by Alyssa Harvey, The Daily News, originally published on 4/22/2010
When Jane Ward Kehrt decided to enter her artwork in The Medical Center’s first Women-in-the-Arts Exhibit 20 years ago, she was excited that there was an event celebrating female artists.
“It’s close, it’s a good show and it celebrates women. I appreciate the fact that they are concerned with women in the arts,” the Glasgow artist said. “Men had been pretty much put on the front burner of art. There are women with tremendous talent who never got the exposure that men got.”
The Medical Center is continuing to give women the opportunity to show and sell their artwork with the 20th annual Women-in-the-Arts Exhibit. The entries will be displayed from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at The Medical Center Auditorium. Winning pieces will be displayed from Monday to May 17 in the Capitol Arts Center’s Houchens Gallery, which is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.
The exhibit is open to Kentucky women ages 18 and up. The experience ranges from seasoned to new, Community Wellness Director Linda Rush said.
“We have 57 women who have entered artwork and 112 pieces of artwork,” she said of the free exhibit, which includes watercolors, paintings, pottery, photography and weaving. “The majority of the artwork is for sale.”
Twenty-five percent of the sales will go to the Capitol’s Visual Arts Program, which presents new works and exhibitions in the center’s galleries.
“There are always costs associated with it, so anything we get from the sale of the artwork does a lot to support it,” said Capitol Gallery Director Lynn Robertson.
Mary Pat Turner, an art professor at Belmont University in Nashville, will be the juror for the event. The winner of the Purchase Award will be bought by and displayed at The Medical Center. Eight to 10 artists will win $100 Merit Awards. There will also be honorable mentions.
“This is something the women artists look forward to every year. There is a lot of talent in this community,” Rush said. “The exhibit has been successful because of the quality of artwork and the support from the community.”
Kehrt has entered two watercolors this year – a horse scene and Elkhorn Creek, both scenes from her native Lexington.
“Elkhorn Creek ran through our farm. It’s a beautiful creek,” she said. “I’m doing a series of creeks in Kentucky. I’ve been gathering reference work.”
She has won the Purchase Award twice as well as several honorable mentions. Watercolor has been her medium of choice for many years because after 20 years of painting with oil, she developed an allergy.
“I usually enter whatever I’m painting at the time. I’ve lived in a few states, and I believe we live in one of the beautiful states,” she said of Kentucky. “I just look around me. I paint what I see.”
The special awards and extended displays make the Women-in-the-Arts ideal for an artist, Kehrt said.
“They do a tremendous job of getting it out to the public,” she said.
— For more information, call 745-1010 or toll free at (800) 624-2318 or e-mail info@mcbg.org.
