For more information:
• Pam Marrinan, Mountain Spirit Inc., 1101 Incline Rd., Burnside, KY 42519, (606) 561-5057

Producer, videographer: Dave Shuffett
Editor: Jay Akers

Getting the Picture

photographer Charline Marrinan

In a program full of talented artists, the first is a photographer who has published a book entitled The Spirit of Nature. But her life story is really a testament to the power of the human spirit.

Charline Marrinan was born with a significant developmental disability. Her mother, Pam, remembers being told that Charline would never advance. But today Charline is an award-winning photographer whose work is sold all over the country. In this segment, host Dave Shuffett visits Pulaski County to hear the remarkable story of what happened in between from both women.

Watch This Story (5:07)

For more information:
• Dan Barnes Glass Art, (859) 233-1730

Producer, editor: Tom Bickel
Videographer: Frank Simkonis
Audio: Charlie Bissell

Lighting It Up

stained-glass artist Dan Neil Barnes

Dan Neil Barnes makes light fixtures that are also works of art—or, to put it another way, works of art that light up. The Henderson County native, who grew up in a family of craftsmen, had already been running his own successful furniture design business in Lexington for some years when he decided to take up the additional challenge of making glass art.

Though Dan does turn out the occasional tabletop piece, most of his lighted glass creations are a far cry from the Tiffany style of shaded lamp. Instead, they are mixed-media sculptures, featuring vibrant colors and intricate patterns in glass, that use internal lighting as another design element. Most of the completed pieces also incorporate woods and treated metals and are designed to hang on the wall.

Dan has exhibited his works at numerous gallery shows and created special pieces for several public art projects. His style embraces both the artistic and the practical as he crafts custom windows and doors as well as sculptures and decorative vessels.

Watch This Story (7:18)

Producer, videographer, editor: Cheryl Beckley

The Elephant Man

elephant handler Pat Harned

Sooner or later, it had to happen: Kentucky Life runs away to the circus. Or rather, the circus comes to Kentucky, bringing Leitchfield native Pat Harned and his large friend Gunther with it.

Gunther is an Asian elephant, and Pat is a Kentucky boy who moved to Florida with dreams of playing professional baseball. Though that door eventually closed, a window to a whole new world opened up when Pat discovered a new passion and became an elephant handler and trainer for the hometown edition of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He explains how he got from the Bluegrass to the Big Top in this segment, taped while the circus was making a stop in Bowling Green. With Gunther’s help, he also shows some of the moves that have made elephants a favorite of generations of circusgoers.

Watch This Story (4:32)

For more information:
• Carroll Sanders, 815 State Rt. 1700, Hawesville, KY 42348, (270) 993-4138

Producer, videographer: Dave Shuffett
Editor: Dan Taulbee

Detail Work

chainsaw carver Carroll Sanders

A chainsaw may seem like an unwieldy tool for carving, but Hancock County’s Carroll Sanders wields his as if it were a fine-pointed chisel. To prove how much detail a chainsaw sculptor can sculpt, he has created a squirrel figurine only 3/4 of an inch tall, etched his initials into the head of a pin, and even carved the initials “A.W.” (see note below) into his own toenails. Those feats earned him several mentions in Ripley’s Believe It or Not.

Carroll is also a respected carver of larger pieces. The same control that lets him perform his more sensational feats has also earned him a following as a sculptor of unique works of art, as we discover in this profile.

Watch This Story (4:26)

For more information:
• Reynolds Station, 624 Alexandria Place, Owensboro, KY 42303, (270) 689-0904

Note

And now, about A.W.: The “A.W.” initials Carroll Sanders carved into his toenails were for Ally White, Carroll’s favorite bluegrass musician. So we end this edition with a little music from Ally and her band, Reynolds Station.