"Artisans Harvest" At Morgan County Wellness Center, August 2, 2025

Yesterday, my wife and I attended Articans Harvest at the Morgan County Wellness Center in West Liberty, Kentucky, which was originally called "Art In The Park" and held at Old Mill Park. But a few years ago, the location was changed due to rainy weather and it has been held at the Wellness Center gym ever since. When it began in the park, it was more a folk art show and sale than what it has become since the move. It is now heavily oriented toward crafts rather and folk art. Minnie Adkins, the famous Elliott County folk artist still attends and Brent Collinsworth from Wolfe County was there last year but did not attend this year. Steve Sargent, who makes nice lamps from whiskey bottles had attended last year but was there only as a spectator this year. There also is a small number of local vegetable farmers who attend to sell a few vegetables. It is not what it used to be. I do understand that since it is organized by the local Agricultural Extension Service office that their funding source probably requires that it include the vegetable farmers and some others such as users of the Extension Service food preparation trainings they sometimes do. But I go primarily to see, and sometimes buy, folk art, and I prefer to see it more heavily oriented in that direction which I am afraid might not happen again. This also reminds me of what used to be called Morgan County Farm, Home, and Family Day which was more oriented toward individual presenters who taught small groups in a classroom setting about a wide variety of topics oriented to life in a rural community. It hasn't been held in several years. But this event now known as Artisans Harvest is a great place to go to meet a few people in the community whom we don't get to see on a regular basis. We ran into Steve Sargent whom I've known for years; Minnie Adkins who is one of my favorite folk artists, and whom I had seen two weeks ago at Minnie Adkins Day in Sandy Hook; Sarah Fannin, the local Extension Agent who was there no doubt in her official capacity; Danny Joe Gevedon, who is a retired banker and friendly acquaintance who also plays Bluegrass bass; Austin and Kathy Shaw, from whom I buy farm fresh eggs; and several others whom I might have forgotten to mention. Since there was only marginal interest in Minnie's somewhat expensive folk art, I was able to spend some time talking to her and got Steve Sargent to take a photo of us. I try to always get a photo with Minnie when we run into each other. Minnie was in a generous mood yesterday and offered to give one of her famous roosters to a female who said she makes handmade brooms. But she declined and insisted on buying one of Minnie's unpainted roosters, staing that getting the rooster was the only reason she had attended the event. Just before we left, Candice happened to drive her wheelchair past Minnie's table, and Minnie promptly stood up and carried Candice a hand carved and painted cardinal which she gave her. It is proudly displayed on a shelf with my two hand painted and carved Evening Grosbeaks from Minnie's cousin Tim Lewis. It was a very community oriented event for us since we saw so many of our friends and acquaintances, got to look at some good crafts work, visit with Minnie, Steve, and Danny. We left the event and chose to drive to the Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery near Morehead so I could hike. But I will discuss that in a separate post.

Minnie Adkins Day in Sandy Hook, KY, July 19, 2025

Today, July 19, 2025, my wife Candice & I traveled to Sandy Hook, Kentucky, for Minnie Adkins Day, an annual folk art event which is intended both to honor the great Appalachian folk artist Minnie Adkins and to bring together some 100 or so other folk artists and crafts persons along with folk art lovers and collectors from several states. We try to attend this event every year and I have written about both this event and Minnie Adkins a few other times on this blog. Although Minnie is past 90, she is still able to work effectively and uses the event to both sell her most recent works and to meet both her long time followers and new folk art lovers she has never met. Personally, I love to attend any event Minnie is at. She is a joy to talk to and is a real giant in both the Appalachian and American Folk Art movements. I also use the event to search for good folk art which I can afford to collect, meet other folk artists and collectors whom I know, and to renew numerous relationships which I might only benefit from on unpredictable schedules. One of my favorite artists and a man I consider to be a friend in the great Appalachian folk artist Brent Collinsworth who lives just a few miles from my home. But due to our busy schedules, we don't see enough of each other. I love Brent's work and we have collected several of his pieces which are among my favorites. This year, I happened to encounter Brent at the booth of another of my favorite artists and people, Tim Lewis, who is a fine folk artist also, a great bird carver in particular, and a great worker in stone which is less common than it could be among folk artists. I actually bought two of Tim's carved and painted birds today and I love them. We had discussed more than a year ago the fact that Candice and I had been visited by a large flock of relatively rare birds in Kentucky, the Evening Grosbeak. These birds I bought today from Tim might not have been painted as actual representations of the Evening Grosbeak but they are, if we allow for a bit of artistic license, decent approximations. But, above all, they are simply great bird carvings by an Appalachian folk artist who has work in the Smithsonian.

We also encountered and spent time with our friends Misty Skaggs and her mother, Bonita Parsons, who are both folk artists also. Both of them gave small pieces to Candice which is typical of the kind of generosity they tend to show to the entire world.

Altogether, it was a wonderful day at Minnie Adkins Day and we had a ball.

Minnie Adkins Day, July 20, 2024, Sandy Hook, Kentucky

 

Roger D. Hicks and Minnie Adkins

My wife Candice and I traveled to Sandy Hook, Kentucky, in nearby Elliott County on Saturday, July 20, 2024, for this year's annual Minnie Adkins Day which is held each year on the third Saturday of July.  Minnie Adkins Day is both a celebration of the life and work of Minnie Adkins and a general, small town Folk Art festival at which numerous folk artists from all around the southeast exhibit and offer for sale their own works. We both really enjoy the brief amounts of time we get to spend with Minnie and have also recently attended an exhibition of her work at the Huntington Art Museum.  Due to the fact that we both love and collect Folk Art, we have come to know several Folk Artists in the Eastern Kentucky area.  Some of them we might see and converse with a few times during the year, and others we only see at this affair.  It is always fun to see the art, talk with artists, other lovers of Folk Art, and a few of our neighbors in the area we might not have seen for some time.  It was also sad to learn at the festival that Lexington collector Thomas "Tom" Clark had died earlier in the year, and I had actually gone there wanting to be able to ask him about someone who might be able to repair a piece I have which has been damaged.  Tom was a great collector and dealer in both Folk Art and general antiques.  For many years, he had operated an antique and Folk Art shop on North Broadway in Lexington which he had closed a few years ago.  I had known Tom in a limited way for several  years since I had outbid him once for a piece at an estate sale.  He was a vast library of information about Folk Art, Folk Artists, and antiques and he will be missed by his many friends and customers.  

Minnie Adkins and Brent Collinsworth

One of the area Folk Artists who has become a genuine friend, and whose work I collect, is Brent Collinsworth who is a wonderful artist, great conversationalist, and a valued source of information also.  We were both able to spend some time with Brent and his wife at this festival and that is always a treat. Brent's work is always interesting, entertaining, and, at times, surprising.  

 

Tim Lewis

I was also able to spend some time talking with Tim Lewis who is a first cousin to Minnie Adkins and also a native of Elliott County.  Tim has worked in both stone and wood and has some of his work in the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, as does Minnie.  Tim loves to carve and paint birds and also had a good carved and painted depiction of The Last Supper at the show.  I was remiss in not taking an actual photograph of that piece and some of Tim's other work.  Sadly, he has had some relatively serious health problems this year which resulted in a hospitalization over last Christmas.  As a result, he had probably less work at this show than I have seen him exhibit for sale in the past.  Tim is also a great conversationalist and fun to talk with.  

Minnie Adkins Day is always fun to visit and participate in and has as many as 100 artists exhibiting and selling their work most years.  This year there was a threat of rain all day although it generally only sprinkled but it seemed that this had depressed visitor attendance to a degree.