Arts & Culture

UK SA/VS Visiting Artists Series returns with slate of talks by global artists

The spring semester of the Visiting Artists begins noon, Feb. 3, in the Singletary Center with Polish artist Hab. Bartłomiej Struzik.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 2, 2023) —​ ​The University of Kentucky School of Art and Visual Studies (SA/VS) continues its Visiting Artist Series this semester with lectures featuring artists from around the globe, spanning multiple disciplines. The series kicks off Friday, Feb. 3, in the Singletary Center for the Arts with Polish artist Hab. Bartłomiej Struzik.  

As part of the visiting artist program, two exhibitions will be running in the Bolivar Art Gallery, Melanie Johnson’s "Garden of Bewilderment" and Mack Gingles’ "By a Thread,", on display Feb. 3-26. Each year, the school hosts a series of free, public talks with scholars and artists concerned with contemporary visual culture. The Visiting Artist Series features lectures, exhibitions and workshops in cooperation with the Art History and Visual Studies program.  

Find this spring's artists and presentations for the Visiting Artist Series below: 

Feb. 3, 2023 | noon-1 p.m. | Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall

Bartłomiej Struzik, graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts. Jan Matejko in Krakow. Diploma at the Faculty of Sculpture under the supervision of Jerzy Nowakowski. The promoter of the doctorate was Andrew Getter. He is currently a professor at his alma mater. Since 2017, he has been the head of the Department of Architectural and Sculpture Design at the Faculty of Sculpture. He graduated from Cultural Diplomacy at Collegium Civitas in Warsaw, where he studied under the supervision of Ambassador Ryszard Żółtaniecki. 

Feb. 13, 2023 | 12:30-1:30 p.m. | Bolivar Art Gallery 

Henry Horenstein has been a professional photographer, filmmaker, teacher and author since the 1970s. He studied history at the University of Chicago and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts at Rhode Island School of Design, where he studied with Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind. 

Horenstein’s work is collected and exhibited internationally, and he has published more than 35 books, including monographs of his own work, such as "Shoot What You Love," "Histories," "Show," "Honky Tonk," "Animalia," "Humans," "Racing Days" and "Close Relations," among many others. He also authored Black & White Photography, Digital Photography and Beyond Basic Photography, used by hundreds of thousands of art school students as their introduction to photography. His "Shoot What You Love" serves as both a memoir and a personal history of photography over the past 50 years. 

In recent years, Horenstein has been making films: "Preacher," "Murray," "Spoke," "Partners" and "Blitto Underground," which premiered in 2021. He lives in Boston. 

Feb. 17, 2023 | noon-1 p.m. | Bolivar Art Gallery 

Mack Gingles was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. The compulsion to draw emerged right away and was embraced by a house full of people who draw. The desire to paint most likely began with coursework pursuant to his first degree (graphic design; subsequent degrees: studio art; and painting and drawing). After working as an art director and serving concurrently in the Navy Reserve, he committed himself fully to the study of art and to the life of the studio. Gingles joined the Baylor Art Department faculty in 2011. His work has been exhibited in numerous juried exhibitions across the United States, and by invitation at the Museum of Modern Fine Arts in Belarus and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Macedonia. His work has also been published in the circulated New American Paintings. 

Feb. 20, 2023 | 3-4 p.m. | Art and Visual Studies Building Room 229 

New York based multidisciplinary artist gwen charles interjects the performing body, often her own, into an exploration of the female experience, into non-proscenium formats interweaving sculpture, movement and video. Performances, often in alternative spaces, take inspiration from everyday objects, dreams and historical references, and merge elements of reality, fantasy and absurdity. 

Feb. 22, 2023 | noon-1 p.m. | Bolivar Art Gallery 

Warrensburg, Missouri-based artist Melanie Johnson (American, born 1978) creates large-scale charcoal drawings that, with their immersive size, their array of meticulously rendered flora and fauna, and their astutely drawn perception of three-dimensional space, give the appearance of looking into a natural history museum diorama. 

March 10, 2023 | noon-1 p.m. | Bolivar Art Gallery 

Time McClendon is an internationally celebrated sculptor and jewelry designer based in Southern California. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, McClendon began exhibiting artistic abilities at the tender age of 8 to the delight of his parents. His father encouraged him to explore his creativity and pursue his passions. 

March 28, 2023 | 11 a.m.-noon | Art and Visual Studies Building Room 242 

Humberto Saenz is a Mexican artist currently residing in San Antonio, Texas. Saenz’s artwork is exhibited throughout the United States and internationally in solo, juried and invitational exhibitions. Recent exhibitions include the Flatbed Contemporary Art Fair, Austin, Texas; Global Print 2015 in Sabrosa, Portugal; and the Awagami International Miniature Print Exhibition 2015 in Tokushima, Japan. In 2016, his work was exhibited in Border Crossings at the La Salle Museum University Art Museum and at the eighth International Printmaking Biennial 2016, in Portugal. Saenz’s work is held in numerous collections across the U.S. and internationally including the Museum of Texas Tech, Hamaguchi Study Print Collection, Workshop of Casa Hogar el Refugio at Monterrey, Mexico, Dishman Art Museum, La Salle University Art Museum, at the Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi, in Whakatane, New Zealand, and the Museu do Douro, Printmaking Art Collection, in Peso da Régua, Portugal. Saenz has been interviewed for Think MTV, the Houston Chronicle, the "Clandestino" radio program, and the Dallas Morning News. His work has been featured in Art in Print magazine, In the Middle of America, Printmaking & Print Exhibitions, C.A. Seward and Friends and in the Journal of the Print World. 

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