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2000 Rude Osolnik Award Presentation

Location: Date: Friday, March 17, 2000 - Friday, March 17, 2000 Time: 06:00 PM - 09:00 PM Event description: EKU art professor Joe Molinaro compares his dozen or so trips to work with village artisans in the rural Upper Amazon region of Ecuador to 'filling a cup and coming back to empty it' into the lives of his students. It's that spirit of learning and sharing that in part earned for Molinaro the 2000 Rude Osolnik Award presented by the Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation and the Kentucky Craft Marketing Program. A ceramist, Molinaro is the fifth recipient of the prestigious award, which is named for nationally acclaimed Berea woodturner Rude Osolnik. The award recognizes artists for their contributions to the craft community, preservation of craft traditions through teaching and sharing, and exemplary workmanship. Previous recipients are instrument maker/musician Homer Ledford, fiber artist Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, weaver Emily Wolfson and the late fiber artist Alma Lesch. 'It is a real honor to be selected,' he said. 'There are so many people in the state I think are more worthy than me, so I'm humbled by it.' Molinaro received a Fulbright Research Award in 1994 to study and document the work produced by the Quichua Indians living along the Rio Bobonaza. Now, he is a finalist for a Fulbright Teaching Award that would allow him to teach at an Ecuadoran university. He will produce his second documentary on pottery-making in Ecuador this year. His first aired on Kentucky Educational Television, was widely distributed to colleges and universities and is a finalist in an International Video Festival competition in France. Molinaro said he hopes his efforts have brought some overdue attention to a region of the world historically ignored in ceramics history. 'Ceramics history has always focused on the European or Oriental traditions,' Molinaro said, 'and in many ways, Central and South America have been placed on the back-burner. I've always felt more at home in Central and South America.' When Molinaro shares slide presentations with his students, the lessons are part anthropology, part art. 'It's so culturally diverse, it brings a whole new way of thinking about ceramics and the arts into the lives of EKU students,' he said. 'It keeps me excited about teaching.' One of Molinaro's long-range goals is to produce a book about the pottery of Upper Amazon basin. Closer to home, he has a 'travel guide' book due out this spring entitled 'A Pottery Tour of Kentucky.' In addition, he has received international recognition as the innovator, organizer and curator of the Virtual Ceramics Exhibition web site, which communicates his knowledge about contemporary ceramic art with craftspeople worldwide. Molinaro has written and been featured in several articles in national and regional publications, most notably American Craft and Ceramics Monthly. Molinaro joined the EKU art faculty in 1989.

Exhibitors • Molinaro , Joseph Images From Event

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