Kentuck moves its Art Market events to historic Queen City Pool site in Tuscaloosa

Kentuck's expansion continues as the Northport-based art center moves forward toward operation of the old Queen City Pool site in Tuscaloosa.

Signage went up last week at 1901 Jack Warner Parkway, reading Kentuck at Queen City, with select images from the permanent collection — one of Glenn House's whimsically grotesque face sculptures; images of the festival quilt patterns and others — adorning the circular building's windows, as renovations continue inside.

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On the expanse where the pool once splashed, fun's already begun. Kentuck will maintain the green as an open space for seasonal or other events. Back in April, Kentuck held its third-Saturday Art Market, intended as a sort of mini-festival, at Queen City.

"Even though it was April weather -- it clouded up, and got cold that morning — even still we had more than 200 people visiting," said Exa Skinner, executive director of Kentuck. That Art Market featured 10 local artists, the next-door Tuscaloosa Public Library's bookmobile and more.

"We're starting to draw interests from artists who aren't just Tuscaloosa-based, so that speaks to the kind of quality we're getting," she said.

This coming Saturday, July 20, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., the Art Market returns to Kentuck at Queen City. Art Markets are family-friendly and free to attend, with opportunities to shop the artists' work, chances to partake in craft and kids' activities, and purchase from food vendors.

Saturday's artists will include Sue Blackshear; Maria Petrey, Bastille Candles; Kimberly Case, Gnomies Create; Jay Waters, Jay Waters Photo; Susie Morris; Abi Brewer, Abi Brewer Fine Art; Angelique Joseph, Sully Joe Art; and food vendor World of Beer.

Skinner envisions Kentuck at Queen City, and environs, becoming a lively combo platter like Birmingham's Pepper Place ,

"With the farmers market across the street (at the River Market facility), restaurants in walking distance," Skinner said, and the city working to get older Queen City Park trails and grounds cleared out, "we're hoping to make this a place where people want to spend the whole day."

In addition to Art Markets, Kentuck is courting or creating other events for the green, including a December holiday bazaar, with carolers, decor, snacks and holiday-themed goods.

For 13 years, the former Queen City pool house was operated as the Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum . That closed July 1 , following an agreement between the city of Tuscaloosa, which owns the building and grounds, and Kentuck.

Earlier this century, utilizing Alabama Department of Transportation money, the bathhouse facility, derelict for decades, got cleaned up, cleared out and returned to full function. As the Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation, it told stories from this 200-year-old river city, through boats, buggies, trails, waterways and more. Exhibit pieces are being returned to donors, or stored with the University of Alabama, which operated the museum.

Designed by Don Buel Schuyler, a Tuscaloosan who apprenticed with and worked for Frank Lloyd Wright, the pool and bathhouse were added as a public benefit to existing Queen City Park. A 1932 Civil Works Administration project had cleared and paved ways into that space.

Schuyler began designing and constructing the Art Deco/Art Moderne facility in 1941; it opened in 1943. Funding came in part from the Works Progress Administration, and in part by the David Warner Foundation, named for a member of the Gulf States Paper/Westervelt Co. family who drowned in a swimming accident. It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Though the swimming pool itself is no more, filled in and covered, the old Art Deco-style fountain remains at the top of the green. Kentuck plans to restore that, hoping to echo its original colored light displays.

Kentuck will operate the city-owned facility as an extension of efforts in Tuscaloosa, displaying works from an extensive folk art collection. Kentuck at Queen City will also include a cafe, and a retail storefront.

The Kentuck Association evolved from the internationally-known October art festival, drawing 15,000 yearly, with a $5.5 million economic impact. Inspired by a 1971 Northport heritage celebration, founding director Georgine Clarke drew on love for traditional arts and crafts, inviting famous faces of the burgeoning outsider/visionary artist scene, including Mose Tolliver, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Howard Finster and Benjamin F. Perkins .

The scope expanded, and now includes contemporary arts and artists, two days' worth of roots music, a spoken-word stage named for "ghost lady" Kathryn Tucker Windham , kids' hands-on activities and more.

The name derives from the original moniker of Tuscaloosa's northern port city, Canetuck, or Kentuck. Festival success lead Clarke to add a small office and display space, first in the Northport Civic Center, then on to the downtown location.

Kentuck's success has been noted as one of the key factors leading to downtown's Main Street beautification in 1990. Suffering a 2013 bat infestation, Kentuck underwent a $1.1 million renovation of facilities, which added accessible space, new offices and more.

In addition to year-around planning that goes into each festival, Kentuck hosts Art Nights on first Thursdays (except October); exhibits in its Museum, Ellis Teer, SoNo and Hotel Indigo galleries; Art Markets on third Saturdays; and numerous workshops, education and other outreach, such as Boxes of Joy for underserved students, or art instruction and supplies for day camps.

Possibly because Kentuck earlier this year decided to move its annual festival outside Northport for the first time, some on social media seemed confused by the adjunct facility's signage, thinking it meant a more significant relocation.

"We're still in Northport, our offices, our artists' studios, most of our workshops," Skinner said, adding that the first-Thursday Art Nights, and most of Kentuck's executive functions, remain at the 503 Main Ave. campus.

The 53rd festival will be held Oct. 19-20 in Tuscaloosa's Snow Hinton Park, which is undergoing its own $10 million renovations. The center earlier spanned the river with its Kentuck's Gallery at Hotel Indigo, 111 Greensboro Ave. in downtown Tuscaloosa.

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Kentuck moves its Art Market events to historic Queen City Pool site in Tuscaloosa