Mean While Back at The Store: 

 The opening of one of the lectures.

Boy, what a great Thursday and Friday I had.  The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) finally came to Kentucky. We've waited a long time too. They had a whirlwind series of lectures, field trips and socials scheduled for this weekend.  A close friend and I went down to check it all out.  I was happy to see that on Thursday, the meet and greet, that there were about 65 - 75 people in attendance. However, I was shocked that there were like 145 to come to the lecture and seminars.  That made me feel great.  For so long Kentucky and and Kentucky decorative arts had been pushed aside, stuck off in a corner.  In fact, we were called the " back country." I guess that that's a nice way of saying, there was nothing here of any scholarly merit.  How wrong they were and they've been wrong for a long time.  Kentucky since its very earliest days has been a breeding and receiving ground for amazing decorative arts, furniture, silver, textiles and of course, pottery.  All praise and acclaim had been denied to us. Why?  Was it because we were considered a frontier region? Or was it because we were segregated by the golden southern coast by a range of mountains and a different economy?  Perhaps, it was because we weren't romanticized as a "moonlight and magnolia" south. Which ever way, those days are over.  Well, we scholars, dealers, appraisers  and historian knew it wasn't true all along, but now its officially over, with this all important visit from MESDA.  In Kentucky, since the 1920's there has been a dedicated band of collectors and dealers,who made great efforts to enlarge the concepts of what decorative arts were, in several fields, in the early days of Kentucky.

The crowd coming in early

I can't stress scholarship enough.   Be it for your hometown or your favorite collection.  There is room out there for more and more discovery.  Explore, discover and SHARE all that you can.  If we don't stress scholarship and if we don't share what we discover future generations will loose out.  I can't say enough about how empowering and exciting it was to see, not only scholars sharing about Kentucky arts, but people from OTHER states, actually interested in what we had to say and show off.  Don't delay.  I guarantee that there is something in your area that needs more scholarship on.  Someone in the future needs your help.