The Actors’ Theatre of Louisville will host the exhibition Uncommon Wealth, a retrospective of past visual arts recipients of the Kentucky Arts Council’s Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship award, including artists who have just received the commonwealth’s prestigious award. The exhibit features sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, fiber art, ceramics, glass, mixed-media and experimental works by Kentucky’s leading contemporary artists. The opening at Actors’ is Friday evening, November 2, 2007, during Louisville’s gallery hop, 316 W. Main Street, Louisville, Ky.

Uncommon Wealth will be on display in Louisville from October 29, 2007 through February 2, 2008 and will continue on tour in various configurations in Richmond (February 18 n April 18, 2008), Pikeville (February 18 – April 28, 2008), Danville (May 1-30, 2008), Louisa (May 5-June 27, 2008) and Cadiz (May 10 n June 22). Uncommon Wealth originally opened in Lexington in 2006 and was reorganized for the 2007-2008 tour beginning in August at the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art.

The Kentucky Arts Council has been serving artists in Kentucky since 1966, and awarding fellowships to artists since 1984. Visual art fellowships are selected on a bi-yearly basis and are based on the artistic merit of the artist’s work. Past and present Kentucky Arts Council visual art fellowship recipients (currently living in Kentucky) were invited to participate in Uncommon Wealth.

“The Arts Council is dedicated to the promotion and support of individual artists,” says Lori Meadows, the arts council’s executive director. “Many of these artists have work in private and public collections throughout the nation. They bring a very positive recognition for Kentucky.”

Uncommon Wealth was partially funded with a grant from the Kentucky Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), as part of the American Masterpieces program, which seeks to introduce Americans to the best of their cultural and artistic legacy. The Kentucky Arts Council is a state agency in the Commerce Cabinet that creates opportunities for Kentuckians through the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

NOTE TO EDITORS: See list below for exhibiting artists by city of residence.

Almo

Sandy Miller Sasso

Bardstown

Jim Cantrell

Berea

Walter Hyleck

Esther E. Randall

David Zurick

Bowling Green

Tom Bartel

Kim Chalmers

Yvonne Petkus

Danville

Judith Pointer

Jia Erlanger

Kevin Muente

Frankfort

Dobree Adams

Highland Heights

Ken Landon Buck

Irvine

Gwen Heffner

Lexington

Philis Alvic

Sean Anderson

Steve Armstrong

Garry Bibbs

Steve Davis-Rosenbaum

Gerald Ferstman

Kurt Gohde

Gary J. Noland, Jr.

Arturo Alonzo Sandoval

Karen Spears

Erika Strecker

Lawrence Tarpey

Robert Tharsing

Louisville

Peter Bodnar III

Tom Butsch

Ying Kit Chan

Debra Clem

Brad Devlin

Gaela A. Erwin

Lida G. Gordon

Shayne Hull

Louisville – continued

Scott Massey

Gabrielle Mayer

Mary E. Newton

Thomas Pfannerstill

C.J. Pressma

Letitia Quesenberry

Guinever Smith

Zoe Strecker

Brook Forest White, Jr.

Gayle Williamson

McKee

Linda Fifield

Morehead

David Bartlett

Elizabeth Mesa-Gaido

Gary Mesa-Gaido

Nicholasville

Patrick Adams

Owensboro

Stephen Driver

David Stratton

Paducah

Patt Blue

Warren Farr

Connie Noyes

Randy Simmons

Prospect

J. Barry Motes

Richmond

David Mohallatee

Mary Tortorici

Travis Townsend

Shelbyville

Valerie Sullivan Fuchs

Michael Thomas McCardwell

Union

Nancy Cassell

Michael Maydak

Williamsburg

Russell Weedman

Winchester

Joseph Molinaro