Frazier at Thurby!, 250 Free Cool Kentucky Silkscreen Prints, New Exhibition Documenting Kentucky Opens, and More
Thurby is Cool Kentucky day leading up to the run for the roses this year—and here at the Frazier, we’re pleased as punch to partner with Churchill Downs and Old Forester to make it happen!
So, what’s happening and what made Cool Kentucky day a reality at the historic track?
What’s happening is a concoction of cool, mixed up and delivered underneath the Twin Spires highlighted by music, activations, art, and Insta’ worthy photo ops. It’s a small sample of stories, songwriters, and stars that make our Commonwealth so special.
The ear X-tacy photo op work in progress pictured in artist Bri Bowers’s studio! The photo op will be assembled on site at Churchill Downs.
2025 Thurby print design. The first 250 screen prints are being given away free, so be sure to visit us at Thurby!
This year, it’s ear X-tacy, the disco ball, the American Pearl, live screen printing, Old Fo, and a playlist featuring artists from all 120 Kentucky counties along with live performances from Kentucky-born singers and songwriters, including a yodeling cowgirl.
All are featured daily in our exhibition highlighting everything that is cool about Kentucky. It is a permanent but evolving exhibition that last year expanded to include 120: Cool KY Counties. Each county has its own compelling story and catchy song or songwriter!
Late last year, some of our friends from Churchill Downs were visiting the museum when they had the idea of featuring Cool Kentucky during Thurby. They reached out and we jumped at the chance. Together, we have built a compelling collaboration.
In fact, as the place Where the World Meets Kentucky, we look forward to delivering cool to international, national, and local Thurby audiences over the next three years.
You can read more about our screen-printing team below while also learning about Derby party favors, 120 exhibit stories, and the Frazier’s first wedding of the season. Oh, and our new exhibition Documenting Kentucky is a big hit.
Enjoy!
Andy Treinen
President & CEO
Frazier History Museum
This Week in the Museum
Frazier to Give Away First 250 Silkscreen Prints Free at Thurby!
It’s officially Derby week here in Louisville! To celebrate, we are kicking off a new partnership with Churchill Downs! The Thursday before Derby, or “Thurby,” is officially themed Cool Kentucky—and we have a lot of exciting experiences for those who attend. There will be an ear X-tacy pop-up installation, a screen printing demonstration celebrating icons of Kentucky, live musical performances by Kentucky artists featured in the Frazier’s 120: Cool KY Counties exhibit, and more!
Thurby print positives cast on a screen reading to ink, April 24, 2025.
The Frazier’s Nick Cook prepares the Thurby print screens with emulsion, April 24, 2025.
Exposing the Thurby print screen to burn the images on, April 24, 2025.
When it comes to the two us [Lucas and Nick], our collaboration predates either of us working in the exhibits department at the Frazier. It started back in college.
From early letterpress shops producing newspapers and broadsides in nineteenth-century river towns to the vibrant printmaking scene we see today, the state of Kentucky has always had ink in its veins. Universities across the Commonwealth played a big role in that story, offering generations of artists a place to learn and collaborate. Fittingly, we met ten years ago while pursuing our bachelor’s degrees in fine arts with a focus in printmaking.
Today, through the museum, our collaboration continues! When this opportunity with Churchill Downs was first suggested, we couldn’t say yes fast enough.
Creating a visual representation of our Commonwealth while mirroring the day-of celebration was an idea months in the making. We set out to highlight musical acts such as Phoebe White and Fred Nez Keams, adventurer Tori Murden, and of course the spirit of Kentucky: Bourbon. The day’s festivities will be presented by our partners, Old Forester.
The first 250 screen prints are being signed, numbered, and given away free—so make sure if you are going to Thurby, you stop by see us!
Lucas Keown and Nick Cook
Exhibits Team Members
Museum Shop: Jockey Cap Food Picks!
Jockey cap food picks sold in the Frazier’s Museum Shop and online.
It’s the final stretch for horse race party prep! Take your Derby party to the next level with these jockey cap food picks! Featuring six vibrant colors, they’re the perfect way to cap off your appetizers. They’re available in the Frazier’s Museum Shop and online.
