Local residents will have a chance to experience Kentucky nature through the eyes of fish and wildlife artist Rick Hill during a special exhibition this spring at the Janice Mason Art Museum in Cadiz.
Spokesman Dave Baker with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources says Hill, of Shelby County, is a self-taught artist and naturalist and paints the covers for Kentucky Afield, the department’s quarterly magazine.
The exhibition will feature acrylic paintings specially created by Hill over the past two decades for the covers of the magazine. Subjects will include a timberdoodle, shellcracker, American kestrel, gray fox, elk, various sporting scenes and more. An ecosystem painting and a portrayal of a Kentucky bobcat prowling the ridgetops of the Red River Gorge will also be featured as part of the display.
Baker says the Cadiz Community Arts Center worked closely with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife and the Kentucky Arts Council to help make the exhibition possible.
Joan Demers, director of the Janice Mason Art Museum, says she is looking forward to this nature exhibit and it fits perfectly in our western Kentucky location. She adds wildlife, fishing and nature are western Kentucky, and Rick Hill is a very accomplished artist.
According to Baker, Hill’s career with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife started as a Fisheries Division creel clerk in 1986. In 1994, he became the department’s full-time artist.
Five of Hill’s nature subjects, including a bobcat, deer, cardinal, quail and smallmouth bass, currently appear on Kentucky specialty license plates.
The ‘Kentucky Afield Illustrated’ exhibition at the Janice Mason Art Museum opens on April 16 and continues through June 5.
The Art Museum, located at 71 Main Street in downtown Cadiz, is open to visitors from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
