Department of Parks
Documentary On Audubon To Air July 25

HENDERSON, Ky. – John James Audubon State Park in Henderson will be featured in a documentary about the park’s namesake that will air on PBS on July 25.

“John James Audubon: Drawn from Nature” is part of the American Masters series and will trace the artist’s career, which included a stay in Henderson in the early 1800s.

The forces behind the film are Larry Hott, a noted filmmaker, and his wife Diane Garey, a producer, director and editor. The pair co-founded the production company Florentine Films/Hott Productions Inc., the same group which produced the famous Civil War series by Ken Burns. 

Hott spent three days filming in and around the Henderson area in January of 2006.  Hott interviewed Don Boarman, former curator of the Audubon Museum, and Alan Gehret, present curator, and featured both in the film.

Also featured is the Audubon Museum’s  rare copper plate of the Greater Yellow-legs.  The museum was the only site in the country that would allow Hott to film the actual process of printing off of one of the original plates used to produce “The Birds of America.”

The film, which will be broadcast on Kentucky Educational Television at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT, offers intriguing insights into Audubon’s passion for his “magnificent obsession,” the phrase Audubon used to subscribe his relationship to his art.

John James Audubon State Park has a museum, nature center, cottages, campground, hiking trails, 9-hole golf course, picnic shelters and year round programming. The park is located on U.S. 41 in the northern outskirts of Henderson, half a mile south of the U.S. 41 bridge over the Ohio River. For information, call 1-270-826-2247.

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The Kentucky State Park System is composed of 53 state parks plus an interstate park shared with Virginia. The Department of Parks, an agency of the Commerce Cabinet, operates 17 resort parks with lodges -- more than any other state. Each year, Kentucky parks draw 7 million visitors and contribute $317 million to the economy. For more information on Kentucky parks, visit our Web site at http://www.parks.ky.gov