Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
Cornshuck Flowers Created by Darlene Hellard at Kentucky Artisan Center

On Saturday, August 29, Darlene Hellard of McKee will be creating cornshuck flowers from 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.

A native of Jackson County, Darlene Hellard creates an array of colorful cornshuck flowers and corrnshuck angel bookmarks. Darlene Hellard’s mother-in-law taught her to make a cornshuck wreath in 1981, and after her aunt learned to make cornshuck flowers by watching a program on Kentucky Educational Television, she showed Darlene how to make her first flowers.

Darlene used to search through her neighbors corn cribs to gather corn shucks to bleach and dye for her flowers. Today she buys her shucks commercially and uses fabric dyes to achieve her different colors. Her flowers are made by first tying a flower center onto a floral wire stem. Then each flower petal or bud is cut to pattern, shaped and tied individually before being assembled and tied again onto the stem. Darlene creates a wide variety of flowers in different sizes and her small iris is especially realistic.

Darlene is a juried member of the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen, the Southern Highland Craft Guild, and the Kentucky Arts Council’s Kentucky Craft Marketing Program.

Works by Darlene Hellard are regularly found at the Kentucky Artisan Center, located at 975 Walnut Meadow Road, just off Interstate 75 at exit 77 at Berea. The Center’s exhibits, shopping, and travel information areas are all open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the café from 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. The Center currently features works by more than 650 artisans from over 100 counties across the Commonwealth. For more information call 859-985-5448 or visit the Center’s web site at www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov  

The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is an agency in the Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.