Highlights of 120: Bourbon County: Secretariat’s Grave
120: Cool KY Counties graphic.
Did you know the fastest racehorse in recorded history is laid to rest in Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky? Learn more in the following story, one of hundreds of stories featured in our 120: Cool KY Counties exhibit.—Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist
Secretariat wins the Kentucky Derby, May 5, 1973. Credit: Bud Kamenish, Courier Journal.
Bourbon County is the home and final resting place of Secretariat, the most famous racehorse of all time. On November 11, 1973, Secretariat retired from racing after winning the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, placing first in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. Secretariat retired to Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. There, he began his breeding career. He sired 663 foals, including 341 winners and fifty-four stakes winners. Secretariat lived at Claiborne Farm until his death in 1989. He is buried there in the farm cemetery.
Affectionately known as “Big Red,” this equine legend lives on in the hearts of racing fans all over the world. Secretariat Park was dedicated on November 11, 2023, in Paris, Kentucky. The park features representations of the champion horse as a life-size bronze statue and three-story-tall mural. Fifty years after Secretariat’s death, his popularity and outstanding track record remain.
How a Kentucky-Bred Racehorse Became the First Motion Picture Star
The Horse in Motion by Eadweard Muybridge, June 19, 1878. Credit: Library of Congress.
Technology moves fast. We see that now more than ever, but in the mid-1800s people were adapting quickly to major changes around space and time. The railroad shrank the world by making long-distance travel quicker and easier. Telegraph cables allowed for near-instantaneous long-distance communication. And the camera could stop time.
One of the most important sets of time-stopping photos came from British photographer Eadweard Muybridge. Hired by industrialist Leland Stanford, the two men were determined to find proof that, when running, there were times when none of a horse’s feet would touch the ground. To prove this unsupported transit, Muybridge rigged up a series of twelve cameras and devised a system to trigger the shutters, maximize the light, and catch clear images of the racehorse despite its great speed. After running tests on the system with horses named Occident and Abe Edgington, he captured the famous images of Sallie Gardner. What had only been a blur to the eye was now clear to see: a horse with four feet off the ground.
Prior to life with Stanford in California, Sallie Gardner had spent time in Kentucky. In fact, she was supposed to run in the very first Kentucky Oaks in 1875 but was scratched before the gates were opened. Her sibling, Vinaigrette, won that race. Sallie Gardner raced several times that season at the Louisville Jockey Club, but her impact on history has more to do with Hollywood than horseraces. The technical achievement of the photos and the scientific proof of unsupported transit are huge—but more importantly, these images led Muybridge to develop the zoopraxiscope, which then led to the development of motion pictures.
Plenty of famous figures have made it a point to visit for Derby weekend, but you could argue that Sallie Gardner was the first motion picture star to grace the racetrack in Louisville.
Mick Sullivan
Curator of Guest Experience
Frazier Opens New Exhibition Documenting Kentucky: Three Photographic Surveys
Bob Hower speaks during the private opening of the Documenting Kentucky exhibition at the Frazier, April 23, 2025. Credit: Marvin Young.
From left, Kentucky Documentary Photographic Project (KDPP) founders and codirectors Ted Wathen and Bob Hower look at photographs, undated. Credit: John Nation.
We had a packed house at the Frazier last week for the opening reception of Documenting Kentucky: Three Photographic Surveys. Some of the best photographers were in the house, as well as long-time supporters of Ted Wathen, Bob Hower, and Bill Burke. I’ll let them tell you about the exhibit and its roots, but suffice it to say you need to come and check it out. It’s nearly 150 photographs, each with a story to tell.—Rachel Platt, VP of Mission
Imagine looking at Kentucky in forty-year intervals.
That’s exactly what Documenting Kentucky: Three Photographic Surveys brings to the Frazier History Museum.
The story starts in 1935, during the heart of the Great Depression. The Resettlement Administration (RA) hired photographers to document rural poverty throughout the United States. Later renamed the Farm Security Administration, its photographers made the definitive visual record of the Depression. Photographing in Kentucky were: Marion Post Wolcott, Ben Shahn, Carl Mydans, Russell Lee, Esther Bubley, and John Vachon.
