Artist Maretta Kennedy Wins Award
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
The American Academy of Equine Art’s Juried Fall Exhibition opened on September 22 at the International Museum of the Horse in the Kentucky Horse Park. The jury included nationally recognized artists Barbara Oelke, Werner Rentsch, James Crow, Shelley Hunter, Ken Sullivan, and Kathleen Friedenberg.
Artist and Morgan horse owner, Maretta Kennedy, entered two sculptures for the first time. Out of approximately 600 entries, 100 were accepted, and two of those were Kennedy’s. One of her sculptures won the Museum Director's Award for Best Original Depiction in Sculpture. It is titled Ethan Allen 50 and Dan Mace, circa 1865 .
The sculpture was originally created for Lou Tuvano, alumna of the University of Arizona's School of Racing, who gifted it to the school. He had no preconceived idea of what he wanted, so Kennedy suggested an historical piece - in the spirit of promoting Morgans - Ethan Allen.
Kennedy credits the National Museum of the Morgan Horse in Shelburne, Vermont for their invaluable help with her research. They graciously supplied copies of articles, prints and photos of Ethan Allen's high-wheeled sulky that is on display at the Museum.
Kennedy is a longtime Morgan owner with her first foal this year, a filly by HVK Bell Flaire. She assisted in several Morgan and Saddlebred show barns for a number of years and then worked in and managed an art bronze foundry for four years, where she honed her sculpting skills. She lives in Olathe, KS (near Kansas City).
The AAEA Juried Fall Exhibition runs through November 4th in the William G. Kenton Gallery at the International Museum of the Horse.
American Academy of Equine Art, Inc. (AAEA) is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization founded in 1980 by a group of distinguished painters and sculptors famed individually for their work on equine subjects. It is the Academy’s mission to maintain a standard of excellence in the field of equine art, and to broaden public recognition of American equine painting and sculpture through education, demonstration, exhibition and critique.
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