The Paducah Artist Relocation Program
The Paducah Artist Relocation Program was created to provide incentives to artists who wish to relocate to our historic Downtown and Lowertown areas in Paducah. With its low cost of living, municipal and community support for the arts, Paducah offers a unique lifestyle for both artists and business.
Why This Artist Relocation?
The creation of imagery is the original placement of my subliminal thought; allow humor, curiosity and vision to guide the conscious outcome of a story. Without a beginning or an end, the moment that is caught in a single frame of art allows the beholder to be a part of the creativity. Therefore, when the meaning and imagination is shared the art becomes in essence a collective narrative. Imagination is a place on the border of chaos and order. Our dreams are a form of turning chaos into order that can be understood. However, while waking we use our imagination to twist that order into a form of chaos made of color, distortion, and oddities. Perceiving the order of nature brings delight. Like humor that skews the truth, a painting that defies the visual truth brings joyful diversion. As the artist you are successful when you create a space that includes chaos and order that can be translated by the audience for their personal pleasure. The art that you create does not end with the painting. Rather, the image continues to be redeveloped and retold by the imaginations of the public.
Paducah has established an environment where artists and the arts are flourishing. Paducah’s Artist Relocation Program was started in August of 2000 and is now a national model for using the arts for economic development. Artists represented in the show are members of Paducah's Artist Relocation Program. The Lower Town Artists have been involved in several exhibitions, community projects and commissions executed in the Purchase Area. The Artist Relocation Program has recruited many artists from across the country who are purchasing and renovating properties in the Lower Town area to create galleries, studios and living spaces. In art communities throughout the United States, Paducah is becoming synonymous with entrepreneurship in the arts.
Paducah’s Artist Relocation Program and Lower Town Revitalization Plans have won numerous awards including a statewide Kentucky Arts Council award, national Association of Planners award, Governors Award in the Arts, the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence, The American Planning Association National Planning Award and most recently Kentucky League of Cities Enterprise Cities Award. The Relocation Program has been featured in articles in American Artist, Art Calendar, Crafts Report, Arts Across Kentucky, Niche and Preservation Magazine. Additional information on the program can be viewed on line at http://paducaharts.com/awards.php