Arts & Culture

Find holiday gifts Dec. 6 at SA/VS Open Studio

The University of Kentucky School of Art and Visual Studies will present Open Studio Dec. 6. Visitors can see and purchase a variety of artwork by UK students. Photo by Breven Walker.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 25, 2024) — University of Kentucky School of Art and Visual Studies’ (SA/VS) Open Studio returns for the holiday season, 5-8 p.m. Dec. 6. in the SA/VS Building,  236 Bolivar St. in Lexington.

Open Studio is a free public event which gives Central Kentucky the opportunity to visit artists’ studios, buy one-of-a-kind gifts and celebrate the holidays.

The art studios of undergraduate and graduate students will be open to the public for this rare opportunity and the school’s Bolivar Art Gallery will be housing the annual Carey Ellis Juried Student Show, showcasing the best students’ work from all media in the school, as well graduating digital media design students. The juried competition awards many scholarships to student artists.

This year’s Carey Ellis juror is Travis Townsend. Townsend draws, builds, rebuilds, paints and tinkers upon wood and mixed media sculptures in his Lexington studio. His process-oriented works evolve from sketches and travel through many transformations before being cut apart, reassembled and reworked. Parts are often transplanted or recycled.

Open Studio highlights will include:

  • custom tree ornaments; 
  • pottery sale; 
  • open art studios of BFA and MFA students;
  • art sales; and 
  • food.

The UK School of Art and Visual Studies, part of the College of Fine Arts, offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of art studio, art history and visual studies, art education, curatorial studies and digital media design

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.