RUDE OSOLNIK - MASTER WOODTURNER - (1915-2001)

Rude Osolnik was widely admired as one of the finest wood turners in America and his workshops and seminars were in demand around the world. His bowls and signature candlesticks are collector's items and his pieces are in the permanent collections of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Atlanta's High Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, The Yale Museum, The Speed Museum, The Kentucky History Museum, The Mayo Clinic, The Connell Gallery and many other fine institutions. In 1992, he was presented the Milner Award, the Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement by then Governor Brereton Jones. He is honored by the Commonwealth of Kentucky which presents the Osolnik Award each year to a selected Kentucky artist. He attended Bradley University in Peoria, IL and received both a BA and MA. In 1937 he accepted a teaching position at Berea College in the Industrial Arts Department. He later became Chairman of the Industrial Arts Department and for awhile ran the Woodcraft Department. In the 60's and 70's, Osolnik was a leader of the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild and helped found the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen having served both as President. He was one of the architects of The Kentucky Guild Train that first started promoting Kentucky crafts. In 1982, he started the ongoing Berea Crafts Festival.