In 1975, Ted Wathen founded the Kentucky Bicentennial Photographic Project with the goal of photographing in each of Kentucky’s 120 counties, making a visual record of the state during the Bicentennial period. Bob Hower and Bill Burke joined Wathen, and the Project was subsequently renamed the Kentucky Documentary Photographic Project (KDPP). The original KDPP’s work was exhibited nationally and is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
In 2011, Wathen, Hower, and Burke revived the original KDPP’s work and exhibited it at the Frazier History Museum as Rough Road: The Kentucky Documentary Photographic Project 1975–1977. The response to Rough Road was overwhelming. Viewers kept coming to the photographers saying, “You need to do it again.”
Documenting Kentucky: Three Photographic Surveys is a direct response to that appeal to “do it again.” Wathen and Hower reincorporated the Kentucky Documentary Photographic Project and hired a diverse group of twenty-six photographers to document the state anew. Their plan was to integrate the new work with the photographs from the Farm Security Administration and the original KDPP. Three looks at the same state done in forty-year intervals.
How we look, work, play, worship, and inhabit the land . . . that’s what you’ll see in Documenting Kentucky.
Ted Wathen and Bob Hower
Founders and Codirectors, Kentucky Documentary Photographic Project
Guest Contributors
It Worked! A Southern Tradition and a Perfect Rooftop Wedding at the Frazier
Kathryn Hopkins and Nathaniel Propst bury a bottle of Bourbon in the Frazier’s Rooftop Garden.
Kathryn Hopkins and Nathaniel Propst get married in the Frazier’s Rooftop Garden, April 19, 2025.
And we’re off . . . to the Derby season and the start of our wedding season at the Frazier—and what a memorable beginning it was! On Saturday, April 19, our stunning Rooftop Garden played host to the first “I do” of the year—and the skies almost didn’t cooperate. As anyone from Kentucky knows, spring weather can be a little unpredictable. But this sweet couple came prepared, embracing a beloved Southern tradition known as “burying the Bourbon” to keep the rain at bay on their big day. We told you about their story recently in Frazier Weekly, with pictures of them burying that bottle.
About thirty minutes before the ceremony, the sky grew dark, and the rain poured. But just as quickly as it came, the rain stopped. Our amazing Frazier event staff leapt into action, drying every chair and making sure everything was picture-perfect. And then, as if on cue, the sun peeked through the clouds just in time for Kathryn and Nathaniel to walk down the aisle. It was perfect timing!
It’s often said that rain on your wedding day is a sign of good luck—and if that’s the case, this couple is off to a truly lucky start. Their ceremony was nothing short of magical, made even more special by the moments leading up to it.
We’re sending our warmest congratulations and best wishes to the wonderful Mr. and Mrs. Propst. Here’s to sunshine, sweet traditions, and a lifetime of happiness ahead!
If you would like to learn more about our wedding spaces at the Frazier, visit our website.
Katie Lowe
Sr. Event Coordinator
Alex Kimura Rosen on Blanche Kitchen’s 1961 Wedding Dress
Blanche and Joe Kitchen pose on their wedding day, April 29, 1961.
Blanche and Joe Kitchen pose with their granddaughter Alex Kimura Rosen, c. 1991.
At far left, Alex Kimura Rosen and her mother Rebecca look at the wedding dress Rebecca’s mother Blanche Kitchen wore in 1961 during the Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage exhibition opening at the Frazier, April 5, 2025.
There are many incredible things about our new exhibition Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage, and one of them is having the opportunity to tell the stories of so many Kentucky women through their beautiful wedding dresses. One of those women is Blanche Kitchen, the matriarch of the Kitchen family, whose daughter Rebecca founded Rebecca’s Wedding Boutique. But Blanche’s story is about so much more than her wedding dress. It is about her community activism and entrepreneurial work. In honor of Blanche and her husband Joe’s anniversary this Tuesday, April 29, her granddaughter Alex agreed to write an article in her memory.—Amanda Briede, Sr. Curator of Exhibitions
My grandmother Blanche Kitchen was an impressive woman. She was a trailblazing and successful female entrepreneur in fields that had been previously dominated by men, was a fierce advocate for the Civil Rights movement, worked tirelessly to feed the hungry as the chair of the Dare to Care Food bank, was the publisher and part owner of the LEO newsweekly, and was a dedicated supporter of the University of Louisville who helped grow the athletic department.
