Wayne Stacy

Mr. Stacy is a former U.S. Military man, Licensed Master Electrician, and electrical contractor. He calls himself the "consummate vagabond", as the third generation child of a family dedicated to military service, he has traveled the world as a military dependent and in his own service to his country. In total he is one of Eight generations of his family to serve his country, all the way back to the Civil War, including his mother. While born in California, he was raised primarily between Kentucky, Texas, and abroad in Europe and Asia. He calls Frankfort, Kentucky his home, where he lives with his wife (also a military veteran), their five dogs, and two cats. He has two sons, a grandson, and two granddaughters. Both of his sons are following in the family heritage of military service, and are on active duty in the U.S. Military.

Mr. Stacy has always been an artisan. He has been a sketch artist, and painter since before he could walk. In 2002 Mr. Stacy was injured during and accident on a job; while enduring four surgeries on his hand, he could not draw or paint for nearly three years. Mr. Stacy was given his first serious camera on his birthday during that time by his wife, as a “therapeutic tool”. One of his first images was entered into the 2007 Kentucky State Parks, Summer photo essay contest and won, that next year the image was included in a coffee table book. He was invited to be a participating artist in the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games Art Festival, a 2010 US National Park Service Photo Study that included nine national parks across the United States, he was an applicant artist for the 2011 Al Smith Fellowship and Emerging Artist Award presented by the Kentucky Arts Council. A "Monster was unleashed" in Mr. Stacy, as his wife puts it, and he has never looked back. Little did she know she would be the catalyst for such an insatiable passion.

"The photograph is taken from the center of “Whiskey Creek” which runs through the Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loretto, KY. The frame is made from actual Oak Staves used in making Maker’s Mark Bourbon. The Mat is designed from the actual linen paper used to create the labels for Maker’s Mark Bourbon. I wanted to make the work as completely representative of Maker’s Mark as possible and use as many of the actual elements from Maker’s Mark that go into the bourbon as I could."