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Artist Commissioned To Do 14 Paintings at "Ole Opry" |
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Artist Kenneth Hari, whose lithograph "The Prophet" hangs permanently in the Vatican, has been commissioned to do a series of portraits for the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn. WSM-TV and Radio of Nashville, which owns the Grand Ole Opry and the adjacent theme park, Opryland, has contracted Mr. Hari to paint the portraits of the 14 recipients of the George D. Hay Award. Hay, known affectionately as the "Solemn Old Judge," was the first announcer in 1925 of the longest playing radio show, WSM's Barn Dance, and originator of its title, the Grand Ole Opry. The award named in the late Hay's honor originated two years ago when Irvin Waugh, president of WSM, dedicated the new Opry House and announced 14 names of those whose musical or administrative talents had been instrumental in the Opry's growth. Two More award-portraits will be announced each October during Country Music Week when the award show is aired over nation-wide television. Mr. Hari's portraits will hang as a permanent collection in the spacious brick- and wood-lined lobby of the Opry House, which accommodates many thousands of country music fans each year. The qualifications of Mr. Hari, whose home is here, are considerable by any standard for the Nashville project, especially so for one who has yet to reach the age of 30. He has painted portraits from life sittings of well over 80 international celebrities, from poets to puppeteers. Mr. Hari recently gave up his New York studio to set up shop in the country atmosphere of middle Tennessee. The first portrait he painted for the project was guitarist and RCA vice-president Chet Atkins, a live sitting in Atkins' Nashville office. The second was more difficult. It was of Hank Williams, who died in 1953 at the age of 29, Williams posed for few photographs, but Hari has captured a great likeness of Williams. Hari is currently working on the portraits of Minnie Pearl, the comedienne whose act is introduced with the familiar "How Dee"; Bill Monroe, the Father of Blue Grass; Uncle Dave Macon, one of the first and most popular entertainers on the original radio show (now deceased); Roy Acuff, author of the country music classics, Wabash Cannonball and The Great Speckled Bird; Ernest Tubb, another Opry regular and author of "I'm Walking the Floor Over You"; Hank Snow, Whose song "I'm Moving On" was No.1 for 29 weeks; Jack Strapp, former manager of the Grand Ole Opry and current president of Tree Publications; Owen Bradley, former musical director for WSM; comic Rod Brasfield, now deceased; Edwin Craig, former president of National Life and Accident Insurance, parent company of WSM and the Opry, (now deceased); and Cohen Williams, president of Martha White Flour Company, long-time sponsor of the Grand Ole Opry. |
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