While she was humble about all of those things, there was one thing she never got tired of bragging about: being Joe Kitchen’s bride. In fact, one of the last sentences I heard her say before she passed away last October was her telling the nurse how much of a “hunk” her husband was. Our family is so grateful to the Frazier History Museum for including Blanche’s wedding dress in their Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage exhibition because THEIR incredible love and marriage, and the life of the woman who wore that dress, is worthy of being honored in a museum.
Blanche’s wedding dress was handmade by her aunt, and while it is a beautiful garment in itself, what is even more beautiful is the legacy it represents. Their April 29, 1961, wedding day was just the start of their thirty years together as soul mates and best friends, business and adventure partners, parents and grandparents. Even though her husband passed away decades before she did, there was never a day that went by that she did not talk about him. And while they should have had more time together, their love lives on in their four children, fourteen grandchildren, two great grandchildren—and her wedding dress, which is now on display at the Frazier.
With a combination of grief and pride, I broke down in tears as soon as I saw her dress on display during the opening night of the Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage exhibition. I cried wishing that she could have still been here with us to see her dress in the museum, knowing that she would have told us how cute my grandfather looked in his suit that day. And I also cried finding the last bit of closure I needed to say goodbye to her, knowing that displaying her wedding dress in this exhibition is commemorating her life, as well as her love and marriage, in the way it deserves.
Alex Kimura Rosen
Co-owner, Rebecca’s Wedding Boutique
Guest Contributor
On the Trail with Abby Debuts with Chicken Cock!
On the Trail with Abby graphic.
With a record-breaking 2.7 million visitors to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® in 2024, Bourbon tourism is booming! The Kentucky Distillers’ Association has already welcomed fifteen new locations to the Bourbon Trail® this year, bringing the total number of stops on the trail to over sixty. You can map your Bourbon Trail® experience on KYBourbonTrail.com—or with some help from the Frazier History Museum, the Official Starting Point of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®! Uncork our helpful concierge services and other trip-planning resources. While you’re here, enjoy the Spirit of Kentucky® exhibition celebrating the history, craft, and culture of Bourbon whiskey—America’s only native spirit.
Many Bourbon lovers dream of visiting every stop on the Bourbon Trail®. It’s an ever-growing feat as the industry expands. Trail along with me digitally for the next sixty weeks as I highlight every spot on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® from A to Z, or rather Angel’s Envy to Woodford Reserve! But first, we’ll highlight those fifteen newbies.
Chicken Cock Whiskey bottle.
Starting with a bang, or maybe a cock-a-doodle-doo, our first featured distillery in the series is Chicken Cock.
Though Chicken Cock officially joined the Bourbon Trail® in 2025, its roots trace all the way back to the 1830s when distillery founder James A. Miller began his farming and distilling journey. The brand took a hiatus before its rediscovery and a concept for its revival began in 2011.
What’s in a name? “Chicken cock” was a popular name for roosters in the southern United States during an era when roosters were seen as a symbol of defiance. Chicken Cock asserts that they’ve “made a few mistakes in the past sixty years, but naming [their] whiskey Chicken Cock isn’t one of them.”
Chicken Cock’s core whiskeys include a Small Batch Bourbon, a Double Oak Whiskey, and a Kentucky Straight Rye. Collectors look forward to an Annual Tin Release, including this year’s Chicken Cock Mizunara: a Japanese-inspired whiskey finished in rare Japanese Mizunara Oak Casks. You can visit the Chicken Cock Whiskey Circa 1856 bar, tasting room, and distillery in Bardstown, Nelson County, Kentucky. Onsite, you can purchase the distillery-exclusive 5 Year Private Cask and 15 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon. The storied yellow house opposite the Talbott Tavern and Inn awaits you!
Abby Flanders
Administrative Chief of Engagement
