Get to know Bright Blue Rooster, all the Minnie Adkins art folk at Morehead exhibit

As the summer begins to give way to a new school year, the Kentucky Folk Art Center in Morehead has an exhibit that could be a fun excursion for the family.

“Minnie Adkins: Story Carvings,” featuring hundreds of figures the Isonville artist has carved to illustrate books by author Mike Norris, opened in the middle of July and runs through Sept. 9 at the Center, 102 W. First St. in Morehead.

Norris and Adkins’ collaboration began by chance when they met in 1992 at Centre College in Danville, where Norris was the College’s longtime communications director. Adkins was on campus to receive an award, and Norris shared a CD by a his group, the Raggedy Robin String Band with Adkins. She found herself drawn to a tune called “Bright Blue Rooster,” and sent Norris a carving she made of the title character as a thank-you gift.

The rest is history you can now see at the revived Folk Art Center.

The Bright Blue Rooster was the title critter and has become Adkins’ signature creation. But right off the bat, there were more characters like a three-legged hog, no-count dog, as well as a wore out tractor and many more characters in Norris’ mind for Adkins to carve. Five years later they released their first book, “Bright Blue Rooster (Down on the Farm)” and they have since collaborated on three more books: “Mommy Goose: Rhymes from the Mountains,” “Sonny the Monkey,” and “Ring Around the Moon.”

While they have been in books, most of the pieces in “Story Carvings” are on public display for the first time. Adkins work is part of the Folk Art Center’s permanent collection.

“Minnie Adkins’ artwork is foundational to the Kentucky Folk Art Center permanent collection,” Dr. Julia Finch, assistant professor of art history at Morehead State University and interim director of KFAC, said in a news release. “Her collaboration with Mike Norris is an example of how storytelling in the Appalachian Mountains can take a number of forms, including visual storytelling, oral storytelling, and musical storytelling.

“We are so pleased to be able to share this exhibition, which is a testament to their mutual inspiration and collaboration and to the folk art traditions that are at the root of both artists’ work.”

The Folk Arts Center is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Visit moreheadstate.edu/kfac or call 606-783-2204 for more information.

More award-winning poetry from Lexington

You may have heard Lexington-based poetry is all the rage these days. Our own Ada Limón has been named U.S. Poet Laureate, and Crystal Wilkinson is the Kentucky Poet Laureate. Both also have critically acclaimed recent books out — Limón’s “The Hurting Kind” and Wilkinson’s “Perfect Black” — and host well-known podcasts about poetry, words, and creativity — Limón’s “The Slowdown” from American Public Media and The Poetry Foundation and Wilkinson’s “Words for the People” from Louisville Public Media.

Here’s another award-winning Lexington-based poet we first told you about last year who now has something good for you to read. Last year, Danni Quintos won the A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize which included publication of her debut collection of poems. “Two Brown Dots” is now out and being hailed by outlets including The Southern Review of Books and Publishers Weekly, which says, “There is a wide-eyed awareness running throughout that elevates life’s ordinary moments into something transcendent and powerful,” in its review. In Motherhood, Literature & Art, Laura Dennis writes that the book is especially relevant to this summer when rulings and legislation remind us the female body is under “constant scrutiny.” “This collection … explores what it means to live in a biracial, female body, as well as the desire to belong, to find one’s place.”

You still have time to add “Two Brown Dots” to your summer reading.

Future laureates?

The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning is poised to give us a glimpse into who Kentucky’s next Danni Quintos — or Limon or Wilkinson — will be with its Youth Poet Laureate chapter. The program, a partnership with Urban Word NYC and the Kentucky Arts Council, “is designed to honor young writers and leaders in Kentucky (ages 13-18) who are committed to making a civic impact through community engagement and utilizing the power of their words,” according to a Carnegie Center statement.

Applications are open Aug. 1 to Oct. 31 and the Lexington Youth Poet Laureate will be announced in December. Apply at carnegiecenterlex.org/youth-poet-laureate.

Rich Copley is a former arts writer and editor for the Herald-Leader who is now a Lexington-based multimedia producer. He is the proud owner of a Minnie Adkins rooster.