batch of 150,000 bottles of the bourbon.
The scene is one in a series of four Hagy created depicting the four seasons at the National Historic Landmark distillery. The original winter landscape used on the bottle was painted in 1980.
“Someone had suggested to me that I do something that represents Marion County,” Hagy said. “I wandered around and took pictures of different places. Prints of the painting were an immediate hit. I sold 800 in one weekend,” she said. The popularity of the prints can be traced to the connection many people in Marion County and the surrounding area feel to the distillery and its namesake product, Hagy said.
Five Kentucky Nonprofit Organizations Receive $165,000 in Arts Grants from NEA
The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded to five Kentucky nonprofit arts organizations $165,000 in Access to Artistic Excellence Grants. The five organizations were among 1,524 eligible applicants and among 843 nonprofit national, regional, state and local organizations nationwide recommended for a total of $23.75 million in funding.
The Kentucky grant recipients are:
- Actors Theatre of Louisville – Louisville, $50,000 to support the 35th annual Humana Festival of New American Plays
- Appalachian Artisan Center of Kentucky – Hindman, $25,000 to support the Master Artists in Residence program.
- Council on Developmental Disabilities – Louisville, $10,000 to support the Sisters and Brothers Exhibition.
- Kentucky Dance Council – Louisville, $20,000 to support the Louisville Ballet’s commission of a new work by resident choreographer Adam Hougland and acquisition of Stanton Welch’s ballet “Madame Butterfly.”
- Sarabande Books – Louisville, $35,000 to support the publication and promotion of collections of short fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry.