Where to stay
Fox Briar Inn at Riverplace, 100C Broadway St., Paducah. 1-877-369-4661, foxbriarinn.com.
Where to eat
Kirchhoff's Bakery & Deli, 118 Market House Square, Paducah. 270-442-7117, kirchhoffsbakery.net.
ATTRACTIONS
The National Quilt Museum, 215 Jefferson St., Paducah. 270-442-8856, quiltmuseum.org.
Terra Cottage Ceramics, 514 N. 7th St., Paducah. 270-908-0090, terracottageceramics.com.
Studio Miska, 627 Madison St., Paducah. 279-519-2341, fredafairchild.com.
Dynamic. Vital. Thriving.
Those words would not have described Paducah before the turn of the 21st century. But this western Kentucky town at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers has undergone a renaissance and is now a well-established cultural destination that attracts thousands of arts and crafts enthusiasts annually.
In 2013, Paducah was designated a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art, a recognition of the city’s long-standing tradition of quilt making and its revitalization of LowerTown, a neighborhood that was once a blighted, crime-ridden eyesore, but is now a flourishing 25-block arts district.
No longer a sleepy, Southern town, “Quilt City USA” resonates with a fresh, creative energy that is as palpable as the river current.
National Quilt Museum
At the National Quilt Museum, a couple examines the Beatles Quilt, a tribute to the 1960s British rock band that forever changed American culture.
Sisters Sue Nickels and Pat Holly were teenagers at the height of Beatlemania, and their memories of that era inspired this artwork adorned with images that suggest song lyrics, like a yellow submarine. It evokes a sense of nostalgia in baby boomers, and the current viewers are of that generation. For them, the piece becomes a game of trying to connect the images to albums.
CEO Frank Bennett said some first-time visitors are surprised by this sort of edgy fiber art because they arrive with misconceptions about the museum.
“The main one is people think we have taken quilts their grandma would have made as a hobby and stuck them on the wall,” Bennett said. “This is an art museum just like any other art museum. Some people make their art in paint; some make it in wood and some make it in marble. These are professional artists who just happen to make their work out of fabric.”
The three-gallery museum has more than 500 quilts in its collection, including many made by the rock stars of the quilting world, such as Hollis Chatelain, whose quilts often depict African cultures, and Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, known for her surprising use of color.
The focus is on innovative contemporary artworks in unexpected shapes, colors and designs.
For example, “Fashionable Ladies of the ’20s” by Valeta Hensley demonstrates that quilts don’t have to be square. It showcases a trio of stylish women, each appliqued onto a long panel that’s cut into a V-shape at the bottom.
Another, “Tribute to Tolkien” by Sue McCarty, is noteworthy for its exquisite detail and incorporation of unusual materials. The quilt depicts a scene from J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary masterpiece “The Lord of the Rings” and sparkles with Swarovski crystals.
So, with all this thinking outside of the (quilt) block, what makes a quilt a quilt? Bennett said if it has two layers of fabric with padding in between, it’s a quilt.
Quilting may be an age-old craft, but these fiber artists look to the future, not to the past.
LowerTown Arts District
Fiber art is just the beginning of the Paducah art scene. To see more, embark on a gallery crawl through the elegant, but slightly Bohemian, LowerTown Arts District, home to painters, printmakers, potters, jewelry makers and many other artists who live and work in the neighborhood’s renovated Victorian homes.
One of them, ceramics artist Michael Terra, has a big head. In fact, he has several big heads and fires them all in a custom-made kiln behind Terra Cottage Ceramics, his gallery and studio.
On a recent visit, Terra examined a larger-than-life ceramic head titled “Language Is a Clumsy and Dangerous Tool,” which he described as “a representation of the difficulties of comprehensive communication using language alone.”
It’s a good example of why he is called “the mud poet.”
On close inspection, a viewer discovers the figure’s hair and eyebrows are composed of poems written in miniscule text. The mouth is shaped like a hammer.
Many of Terra’s works are emotionally charged, and this is no exception. A Bible sits on top of the head and is intended to make the viewer question what is sacred.
“How many wars and how much terror has been wrought in the name of ‘the Book?,’” Terra said. “One of the most beautiful and sacred texts of all time and one of the biggest teaching tools of all time is also used as a fundament for terrible oppression, war and hostility.”
Terra is not an artist who revels in the cliché of being misunderstood. He wants viewers to understand and appreciate his work, so he welcomes company.
You can’t miss his studio. Just look for the giant ceramic hand holding a globe.
Printmaker and fiber artist Freda Fairchild, owner of Studio Miska, has been in LowerTown since 2001. Back then, the neighborhood was still a little dicey, but she stuck it out and has never looked back.
Some of Fairchild’s fiber art takes the form of clothing that seems to belong in a period drama (she had a brief stint as a costume designer), but the items are meant to be hung in a gallery, not worn. Fairchild emphasized that she is primarily a printmaker, and that all her fiber art incorporates elements of printmaking.
For instance, “The Ultimate Gamble” resembles a Victorian-era dress with a ruffled train, but the “ruffles” are actually 50 handmade baby dresses, each with a portrait of a baby printed onto it using nontoxic polyester plate lithography.
The piece explores the endless possible combinations of physical characteristics and personality traits a baby can inherit from its parents.
The message is clear: As a parent, you never know what you are going to get.
In many ways, Paducah itself is a work of art, created by visionary city leaders who refused to accept the status quo. And, like the artists who call it home, Paducah is forever evolving into a better version of itself.
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