Over Twenty-Five Years of Kentucky Art

The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft is one of many Louisville art venues where pieces by many different local, regional, and national artists can be seen.

This Louisville art venue was founded in 1981 by Phyllis George Brown. At the time, she was the First Lady of Kentucky and former Miss America. She wanted a way to preserve and bring attention to Kentucky's diverse arts and crafts. Over twenty-five years and two moves later, the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft is a staple in the Main Street District and a top tourist attraction.

The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft has three floors and 27,000 square feet of operating space, contemporary art, craft exhibitions and a gift shop where visitors can find many types of handmade items including textiles, jewelry, wood, ceramics, glass pieces and paintings. There are generally works from about 200 artists available in the gallery shop at any given time. The shop offers free gift wrapping and will ship purchases globally.

The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft receives some funding from the Kentucky Arts Council. The Kentucky arts council provides funding and grants to every county in Kentucky, as they receive funding from state budget allocations and The National Endowment for the Arts.

This Louisville arts venue provides workshops, classes, and resources each year to over 90,000 participants of all ages, including workshops for girl scouts and summer camp programs. They provide three summer day camps for kids separated by grade levels. The children get to tour downtown art galleries and leave each day with their own piece of art that they made. This year, campers were surprised to have a visitor from the Louisville Zoo, which brought a chinchilla and a bearded dragon for them to observe while drawing them. Other projects included stonecarving, wood sculptures and papier mache masks.

If you can't make it to the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, you can see a virtual tour of this Louisville art venue. There are many pictures of every part of the museum on their website.

The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft also administers the Woodford Reserve Scholarship, which began with a generous grant from the Brown-Foreman Company. Any working craftsperson living in Kentucky whose craft is their career may apply for the $!,000 grant.

This Louisville art venue is open Monday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm. They are located at 715 W. Main Street and can be reached at 502-589-0102.