WKU News

The Kentucky Museum has received a $1,500 grant from the Kentucky Humanities Council to support Reaching Beyond Tradition, a series of public programs on August 24, 2023, that will invite the public to engage with basket makers and tradition-keepers from across the Southeast region in facilitated discussions.

The programs will explore the basket’s journey and its significance within Southeastern communities. Particularly, basket makers will explore how traditions have evolved over time from basketry’s early utilitarian use to become a heralded object of art. Reaching Beyond Tradition will also highlight the future of basketmaking, exploring what drives today’s younger artists to seek out and learn about the community-based practice.

The sessions are presented by six basket makers from across the Southeast, who will engage in dialogues facilitated by the Kentucky Folklife Program on a narrative stage. Speakers include white oak basket makers Mary Ann and Bill Smith of Birmingham, Alabama; award-winning basket maker and teacher Sue Williams of Morrison, Tennessee; co-founder of The Basket Maker’s Catalog, Scott Gilbert of Scottsville, Kentucky; experimental artist and teacher Emily Swinney of Marshall, North Carolina; and agriculturalist and basket maker Micah Wiles of Somerset, Kentucky.

Reaching Beyond Tradition will be held at the Kentucky Museum on August 24 from 1pm to 8pm CST, with a break between the second and third sessions for attendees to have dinner (not provided).

• 1pm -- “Tradition-Bearers” discussing the basket makers’ unique stories of encountering and becoming involved in the art of basket making and their roles in maintaining the traditions of their regions, comparing their methods and materials.
• 2:30pm -- “Inspirations” discussing the inspirations behind making their works, evaluating the process of different forms of basket making and how individual and community inspirations play a role in the different styles found in the region.
• 5:30pm -- “Knowledge-Sharing” discussing the different roles played by basket makers in their communities, including how knowledge is shared between makers and generations as well as how makers market their works to the public.
• 7pm -- “Continuity and Evolution” discussing the younger generation’s engagement with tradition-bearers, roles in fostering larger community connections and awareness of traditional art forms, and how global communication is connecting and transforming local practices.

For more information and a full schedule and biographies of speakers, please click here.

About Kentucky Humanities

Kentucky Humanities is an independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C. Kentucky Humanities is supported by the National Endowment and by private contributions. Their work tells the stories of contributions from every walk of life, building civic engagement and literacy across the Commonwealth.

About Kentucky Museum

For over 80 years, the Kentucky Museum has celebrated all aspects of South-Central Kentucky’s art, history, and culture. “Kentuckians need to know Kentucky” was the museum’s earliest conceptual framework, which took shape in the eyes of WKU’s founding President Henry Hardin Cherry. Today, we are a steadfast educational campus partner helping to inspire innovation, elevate community, and transform the lives of our students and the community.