Three UK Artists Exhibit at Lyric

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 7, 2014) — University of Kentucky College of Fine Arts faculty and staff Garry Bibbs, Sonja Brooks and Bobby Scroggins are exhibiting their artwork in “Black Roots: Art Creations 2014.” The exhibit is on display through Oct. 11, at the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center, located at 300 E. Third St. in Lexington.

“Black Roots: Art Creations 2014,” curated and named by Garry Bibbs, is an exhibit showcasing the work of several noted African-American artists mostly from the Lexington area. Each artist’s work has influenced another’s expressing Kentucky’s history and diverse culture through a variety of mediums. The exhibit is open for viewing between the gallery hours of 9 a.m.- 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday.

Garry Bibbs and Bobby Scroggins are both faculty members of the UK School of Art and Visual Studies. Bibbs is an associate professor with an expertise in sculpture and printmaking. He is the head of the Sculpture Area of the school. He is also an active member of Lexington’s Pew Civic Entrepreneur Initiative, which is a coalition group whose goal is to confront and solve issues relevant to the community on race relations and leadership.

Bibbs received his bachelor’s degree in art studio from Kentucky State University and his master’s degree in art from UK. After graduation, he received a Ford Postdoctoral Fellowship to study at The Chicago Art Institute, and over the years he has completed more than 35 public art commissions throughout the eastern region of the United States. Bibbs' exhibition history includes showings presented through the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., the Ruschman Art Gallery in Indianapolis, the Hertz Gallery in Louisville, and the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati.

Scroggins received his bachelor’s degree of art studying sculpture and ceramics at The Kansas City Art Institute. While Scroggins was a student there he became the first African-American artist in Missouri to construct a public monument, The Leon M. Jordan Monument. He received his master’s degree in sculpture from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville where he was a University and Ford Foundation Fellow.

The ceramicist joined the art department at UK in 1990 as head of ceramics and has been an associate professor since 1996. From 1993 to 1995, Scroggins, served as director-at-large for the National Council on Education for The Ceramics Arts. For the past seven years, he has also served on the visual art faculty at the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts, spending two years as chairman of the visual art division. He previously served as the chairman of ceramics and sculpture pilot programs at The Northwest Academy of the Arts in Donegal, Northern Ireland, and Derry, Northern Ireland. Most recently in 2012, pieces from Scroggins’ “Shades of Clay” were selected for a traveling exhibition that was shown at several major museums throughout the U.S. In January 2014, Scroggins was commissioned by the Aviation Museum of Kentucky to honor two of the most famous Tuskegee Airmen commanding officers in a sculpture, which is now apart of the museum’s permanent collection along with his portrait bust of African-American aviatrix Willa Brown.

Brooks, a museum educator at the Art Museum at UK, attended Howard University and Catholic University. An active philanthropist most of her life, in 2003 Brooks and her husband formed the Sisohpromatem Art Foundation Inc., where she serves as executive director. The Sisohpromatem Art Foundation’s mission is to help children develop into independent, creative members of the community through participation in the arts as "sisohpromatem" is metamorphosis spelled in reverse.

Brooks’ passion for the arts formed primarily when she was in college. She spent two years working in clay and then moved on to 2D and 3D collages. Brooks loves to work with color and texture to form paper and fabric art from a collection source of repurposed reusable materials. She also enjoys inspiring a new generation of artists through her work at the museum.

The UK School of Art and Visual Studies, at 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.

The mission of the Art Museum at UK, part of the UK College of Fine Arts, is to promote the understanding and appreciation of art to enhance the quality of life for the people of Kentucky through collecting, exhibiting, preserving and interpreting outstanding works of visual art from all cultures. Home to a collection of more than 4,500 objects, including American and European paintings, drawings, photographs, prints and sculpture, the Art Museum at UK presents both special exhibitions and shows of work from their permanent collection.

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