VISUAL ARTS t Bowling Green’s Downing Museum , travel through the lifework of a Kentucky abstract artist and a collection of decorative arts set amidst the backdrop of Baker Arboretum . For small towns with a big arts scene, check out the Arts Center of the Bluegrass in Danville, find artisan-made primitives and furniture at the Screen Door & Country Market in Greenville or stroll more than 20 independent shops in Murray offering local art, jewelry, home décor and more. That charming town is also your base for exploring more than 60 large painted quilt squares on the nearby Calloway County Quilt Trail . Can there ever be too many murals, statues and sculpture parks? Nope! Play on the art at Frankfort’s Josephine Sculpture Park . Make like a zombie and sneak up on the world’s largest Walking Dead Mural in Cynthiana. Greet Civil Rights pioneer Alice Allison Dunnigan in Russellville, where her bronze statue stands outside the SEEK Museum . See a bas-relief sandstone sculpture carved into a boulder and hidden in a hillside in Owsley County. The Abraham Lincoln Statue is larger than life, just like the 16th president, and was carved circa 1935 as a thank-you gift. Behold the vision – a 680-pound stainless steel fork rising 21 feet above a rural landscape. The Fork in the Road is among several sculptures adding quirky fun to Franklin’s public art scene, which also includes The Cutting Edge , a 24-foot-tall butter knife. Within Manchester’s historic Rawlings/ Stinson Park is the Red Bird Petroglyph , a well-known yet mysterious rock containing ancient inscriptions, including the alphabet of an ancient kingdom in northwest South Africa. The mystery is … why? It seems only natural that a state with such strong handcrafting lineage would have a “Folk Arts & Crafts Capital” (it does: Berea) and worldwide recognition (that too: Paducah, a UNESCO Creative City that’s one of only nine in the country). Silas House, Bobbie Ann Mason, Wendell Berry – these authors add their voices to a rich literary tradition that travels across the state. Explore their stories and others at Greenup’s Jesse Stuart State Nature Preserve and La Grange’s Windy Meadows Equestrian/Event Center . Discover the Bluegrass State’s visual arts! kentuckytourism.com/culture/arts/visual-art-in-kentucky kentuckytourism.com 27
The Official Kentucky Visitor's Guide The Official Kentucky Visitor's Guide 2023: Page 27
