Beau Haddock (888) 592-7238 (KY CRAFT), ext. 4817 beau.haddock@ky.gov

The Kentucky Craft Marketing Program (KCMP) and the Kentucky Museum of Arts + Design (KMA + D) is pleased to announce that Lysbeth M. Wallace is the ninth recipient of the 2004 Rude Osolnik Award. This prestigious award recognizes Kentucky artisans for their contributions to the craft community, preservation of craft traditions through teaching and sharing, and exemplary workmanship. The award honors its namesake, Rude Osolnik, the nationally acclaimed woodturner from Berea, Kentucky, who devoted his life to the development of his craft and teaching. Previous recipients are Alma Lesch, Emily Wolfson, Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, Homer Ledford, Joseph Molinaro, Stephen Rolfe Powell, Bryon Temple (posthumously), and Tim Glotzbach.

Born in 1919 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Wallace’s family moved often because of changes in her father’s work assignments as a civil engineer. Her grandmother painted, her mother sewed clothes and quilts, and her father crafted fishing rods. “I had a very lucky childhood, very involved in art and trips to museums, wherever we lived,” Wallace said.

Wallace graduated from University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1943. She received a master’s degree in design from Kansas City Art Institute in 1945. Upon graduation she entered Cranbrook Academy of Art (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan), and received a Master Of Fine Arts, majoring in weaving and a minor in ceramics. She worked as graduate assistant in the design department at the Kansas City Art Institute and taught in the Washburn Municipal University’s Art Department in Topeka Kansas. 

Wallace was then chosen to be a hand-weaving expert for the United Nations Technical Assistance Program in the Philippines. In her two years there, she helped improve the use of local looms and equipment and helped develop new designs, standardized widths for cloth, and color-fast dyes. By combining indigenous fibers, weavers created dramatic textures in products such as placemats, fabrics, and blankets that would have a market worldwide. Out of this work she authored, “Hand-weaving in the Philippines”, prepared for the Government of the Philippines.

Returning to the United States, she worked in New York City as a freelance textile designer for a year and a half before returning to teaching.

She taught at Kansas City Art Institute, Washburn Municipal University, Southern Illinois State, Illinois State, and joined Western Kentucky University faculty in 1965 as Assistant Professor of Art. She retired as professor emeritus at Western Kentucky University (WKU) in 1985. Educating others has been an integral part of Wallace’s life and her broad reach has touched many including Kentucky Craft Marketing Program Director, Fran Redmon. “ As her former student, I learned that Ms. Wallace had a deep commitment to her craft and her students’ successes, and she instilled in us the same ethic,“ said Redmon.

Since 1948, her weavings have been exhibited widely in national, regional and local juried shows and 49 invitational exhibits, plus numerous public and private collections. She has acquired 13 prestigious titles, awards, and honorable mentions. Wallace has traveled to Japan, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Italy, Switzerland, France, Holland, Denmark, England, Greece, and the Philippines.

Wallace has appeared in numerous publications and is listed in, “Who’s Who in American Art,” 1982 edition. She has served on numerous committees including, Curriculum Committee / Academic Council and Dean’s Selection Committee, Potter College and the Southeastern Regional Crafts Council Conference in Berea.

Although no longer able to weave, Wallace continues to share her talents with her hometown of Hopkinsville. On the corner of Ninth and Main streets are 17 murals depicting various personalities, institutions, businesses, architecture, and other aspects of Hopkinsville from 1800 to 1950. Drawing from her knowledge and pride of her hometown’s history, Wallace researched and designed the murals and assisted with other aspects of their completion. She recorded the process in a book, Founder’s Square Murals: Hopkinsville Memories from 1800-1950: The Story of the Making of the Murals. A copy and original drawings are in the Thomas D. Clark Library at the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort.

Wallace will be honored at a dinner on Thursday, August 5, 2004, 6:00 pm at Kentucky Museum of Arts + Design, 715 W. Main St Louisville Kentucky, in the Bill + Lindy Street Gallery, (2nd Floor of KMA+D), in conjunction with CRAFTWORKS....Inspiring Creativity!" a hands-on workshop weekend at KMA+D in Louisville, August 6-7,2004. The workshop is presented by the Kentucky Craft Marketing Program and the Kentucky Museum of Arts + Design and is designed to help artists and craftspeople of all skill levels add a new dimension to their work.

·         Portions of this article and photos were reprinted with permission from Arts Across Magazine.