A different kind of art: UK museum features Kentucky artists

By Laura Clark

A museum won’t be the only home to one collection of art.

The UK Art Museum will present an exhibition of folk art from across the state, which is part of UK HealthCare’s collection.  By February 2011, it will be moved to the new UK Albert B. Chandler Hospital as part of the “Arts in Healing” program, said Dr. Michael Karpf, UK’s executive vice president for health affairs.

The show, “Kentucky Folk: Art from the UK HealthCare Collection,” will be displayed at the museum until Sept. 20.

“There’s a number of places that found art and music actually quite helpful to people in the hospital,” Karpf said.  “It puts them in a better mood, they heal better, it helps the family.”

The folk art collection consists of folk art figures, sculptures, paintings and carved walking sticks by Kentucky folk artists from the 1970s to the present.

Adrian Swain, the folk art curator at the Kentucky Folk Art Center at Morehead State University, and the Center’s director, Matt Collinsworth, found and selected the pieces that were to be chosen for “Kentucky Folk.”

“We worked in partnership with the hospital,” Swain said.  “We wanted to try to give the best representation of the high points in contemporary Kentucky folk art.”

Swain said the collection was a cross section of good work from most of the best self-taught, late 20th century and current artists in Kentucky.

“Eventually it will live as a part of the collection at the hospital,” Swain said.  “It will hopefully serve the goal to heal.  Art and music are believed to be therapeutic; not directly perhaps, but they both foster a healthy environment.

“Art has the capacity to enrich the lives of the people who see them.  When you see art, it stops you in your tracks.”

The UK Art Museum director, Kathy Walsh-Piper said the museum has never shown a collection of folk art, only individual artist’s pieces.

“There’s a folk art museum in Morehead, but that’s a several hour drive,” Walsh-Piper said.  “This gives people a chance to sense what they like.  At the art museum, we try to feature art you don’t usually see here.”

Walsh-Piper said the collection was something worth a student’s time.

“It’ll make (students) feel at home,” Walsh-Piper said.  “It’s all about artists in Kentucky, and it’s approachable and fun to look at.”

Once construction is complete, most of the collection will be displayed in the Health Education Center of the hospital.

Karpf said landscaping, music and art are all supporting a healing environment for the new hospital.

“We felt that building a hospital should treat a whole person, not just a disease,” Karpf said.