A tall, sewer-pipe drum (pictured left) was made by master drummer and River City Drum Corps founder Ed White. It's on loan at the newly opened Makings of a Master exhibit at the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center. 

When local artist Andee Rudloff steps into the newly opened exhibit at the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center, she sees the full scale of Kentucky’s folk arts heritage on display.

“I think we’ve got such a rich cultural history here in Kentucky,” said Rudloff, who works with SKyPAC.

The Makings of a Master exhibit, available at SKyPAC until September during regular business hours, showcases the work of master artisans and culture keepers from across the state. Several hand-crafted pieces are on display, many of which are on loan from the artists themselves.

Among other exhibits, guests can explore the stories behind a dulcimer and several acoustic guitars, chairs woven from willow branches, marbles cut from stone and a drum made from an old pipe by master drummer Ed White, who founded the Louisville-based River City Drum Corps.

The traveling exhibit celebrates 20 years of apprenticeships funded and documented by the Kentucky Arts Council. It features videos and interpretive panels with photos and quotes from masters and apprentices, all meant to highlight the reciprocal relationship between the two.

Mark Brown is director of folk and traditional arts with the council. Through the Kentucky Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program, Brown said grant recipients can receive up to $3,000 for a yearlong project during which they pass on their art forms to an apprentice.

“Each new apprentice that learns the art form will add their own personal expressions to it,” Brown said, adding that’s what makes it a living tradition. For more information about how to apply for the program, contact Brown at mark.brown@ky.gov.

Later this month, the exhibit will be used to highlight some of southcentral Kentucky’s own folk art traditions.

On July 19 from 6 to 9 p.m., while Bowling Green hosts a gathering of the National Basketry Organization, the exhibit will host a panel discussion event led by Brent Bjorkman, director of the Kentucky Museum at Western Kentucky University. The discussion will feature basket makers who use white oak, willow and honeysuckle in their work, Bjorkman said.

On July 18, WKU’s Kentucky Museum will host a visitors day from 1 to 5 p.m. in conjunction with a contemporary basketry exhibit that will open at the museum that week, Bjorkman said. Admission is free.