Kentucky Life producer Tom Bickley tracked us down last fall at LexArts Gallery at the tail end of our five-week exhibit. We were honored to talk with him about the CWKY project experience and thrilled now as we see the fruits of his and his talented team’s labor. Using footage from our videos and archival photos of Jo Robertson, they curated the project story into a beautiful, mission centric segment. We are so grateful.

We are grateful to the team at Keeneland magazine for their beautiful portrayal of this Common Wealth of Kentucky Project. Editor Jackie Duke, writer Vickie Mitchell, photographer Arden Barnes, and their cracker jack design team told our mission-driven story better than we ever imagined when we first sat down to talk with Vickie. Thank you, Keeneland Magazine!

This fourth and final video in the Common Wealth of Kentucky Project series is a poem. The four seasons of central Kentucky reflect the vibrant diversity of the people who comprise this bluegrass region; they are the heart of it. Many arrived from elsewhere to join those who started here and stayed. As we traveled central and connected, painting, and collected stories, we found rich and common themes.

Mom stories certainly connect us. Read and hear about a few of our Common Wealth of Kentucky mothers as curated from project participant interviews while artist Kelly Brewer painted their portraits. Our mom moments celebrate another universal experience we, as humans, share.

As we study this Commonwealth, what consistently strikes me is the good-natured, gracious, almost neighborly quest for progress and prosperity in a state with three distinct regions. It's like the weird family where all the siblings seem to get along, and you can't help but wonder why. Central Kentucky is the perfect middle child in a family of odd parts and shady reputations.

We traveled the western river bottom flats, past black tobacco barns, through corn alleys, across central Kentucky's rolling bluegrass with stone fences and steepledThoroughbred estates along the winding climb through hollows of the east to the top of coal mountains where elk and eagles live on earth and sky. Videos can not capture it all, but perhaps they wet the whistle and tempt the viewer to escape on a Kentucky adventure.

The Common Wealth of Kentucky Project headed west to Glasgow, Barren River, Hopkinsville, Paducah and some scenic backroads in between.

Artist Kelly Brewer shares the inspiration for this heartfelt passion project.

What started out in a library in Breathitt County circled all over Appalachia and opened our eyes and hearts to an amazing region of Kentucky.

From down under to way up high, part two of Appalachia was a ceaseless wonder into the strength of the human spirit and our grateful co-existence.