By way of providing some context for this award and my role in it, I will give a little history of both the award and my earliest knowledge of it. The first Kentucky individual artist grant was awarded in 1983 in conjunction with a larger National Endowment for the Arts initiative with the states. The acting Arts Council chair was a man named Al Smith - not to be confused with the much earlier Al Smith who was the Governor of New York and Democratic Presidential candidate of 1928. The Al Smith I am talking about was a Kentucky journalist whose name is now synonomous with the Kentucky Individual Artist grant that I have just been awarded. So much so that my colleagues and I say things like "I just got an Al Smith" or "didn't you get an Al Smith a few years ago" or the statement that I will happily no longer be able to say, "I hope I get an Al Smith."
I have lived in Kentucky nearly all my life. I say "nearly" even though I think all my life would be more accurate. That is if you don't count the part of a year I lived in Georgia during the 7th grade, the two years I lived in Cincinnati during grad school (but commuted on weekends to KY) or the 4 times that I spent a month each abroad. (I am currently writing this in Barcelona). I have several very good friends and more than a couple acquaintances receive Al Smith Fellowships over the years and it has long been viewed, by myself, as a professional right of passage.
The first I remember hearing about the fellowship was when my good friend (and at that time ceramics professor), Joe Molinaro was awarded one. Joe has received more than one and I want to say more than a few over the years but fairly recently the KY Arts Council ruled that each artist may receive only one in a career. Anyway, when I first became aware of the award it seemed like the holy grail of art achievements. A far distant and insurmountable goal. I put it up there with teaching at the college level, exhibiting with a professional gallery and being on the cover of Art in America (I only have one of these left to do and I will let you guess which one). So here it is and I couldn't be happier about it. I am proud to be on the list of Al Smith recipients and even more so, I am proud to be part of a state and country that values the importance of supporting idea makers within the arts. For this, I would like to thank the Kentucky Arts Council and the people who live and work in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.