Barren County Schools Superintendent Bo Matthews, from left, and a cousin of his, Amanda Matthews, stand in front of the statue of Nettie Depp, a great-great-aunt of theirs, that Amanda Matthews created. The sculpture, which stands in the Kentucky Capitol Rotunda, was unveiled Thursday. Submitted photo
Staff Report
Glasgow News 1
Amanda Matthews was one of four women who had portraits of themselves unveiled as part of the “Kentucky Women Remembered” induction ceremony.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced the induction of these members to the Kentucky Women Remembered exhibit in November. Members of a selection panel unanimously recommended them to Beshear for his consideration to be added to the exhibit.
Artists worked collaboratively with the inductees and create each unique portrait. They are a diverse group of talented Kentuckians who live all over the commonwealth.
Amanda Matthews
Amanda is an internationally recognized sculptor/designer of public art and the space it inhabits. She is also a writer, public speaker, filmmaker and CEO of Prometheus Art, a design/build firm in Lexington. Amanda serves as the chair of the Kentucky Oral History Commission, is a founding member of the Monumental Women of Kentucky Commission and is president of the board of directors of the Artemis Initiative, a public charity that seeks to elevate the status of women, children, minorities, nature and animals through public art. A commitment to fairness, civil rights and community is central to Amanda’s work, which honors the plight of those still seeking equality and emphasizes accessibility for all people. For years, she lobbied for the first woman to be honored with statuary in the Kentucky State Capitol and reshaped Kentucky history with her statue of Nettie Depp. She later created the Kentucky COVID Memorial – “United We Stand. Divided We Fall.” – located in the Capitol campus’s memorial garden.
Matthews’ family is from Barren County. She created the sculpture of Barren County native Nettie Depp that was unveiled in 2022 in the Kentucky Capitol Rotunda.
Alberta O. Jones
During her brief life, Alberta was at the forefront of change in Kentucky and Louisville. She was one of the first African American women to pass the Kentucky Bar, the first female prosecutor in Kentucky and she was also Cassius Clay’s [Muhammad Ali’s] first attorney. Alberta was a civil rights activist. In addition to participating in the civil rights March on Washington and marches in Louisville, she rented voting machines and held classes to teach African Americans how to vote. She established the Independent Voters Association and was an active member of the Louisville Urban League and the NAACP. Tragically, in August 1965, at the age of 35, Alberta was murdered – and to this day, the case remains unsolved.
Ada Limón
Born in Sonoma, California, Ada earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University but for quite some time called Lexington, Kentucky, home. She is the author of six books of poetry, including “The Carrying,” which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In October 2023, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, and she was named a TIME magazine woman of the year in 2024. In July 2022, Ada was appointed as the 24th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Her signature project, entitled “You Are Here,” focuses on how poetry can help connect us to the natural world.
Kim Michele Richardson
Kim is a native Kentuckian and resident of Louisville whose storytelling captures the essence of her passion for the people of Kentucky. She is a New York Times, Los Angeles Times and USA Today author and advocate whose stories resonate with readers, transcending geographic boundaries and instilling a sense of appreciation for the culture and heritage of her beloved Kentucky. In her research into Kentucky history and women’s roles in it, she learned of a Kentucky teacher who was the founder of the Kentucky Moonlight Schools and the first adult literacy movement in the United States in the early 1900s, Cora Wilson Stewart. Kim was so moved by what Stewart had done that she purchased a grave marker for Stewart 65 years after her death. In 2024, Eastern Kentucky University recognized Kim for her distinguished service to arts and culture with an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree.
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