Ceramic Artist and Teacher,
Wayne Ferguson, Receives Rude Osolnik Award for 2006
Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft and
the Kentucky Craft Marketing
Program, a division of the Kentucky Arts Council, honored ceramic artist and
teacher Wayne Ferguson of Louisville, Kentucky with the 11th annual Rude Osolnik
Award for 2006. The award honors its namesake, Rude Osolnik, the nationally
acclaimed wood turner from Berea, Kentucky, who devoted his life to the
development of his craft and teaching.
This prestigious award recognizes artists for their contributions to the
craft community, preservation of craft traditions through teaching and sharing,
and exemplary workmanship. Previous recipients are Alma Lesch, Emily Wolfson,
Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, Homer Ledford, Joseph Molinaro, Stephen Rolfe Powell,
Bryon Temple (posthumously) Tim Glotzbach,
Lysbeth Wallace, and Marie Emlem Hochstrasser.
Wayne Ferguson has given selflessly
for over twenty years as an educator and enabler of young creative minds. It could well be argued that Wayne is,
in fact, one of the unsung contemporary heroes of arts education in Kentucky,
whose drive to create for his own satisfaction, and commitment to encouraging
others seeking similar inspiration, have opened new creative opportunities in
the minds and lives of children from the inner city of Louisville to the most
rural parts of Appalachian Kentucky, said Adrian Swain, Curator of the Kentucky
Folk Art Center in Morehead, Kentucky.
Wayne first gained his interest in clay
while growing up in Whitley
County, Kentucky. His mother made clay from flour, salt,
and food coloring, as a way to occupy an otherwise mischievous child. Although
his high school years were troubled, he was given special attention by Eva
Hinkle, the Bellevue High
School art teacher, who taught him the healing power
of arts.
After serving his military time in
the US Air Force, he attended the University of Kentucky where his career began in
earnest.
He has devoted his life to in-school
workshops for several decades. He
has taught in Knott County High
School, Hindman; Tates
Creek High
School, Lexington; Blackacre Art
Camp, Blackacre Nature Preserve, Jefferson County; the Louisville Visual Arts
Association, and numerous other schools.
On the college level he has held
workshops as a visiting artist, instructor, and keynote speaker for North
Carolina Arts Council, Collegiate School, University of Northern Iowa, Northern
Kentucky University, Georgetown College, Union University, Morehead State
University, Berea College, Transylvania University, and Arizona State
University, to name a few.
His work has been exhibited in
Kentucky, West
Virginia, North Carolina,
Illinois, Indiana, California,
Iowa, Georgia, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania.
Some of his awards include: Early
Times Fellowship (Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft), Merit Award (Paducah Art Museum), and Al Smith Fellowship Award
(Kentucky Arts Council).
His special interest projects in
archaeology have included Pima Canyon Project, Valencia Road Project, Anamax
Rosemont, and Los Morteros, all in Tucson, Arizona.
Wayne has also spent time in
Mexico and
Germany.
Wayne
Ferguson was honored at a reception
and dinner Friday evening, March 24, 6:30 p.m. in conjunction with Trends and
Traditions the American Craft Council/Southeast
Regional Conference and Spotlight 2006 Exhibition, held in Louisville, Kentucky on March 23, 24 and 25, 2006. The
Spotlight exhibit and many of the conference sessions will be held at the
Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, along with other local venues. Spotlight 2006
is a juried exhibition for craft artists residing in the eleven southeastern
states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Mississippi, North
Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The Conference, was jointly funded
by the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft (KMAC) and the Kentucky Craft Marketing
Program (KCMP), will feature keynote speaker, internationally-known tapestry
weaver, Helena Hernmarck, Boston, Massachusetts
