Lexington, KY - Horse Capital of the World

BREEZE THE BLUEGRASS 4/19/12

Lexington, in the heart of Kentucky’s inner Bluegrass Region, has an amazing amount of public equine art. Today I’m writing about a mural in downtown Lexington located at the intersection of East Short Street and Elm Street.  The side of the Hurst Office Furniture building contains a large mural that depicts vintage scenes from the early days of horse racing in Lexington.  It is a great example of this public art.  It’s also very timely, given that we are in the middle of the spring racing season at Keeneland Race Course.  

During the late 1700’s, Main Street in downtown Lexington was frequently filled with the sights and sounds of horse races.  These races occurred just a decade or so after Lexington was founded, in 1775.  Kentucky didn’t even enter into statehood until seventeen years later.   The mural on the Hurst Building pays homage to those early, and what must have been crazy, days of street horse racing.  Initially, four murals were commissioned by LexArts for The Lexington Mural Project, which began in 2008 in an effort to transform large, empty spaces on the sides of buildings into murals.  During the course of the project, many local neighborhood associations were tapped into for significant ideas to ensure the murals would maintain that would reflect the local flavor of the neighborhood it resides in.  In 2011, a second installment of the Mural Project was commissioned, with over 100 muralists applying for three spaces.  The Hurst Building mural came out of this second phase of the project.  According to Nathan Zamarron, LexArts Community Arts Manager, Richard Hurst approached LexArts in 2010, to find an artist to enhance the side of his building.  He specifically wanted to touch upon the horse race theme because the original horseracing area in Lexington was not far away from the location of his building.  The space was perfectly suited for the Mural Project.  Char Downs of Paducah, KY, was selected to paint the mural and completed it in July of 2011.   

The 2011 Lexington Mural Project can be viewed at the LexArts website here

Learn more about Char Downs and her Pinecone Studio here

Click here to see more photos of the Hurst Building Mural 

Learn more about LexArts here

Wonderful works of art, equine and otherwise, are available to view on the following Fridays in 2012:  April 20, June 15, September 21 and November 16, in the form of LexArt’s Gallery Hop.  The Hop, in its 25th year, is a self-guided visual arts extravaganza for adults and kids alike.  Gallery Hop takes place from 5pm – 8pm, on the 3rd Friday of April, June, September and November this year.  Pick up a Gallery Hop map at Downtown Arts Center, 141 E. Main St., in Lexington.  It is a great way to tour the heart of Lexington.

Check out Gallery Hop here  

Be sure to mark your calendar and attend the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.  The Rolex runs from next Thursday, April 26, through Sunday, April 29.  If you’re out that way next week, stop by the Rolex Merchandise Shop, near the outdoor stadium, and say “Hi!”  I’ll either be behind a cash register or folding shirts.

All you need to know about the Rolex is here

Enjoy your time in the Bluegrass!

-Julie