ARTIST SELECTED FOR LEWIS & CLARK ARTS CORPS RESIDENCIES

The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and the National Endowment for the Arts have launched the second phase of the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Cultural Development Initiative with the selection of sculptor Karen McCoy as the lead artist for the Lewis and Clark ArtsCorps: Artists and Communities Explore Lewis & Clark's Journey. She will be in residence at two historic sites corresponding with the journey of Lewis and Clark. The first of these is the Falls of the Ohio, a series of cascading rapids on the Ohio River, which today is straddled by the cities of Louisville, Kentucky; and Clarksville, Indiana.

"Woven Willow Bench" by Karen McCoy
A woven willow bench commissioned for From the Ground Up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is concealed within an earthen mound, which deadens traffic noise from a nearby bridge. Irrigation tubing concealed within the bench amplifies the sound of water, complementing the natural sounds within this space.

Each of those communities will host one of the 15 bicentennial signature events commemorating the journey of Lewis and Clark, and McCoy will gather all that is related to the Corps of Discovery here and engage in an exchange of ideas and skills with residents to shape the final work. She will also teach another artist how to take this raw material of ideas and perspectives and turn it into a tangible reflection of Lewis and Clark's journey.

"Flow" by Karen McCoy An open-spiral limestone wall reflects the hydrology of the space, tracing the flow of water as it drains into a larger basin, and also serves as a gathering space.

Consider Louisville at the time of Lewis and Clark -- the landscape, the people, the river and all the preparation for this epic journey into the unknown. Now come forward in time and imagine all that has changed in this place over the last 200 years. McCoy will use her artistic skills to create a piece that draws those visions and stories out of the landscape and imaginations of local people. She describes the focus of her art as "a continuing involvement in making work that undergoes, or alludes to, physical change as an echo of the constant flux of the world and its processes; that relates to human memory, history and action; and that is informed by a cultural consciousness."

For more than 20 years, McCoy has created site-specific environmental sculpture across the United States and in Europe. She has permanently-sited pieces in Denmark at the Tranekaer International Center for Art and Nature on Langeland and at Krakamarken in Jutland; at Europos Parkas in Lithuania; in Jackson, WY; at the Kansas City Freight House in Missouri; and at the South Carolina Botanical Garden in Clemson, SC. During 2003 and 2004, she will not only be in residence in Louisville and Clarksville, but also in St. Louis to participate in the three signature events in that area.

Supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lewis and Clark ArtsCorps is a collaboration of the Kentucky Arts Council, the Indiana Arts Commission, the Illinois Arts Council, the Missouri Arts Council and the signature event bicentennial organizations. The residency is part of the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Cultural Development Initiative, which calls on the bicentennial partner agencies to integrate and promote the role of the arts in the commemoration. The Lewis and Clark ArtsCorps is administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA). For more information about the ArtsCorps project, contact Liesel Fenner or visit NEFA's Web site.