Reprise | Kevin Kresse: Sculptor, Visual Artist

Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy

Ep 254 | Aired 7/23/2021 Today’s Up In Your Business With Kerry McCoy is a rerun from our early days in broadcasting, featuring my artist-friend and North Little Rock native, Mr. Kevin Kresse. Kevin’s success, of late, has been making big news. In recent years he was commissioned to sculpt the bust of Helena, Arkansas’s homeboy: singer and drummer Levon Helm. And, before that, Kresse created a seven foot, 1300 lb. bronze statue of the famed US Army Ranger and war hero Gen. William O. Darby of Ft. Smith, Arkansas. But I think Kresse’s most recent commission may have him more excited than any other. Kevin's sculpture of music legend Johnny Cash has been selected to represent Arkansas for the National Statuary Hall in Washington DC. Kevin’s work has been featured in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Arkansas Times, the North Little Rock Times, the Little Rock Free Press, Active Years magazine and Soiree magazine. He’s also been featured in pieces produced by the local affiliates of ABC, CBS and PBS television, as well as a short film by Garret Larkin. Kresse has been awarded painting fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts – Mid-America Arts Alliance and the Arkansas Arts Council. He has also been the winner of several awards from the Arkansas Arts Center’s annual Delta competition. Listen to hear how Kevin discovered his knack for painting and sculpture, how he and his wife left everything behind to begin careers as artists, and about the many sculptures of Arkansas legends that live in Kevin’s living room, such as Levon Helm, Al Green, and Sister Loretta Tharpe. See his work, you won’t believe it!