Community Invited to UK Art and Visual Studies Open House

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 3, 2015) — The University of Kentucky School of Art and Visual Studies throws open the doors of their new facility, the Art and Visual Studies Building on Bolivar Street, for an open house for the Bluegrass community. Locals, alumni and current members of the UK family are all welcome to come peruse the new home of the university's art studio, art education and art history and visual studies programs from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8. The event is free and open to the public.

In celebration of their new facility, the School of Art and Visual Studies and the College of Fine Arts will host an open house with several festivities, similar to the school's popular open studio events held in December. Visitors to the open house will be able to:

· take tours of the new building;

· see art class demonstrations;

· participate in a silent auction to raise money for the Ross Zirkle Memorial Scholarship fund; and       

· see an alumni exhibition of art by 80 former UK students still working in the field.

In addition there will be food trucks on Bolivar Street and refreshments. WRFL will provide the music.

After more than 40 years in the Reynolds Building Number 1, the studio art program within the School of Art and Visual Studies moved into the new building this summer. They join the art education program and art history and visual studies in an integrated studio/classroom environment designed to encourage collaborative innovation in the visual arts. The Art and Visual Studies Building, located at 236 Bolivar Street, is a 21st-century facility housed in a historic tobacco processing plant. In addition to traditional artist studios and instructional spaces the new building currently features five digital media labs and a 3D fabrication lab.  The building also features a state-of-the-art gallery for student and faculty shows and for special exhibitions such the Alumni Show currently on view and the upcoming exhibition of contemporary art from the United Arab Emirates.

The UK School of Art and Visual Studies in the UK College of Fine Arts is an accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of art studio, art history and visual studies and art education.

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu