
Kentuck Art Center to Receive $20,000 Grant

Kentuck Art Center is pleased to announce it has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Grants for Arts Projects award of $20,000. This grant will support exhibitions, workshops, demonstrations, and community outreach for Kentuck's 2025 programming season, titled "From the Earth." The NEA will award 1,127 Grants for Arts Projects awards nationwide totaling more than $31.8 million as part of the recent announcement of fiscal year 2025 grants.
“The NEA is proud to continue our nearly 60 years of supporting the efforts of organizations and artists that help to shape our country’s vibrant arts sector and communities of all types across our nation,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “It is inspiring to see the wide range of creative projects taking place, including Kentuck's 2025 exhibition season, 'From the Earth.'”
"This year, we invite our community to enjoy what artists have done with materials from nature," said Exa Skinner, executive director of Kentuck Art Center and Festival. "We are so lucky to live in an area of the country with abundant natural resources, and we're pleased to share this exceptional lineup of exhibitions with our West Alabama community."
"From the Earth" is a year-long celebration of artists who incorporate natural materials into their work. For generations, self-taught “folk” artists and traditional crafters from the American South have drawn inspiration from nature, incorporating natural elements into their work. While many artists continue to use naturally occurring materials out of necessity or to honor tradition, others are embracing these resources as part of a growing movement toward sustainability, creating art that also serves as individual efforts to support the environment.
"From the Earth" will feature exhibitions in Kentuck's Museum and Teer Galleries, along with live demonstrations and artist talks at monthly Art Nights on the first Thursday each month. This programming season will also include workshops where people of all ages can learn how to incorporate natural materials into their own artwork, and outreach to underserved groups through Kentuck's Boxes of Joy program.
"We're also offering some new opportunities to visit some of our exhibitors at their studios to see where they harvest their natural materials and how they turn their material into treasured works of art," said Skinner.
Please join us for Kentuck's Art Night on February 6, 2025 from 5-8pm for the kickoff of "From the Earth" and the opening receptions of "Local Clay" by Doris Blum, Lee Busby, Hayes Dobbins, Meg Howton, Kerry Kennedy, Carol Lammon, Daniel Livingston, and Amy Smoot in Kentuck's Museum Gallery, and "Expressions in Mud" by Rik Long, Scott McQueen, Jahni Moore, and Bernard Wright in the Teer Gallery.
For more information on other projects included in the NEA’s grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
For more information about Kentuck's exhibitions, please visit: kentuck.org/exhibitions
Top Stories from the Tuscaloosa Thread (1/6 - 1/13)
Gallery Credit: (Stephen Dethrage | Tuscaloosa Thread)