The J.D. Wilson Gallery is named in honor of a Mt. Sterling native, a devoted advocate and supporter of the arts who now resides in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It is home to the permanent Contemporary Kenyan Art Collection, the largest in North America.

This collection consists of works representative of the artistic talents of ten Kenyan artists living today. Here in the museum, works of art are tied together between two continents, cultures, and disciplines. The art of Kenya’s self-taught artists is neither strictly traditional nor Western in style. The collection contains painting ranging from realism to the surreal, from vibrant abstractions that reference the past and the present, to a woodcut with relevant environmental symbols and to figurative sculpture.

The collection is a gift of The Ruth Hunt Wood Foundation, which began in 2001 in collaboration with The Department of Art at The University of Kentucky. Ten Kenyan artists have traveled to Kentucky and enjoyed the position as the “Kenyan Artist in Residence” at The University of Kentucky. Each residency culminated in a solo art exhibit at The Tuska Gallery at The University of Kentucky from which each artist donated one piece of art created during their stay. These collectively are known as The Contemporary Kenyan Art Collection.

Ruth Hunt Wood explains “the collection was conceived explicitly as a way of supporting and spreading the knowledge of contemporary art and artists in Kenya.”

Also featuring a large collection of traditional handmade Kenyan jewelry, not pictured.