Producer, videographer: Gale Worth

Going a Little Crazy

Quilter Kay Wimsatt

Kay Wimsatt of Whitesville, in Daviess County, is a crazy quilter.

Not that Kay herself isn’t perfectly sane: She’s a talented seamstress who puts a lifetime of experience and a lot of thought into her designs. But in quilting parlance, the abstract, free-form nature of those designs makes them “crazy.”

Kay’s colorful works represent quite a departure from traditional quilt designs. And the creativity and skill she puts into them have won her many awards, including one of the truly sought-after prizes for Kentucky quilters: the State Fair blue ribbon.

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For more information:
• Tattoo Charlie’s, 1845 Berry Blvd., Louisville, KY 40215, (502) 366-9635

Producer, videographer: Dave Shuffett
Editor: Otis Ballard

A Body of Work

The Tattoo Charlie’s museum

The next art form saluted on this edition of Kentucky Life also involves needles, but you’ll have to judge for yourself how much craziness comes with the territory.

Humans are a creative species, seemingly driven to cover any handy surface with artwork. And when no other surface is handy, our own bodies will do just fine. In Louisville, there’s a museum (one of only three in the world) dedicated to just this impulse. So come along as we see the fantastic creations at ... Tattoo Charlie’s.

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For more information:
• David Gulotta, R.D. 2, Box 2250, Saylorsburg, PA 18353

Producer: Cheryl Beckley
Videographer: David Brinkley

Mammoth Undertaking

Painter David Gulotta

The phrase “cave painting” probably conjures up images of prehistoric people working by torchlight to draw animals and leave their own handprints on underground walls. Our next segment brings this scene up to date with a visit to modern artist David Gulotta at work, by special permission of the National Park Service—and presumably with a better light source—in the bowels of Mammoth Cave.

Though he lives in Pennsylvania, David is drawn to the subterranean labyrinth that is Mammoth by his artistic instincts. He creates fantastically colored abstract works that represent his own response to the natural wonders around him—and help other visitors see them in a whole new light, too.

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Producer: D. Anthony Noel
Videographer: Ryan Hardison
Editor: D. Anthony Noel

Field of Memories

Dawson Springs history

Did you know that Pirates once roamed the Tradewater River?

Pittsburgh Pirates, that is. From 1914 to 1917, Dawson Springs, on the west bank of the Tradewater in Hopkins County, was the spring-training home of that big-league baseball team. For those few magic springtimes, Western Kentucky fans got to see a legend in the making as Honus Wagner and teammates came to town to get ready for the season.

Of course, in those days, Dawson Springs was quite the place to be. Local entrepreneur (and Confederate cavalry veteran) Washington I. Hamby had found mineral water bubbling up through his newly dug wells in the late 19th century. Within five years, the town population had boomed from just over 100 to just over 1,000. By the 1910s, a cluster of luxury hotels had sprouted to pamper the thousands of visitors who rode the trains from near and far to “take the waters,” which were believed to have medicinal properties.

Whether a few weeks of drinking those waters contributed to Wagner’s Hall of Fame stats is a matter of speculation, of course. But Dawson Springs is proud of its baseball history, as shown by the recent construction of Riverside Park, a reproduction turn-of-the-century baseball park with an all-wooden grandstand where long-time fans can sit for a while and remember the game as it used to be.

And oh, yes, the Pirates came back. Riverside Park is the home field of the Tradewater Pirates, a semi-pro team.

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