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Winchester artist Kevin Osbourne has his painting “Nick Coleman” on display as part of the Team Kentucky Gallery, located in the main halls of the state Capitol in Frankfort. The piece can also be seen online as part of the Team Kentucky Digital Art Gallery. The current exhibit runs through June 30, 2022.

If you’d like to see Mr. Osbourne’s painting online visit https://governor.ky.gov/gallery/Pages/default.aspx

Mr. Osbourne’s statement about the painting reads: “This painting honors the memory of the late Nick Coleman, a Henry County farmer who worked his farm in Sulphur almost exclusively using draft horses.

Winchester artist and former Herald-Leader writer Kevin Osbourn met Mr. Coleman through author Wendell Berry in 1992. Osbourn wrote a story about him after watching Mr. Coleman harrow a field with Belgian horses weighing 1,800 pounds each.

“Mr. Coleman farmed the same way his grandfather did a century earlier. He spent much of his time ministering to members of the Children of the King Church in Bedford, which he started with six people and nurtured to more than 200 people at the time Osbourn met him.

Using draft horses, Coleman said, was tied to his faith.

“It has to be biblical,” he said. “I have to be a steward of everything God gave me. My life. My land.”

“To care for his land, Coleman’s fields were carefully terraced, and ponds were surrounded by thick stands of grass. Crops were regularly rotated. On the day Osbourne interviewed him, Coleman recalled a day when he was just 6 years old and his father left him alone to handle a team of hulking Belgian horses for the first time, all by himself.

“Osbourne never forgot Mr. Coleman. This painting is dedicated to his memory and the beautiful way he lived his life.”

Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant

The Kentucky Arts Council is now accepting applications pairs of individuals—one apprentice and one master folk artist –who wish to work together for one year so that the apprentice can learn the skills and practices of the master artist.

A master folk artist and an apprentice (age 16 or older) apply together. According to the KAC website, “folk arts as artistic expression that is shared informally within a folk group and is essential to that group’s cultural identity. Master artists and tradition-bearers are exemplary practitioners of a folk group’s art forms. Apprentices demonstrate a potential to become masters and commit to learning the art form thoroughly. Folk arts previously supported by this program include regional fiddle styles, basket making, ethnic dance, and gospel music.

The application deadline is March 31, 2022, 11:59 p.m. Eastern time. For much more information about this program visit http://www.artscouncil.ky.gov/KAC/Creativity/FAA.htm
Fundraising guides available

Federal Funding Resource Guides: Americans for the Arts has created a set of guides to funding and resource opportunities at federal agencies for nonprofit arts organizations. Areas include community development, rural development, national service, congressional earmarks, environmental protection, and economic development. Access the guides at the AFTA websitehttps://www.americansforthearts.org/by-topic/funding-resources

Bill McCann is an arts columnist, playwright, member of the Dramatists Guild, and a host of the Theatre Series, an occasional feature of WEKUs Eastern Standard news magazine. For more information visit www.whmccann.com