For Immediate Release
CONTACTS:
Ali Shaw,
(502) 262-8580, ali@m2-maximummedia.com
Jennifer
Montgomery, (502) 418-6819, Jennifer@m2-maximummedia.com
MUSEUM TO
RAFFLE OFF A MARVIN FINN ROOSTER VALUED AT $2,500
Louisville,
KY
(February 25, 2011) – The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft (KMAC) is
giving one lucky individual the opportunity to win a piece of Kentucky’s
folk art history. Beginning today, art lovers can purchase a chance to win one
of Marvin Finn’s signature large roosters for $20 per ticket. The piece
is valued at $2,500 and measures 36” tall, 25” side to side, and
24” front to back. A maximum of 600 tickets will be sold, and the winner
will be drawn at KMAC’s 25th Annual Oaks Brunch fundraiser,
held at The Brown Hotel, on Friday, May 6th, 2011. Tickets can be
purchased at KMAC, located at 715 West Main Street in the heart of Louisville's
Museum Row.
“Marvin’s
work reflects a lifetime of seeing the wonder in ordinary things,” says Kevin
O’Brien, Executive Director of KMAC. “It is because of this unique perception
that his pieces are so coveted and that very few of his original works are
still available to the public.”
Finn was best known for his colorful, fun and
imaginative roosters. The systematic use of bold stripes, dots and dashes
painted on scrap wood against a solid background in unconventional color
combinations is his signature style. Some scholars have linked his worked to
the West African art of the Yoruba tradition. Marvin Finn said, “I just
do what my mind tells me to do. Maybe the good Lord plants these things in my
mind. When I leave here and meet the good Lord, I ain’t never going to
quit making toys.”
For more information, please visit www.kentuckyarts.org
or call (502) 589-0102.
About
Marvin Finn
Born in 1913 near
Clio, Alabama, Finn learned to wield a pocketknife on scrap wood and tin cans
to make the toys he otherwise would not have had. With one month's formal
schooling, he spent his youth at farm labor, leaving the cotton fields in 1940
to follow a brother to Kentucky. Finn settled in Louisville, married Helen
Breckinridge and raised five children, supported by his odd jobs that ranged
from loading barges to pumping gas.
All the time he
carved toys -- toys for his kids, toys to give away, toys to brighten the
maker's own heart.
After his wife died
in 1966, Finn quit his odd jobs and began making toys full time. But until
1972, his art was little-known. After a friend persuaded Finn to make his first
public display at the Kentuckiana Hobby and Gift Show, Finn began selling his
toys for modest sums, $10 or $15 each. By 1976, he had cleared out his
four-room apartment, selling his entire inventory for $450 to a private
collector.
By the time of his
passing in 2007, Finn garnered so many admirers that his work is an icon of
savvy collecting and his gaily patterned roosters are symbolic for the Kentucky
Museum of Art and Craft. Marvin is also known for his public art project,
“Flock of Finns."
In April of 2001, the “Flock
of Finns” landed in Waterfront Park in downtown Louisville. Unlike other
cities public art sculptures, the flock migrated seasonally to different
parts of the city to the joy and amusement of tourists and residents alike.
About the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft
The
Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, located at 715 West Main Street in
Louisville, Kentucky, is a nonprofit organization founded in 1981. Its mission
is to promote and support art and craft excellence in Kentucky. The Museum is
supported in part by the Fund for the Arts and the Kentucky Arts Council, a
state arts agency that supports the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft through
the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves
great art. Museum hours are Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.,
Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or by appointment. Admission is $6 for
adults, free for KMAC members, students and children under 12. For more
information, please call 502.589.0102 or log on to www.KentuckyArts.org.
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