Tucked away in his Old Washington studio near his home, painter, potter and printmaker Ken Swinson, 49, listened to music and labored over his latest piece.
Ken has worked in the Maysville area since October 2000. His output is prolific, and his pieces are found throughout Maysville galleries, businesses and private collections.
He has even garnered international attention. In 2024, he designed the cover for Derechos Humanos/Human Rights Portfolio, a book of prints made by artists in Oaxaca, Mexico, and Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2025, his woodcuts were exhibited in Mumbai, India, as part of the IPEP (International Print Exchange Programme) India.
He had a difficult path to success — and Maysville.
A self-described military brat and the oldest of four, Ken was born in Provo, Utah, to a Mormon family. The family bounced around military bases from California to Germany.
“I never felt rooted to a location,” Ken said. “I was never able to have long-term friends. Other than my family, no one has known me my whole life.”
Eventually, Ken began to put down roots. One month after visiting for the first time from Norfolk, Virginia, he was inspired to move to Bracken County. It was there where his artistic career began to blossom. For a time, things were stable, but disaster threatened to uproot him.
In February 2008, a tornado touched down in Bracken County, ravaging barns and partially destroying Ken’s house. Fortunately, Ken was participating in an artist residency in Carlisle at the time.
“You can drive to Augusta and still find the house boarded up,” Ken said.
Then, the Elizabeth Wallingford Old Washington Preservation Inc. entered the picture.
The organization had purchased a historic home in Old Washington called the Dr. William Goforth House, named for the 18th century physician who lived there. It offered the house to Ken to rent at a rate affordable for him. He began to live and work in town, trying to bring art and its transformative power to those who first uplifted him.
“I wasn’t born here, my grandaddy wasn’t born here, but this is my chosen home,” Ken said. “When people ask me where I’m from, I say Maysville.”
“He goes out of his way to give back to this community,” said Katherine Cotterill, EAT (Exquisite Art Treasures) Gallery manager, where many of Ken’s paintings hang for sale. “He just has a heart of gold.”
Ken’s artwork would eventually weave itself into the fabric, not just of the local arts scene, but of Maysville itself.
In 2024, the Charles T. Cotterill Foundation asked Ken if he could design an art installation for Limestone Landing, a riverside park. Carved in ceramic by local schoolchildren and cast by University of Kentucky students, the murals depict Maysville on either side of the tunnel in Ken’s distinctive, patchwork style. When river cruises visit town and people step onto the landing, Ken’s vision is what greets them first.
