Bolivar Art Gallery’s 1st Shows of 2022 Feature Katie Bell, Joe Hedges, Tomasz Winiarski
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 13, 2022) — The Bolivar Art Gallery at University of Kentucky’s School of Art and Visual Studies will open its first shows of the new year beginning Jan. 14. The gallery will present the works of Katie Bell, Joe Hedges and Tomasz Winiarski. The free public exhibitions will open with each artist talking about their respective exhibits beginning noon Friday, Jan. 14.
Katie Bell is originally from Rockford, Illinois, and studied fine art and race and gender studies at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Bell has shown her work at a variety of venues and her work has been written about in BOMB Magazine, Whitewall, Hyperallergic, Artnet, Sculpture Magazine and Art in America. Bell was awarded a fellowship in painting by the New York Foundation for the Arts in 2015 and the Saint-Gaudens Memorial Fellowship in 2016. Bell lives and works in New York, New York.
Bell creates paintings and sculptures based off objects and materials that she finds in salvage yards, and sometimes on Craigslist. She specifically looks for objects that transform depending on their surroundings. Her current work, “False Stage,” focuses on ideas from the Russian Constructivists.
“Using woodworking tools as a form of mark making and construction materials as a palette, I build paintings and sculptures,” Bell said. “The compositions are in a state of freeze-frame, as if holding their breath until the viewer leaves.”
Joe Hedges currently lives in Pullman, Washington, and is an intermedia artist whose works incorporate oil painting and new media installation. His work highlights the effects of technology on the human experience, providing juxtapositions with media objects and art history. Hedges has participated in national and international exhibits. The artist also has directed community-based public art projects in Ohio, Kentucky and Washington.
Hedges’ exhibit, “Ctrl+A,” depicts oil paintings alongside recent media products that consume the world today to represent how the world and technology have molded together over time. His work is evidence of how artists have expressed their creativity differently throughout history, with the addition of technology. His works can be described as combinatorial and at times a puzzle, luring viewers to become interested of the ideas behind the pieces.
Tomasz Winiarski is from Bielsko-Biala, Poland. He studied at the Faculty of Graphic Arts of the Academy of Fine Art in Krakow, where he completed a thesis in the Intaglio Studio. The artist has achieved many awards for his work and has participated in over 200 exhibitions, nationally and internationally. Additionally, Winiarski has presented his pieces at solo exhibitions.
Winiarski has been pursuing his graphic series “Perpetuum mobile” for over 14 years. For most of his work, the artist uses metal techniques. This series incorporates over 100 prints created in classic mezzotint and dry point techniques.
The artists’ exhibits will be on display Jan. 14-Feb. 12, at Bolivar Art Gallery, on the first floor of the UK School of Art and Visual Studies Building, located at 236 Bolivar St. The public can view the exhibits during regular gallery hours 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.
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, 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.