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The
Annual or Variations on the Theme of Seed Beans,
c. 1965 Alma (Wallace) Lesch was born March 12, 1917 daughter of Rollie and Ruth (Burnley) Wallace of McCracken County. Alma attended Murray State College earning her B.S. in 1941. She taught third grade in Louisville until her marriage to Ted Lesch in 1946. The couple moved to Bullitt County and Alma eventually went back to school earning a M.Ed. from University of Louisville in 1962. She taught textile arts at Louisville School of Art 1961-1978 and at the University of Louisville 1975-1982. Alma learned the art of needlecraft and use of natural dyes from a grandmother and mother who sewed, embroidered, quilted and made lace. Much of her early work in the sixties relied upon Biblical and rural themes. Toward the end of the decade she began to incorporate discarded and antique clothes and accessories into her stitchery pieces. She quickly became nationally recognized and, in 1968, the Kunstegewerb-museum in Zurich included her work in the exhibition "The Art of Collage". In 1974 the American Crafts Council named her master craftsman. In 1987 she received the Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts and, in 1996, the Rude Osolnik Award. Alma Lesch died on May 15, 1999 in Louisville, Kentucky. |
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13, 2001 |
