The Johnson Center for the Arts has received a $1,000 matching fund technical assistance grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts to catalogue the Pike County Masters: Jean Lake and Pugh Windham exhibition.

Morgan Drinkard, Johnson Center interim director, said the state arts council grant will make it possible to have a visual record of the artwork, which includes pieces from private collections.

“To be able to put these two exhibits together again is very unlikely and probably neither one of them will be duplicated,” Drinkard said. “We were fortunate that collectors were so generous in loaning their art to us. I think this was the largest showing ever of Pugh Windham’s wood carvings and we had several pieces of Jean Lake’s earliest artwork and some of her largest works. So, to put this exhibit together again or even to get this many pieces of their artwork in the same place is probably not going to happen.”

Drinkard said while the Johnson Center was housing the artwork, she and the staff wanted to commission a digital photographic record of the exhibition.

“The technical assistance grant from the state arts council made it possible for us to have the permanent record of the artwork in this exhibit,” she said. “We are very appreciative of the support of the state arts council. Without their support, this project would not have been possible.”

Local professional photographer Steve Stubblefield was contracted to photograph the Pike County Masters exhibit.

“Steve came in and set up the lighting necessary to photograph the artwork so as to capture each piece in great detail,” said Wiley White, art center development director. “Of course, Pugh Windham’s carvings are three dimensional so, he took most of them from several angles so show the incredible detail of his work.”

Stubblefield said that some of Windham’s carvings were nondescript on the backside while others were intricately detailed.

“The moonshiners, for example,” Stubblefield said. “What is most interesting is the whiskey bottles that they have stuffed in their back pockets. To really appreciate this piece, you have see it from both sides. Many of his carvings are that way.”

In addition to the digital photographs, the exhibition documentation will include text about the artists as well as information about their work.

“This will be an ongoing documentation of our ‘Roots’ series exhibits in an effort to have a permanent record of the artwork of our Pike County artists,” White said. “With the use of Adobe Creative Suite Software, we will be able to catalogue the artwork of future Roots exhibits and possibly catalogue other exhibitions as well. But we want to have as extensive record of Pike County artists as possible.”

The archives will be available online and, later, plans are to create a print edition of the artwork.