For Immediate
Release
April 25, 2001
Contact: Rusty Cheuvront (502) 564-2611 or
Donna Melton, Department of Education (502) 564-3421
Frankfort, Ky. - Horse Mania, the exhibit of sculptors' interpretations of horses that took Lexington by storm last year, has spread to this year's Governor's Derby Breakfast in Frankfort. A dozen or so of the gaily-decorated horses will be on display on the Capitol grounds. Now schoolchildren throughout the state also have gotten into the act.
The tables at the Derby Breakfast will be adorned with centerpieces consisting of small wooden horses decorated by students from all over the state. In all, about 300 statues will be on display. Each will be on sale for $20, with proceeds benefiting an organization championed by First Lady Judi Patton, the Kentucky Association of Children's Advocacy Centers. The opportunity to contribute to a worthy cause was an especially appealing notion to Mrs. Patton.
"I'm so
pleased that the creative abilities of Kentucky's children are going to help
other children in need," Mrs. Patton said.
The idea for having centerpieces decorated by school children came about a couple of months ago. Since then, Department of Education staff has looked for opportunities to distribute the roughly 18-inch by 24-inch wooden horses, such as at education conferences. Consequently, because of time constraints, not every school district received horses. Should it be decided that this project is continued in future years, all school districts will be invited to participate, said Donna Melton of the Department of Education.
Decisions on which classes and students were chosen to decorate the centerpieces were left to local school officials. So too were the creative decisions, Melton said.
As of mid-April, the newly decorated horses were still being returned to the department. And it's clear that Kentucky's budding artists are just about as imaginative as the artists who created the "real" Horse Mania horses. One horse is covered in jellybeans, for example, and another decorated in a mosaic material.
The carpentry shop
in the Cabinet for Finance and Administration’s Department of Facilities
Management crafted the wooden figures.
At the May 5
breakfast, which is free and open to the public, each centerpiece will be tagged
with the school and class (or student) who decorated the piece. An interested
person may buy the centerpiece on the spot and take it home after the breakfast
ends in late morning.
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