A look at upcoming art exhibits and events coming up this 2019-'20 season. Check with each venue for gallery hours, special events and other information. Click here for the full Fall Arts 2019 preview!
Carnegie Center for Literacy & Learning
251 W. Second St. • www.carnegiecenterlex.org
Polychromatic Dancing Praise: Paintings by Dalphna Donnelly. On display Sept. 3-Oct. 4. Spirituality infuses Dalphna Donnelly’s paintings in an effort toward stewardship and worship. This exhibit displays works true to Donnelly’s humorous, curious and innovative style, including new pieces. Paintings will be paired with poems by Carole Johnston Herzog. Gallery Hop reception Sept. 20 (5-8 p.m.).
Brianna Armstrong is an emergent Lexington artist who uses textiles with ethnic roots to expand the African American quliting tradition. Her work will be on display at the Carnegie Center in Novemver and December. Image furnished
Royalty with the Riches by Brianna Armstrong. On display Nov. 2-late December. Brianna Armstrong is an emergent visual artist who uses textiles with ethnic roots to expand the African American quilting tradition as her voice in a very auspicious time. This uplifting exhibit features her memory quilts capturing moments in time in her own unique way, using materials that include acrylic paint, recycled blankets and canvases, found fabrics, beauty supply hair, felt and wool. Gallery Hop reception Nov. 15 (5-8 p.m.)
Lexington Art League
Loudoun House • 209 Castlewood Drive • www.lexingtonartleague.org
Bluegrass Transplants, Adrienne Dixon and Dana Rogers. On display Sept. 6-Oct. 4. Curated by Joanne Skiles Couch Hope and Samantha Jean Moore, the “Bluegrass Transplants” group exhibition features the work of several different artists who have moved to the Bluegrass region and now call it home. Additionally, solo shows by Adrienne Dixon and Dana Rogers will be featured in separate galleries on the main level of the Loudoun House, offering a deep dive into the creative practices of individual artists in the midst of the regional group exhibition. Gallery Hop reception Sept. 20 (5-9 p.m.).
PRHBTN 2019. On display Oct. 18-Nov. 8. Local public art/mural festival PRHBTN joins forces with the Lexington Art League to produce an annual collaborative and radically inclusive salon-style exhibition in celebration of Kentucky visual artists. Opening reception Oct. 18 (6-10 p.m.).
The Kentucky Nude. On display Dec. 6-Jan. 5. The Lexington Art League has hosted “The Nude” annual exhibition for most of the past 30 years. With redefining, and a return to its founding mission to “create opportunities for Lexington-area artists and those who appreciate their work,” the exhibit is now presented biennally to showcase contemporary nude figurative art by Kentucky artists. Opening reception Dec. 6 (5-9 p.m.).
Living Arts & Science Center
362 N. Martin Luther King Blvd. • www.lasc.org
Becky Alley and Colleen Merrill: Tending Edges. On display Sept. 18-Nov. 1. With an enduring interest in material and labor, both of these Lexington artists examine notions of domesticity, tension, and dysfunction through the use of time, touch, and attention.
Latino Arts BLEND. On display Sept. 20-Nov. 1. Held in conjunction with Hispanic Heritage month and LASC’s Day of the Dead festival, this annual exhibition showcases the diversity of Hispanic artistic expression in Lexington. Visual artists of Latino heritage can submit work expressing the rich culture embodied in the Latin-American community.
Day of the Dead Celebration. Nov. 1 (5-9 p.m.) This 12th annual event commemorating the Mexican holiday “Dia de los Muertes” (Day of The Dead) brings together individuals, groups, students and teachers from both the Latino and non-Latino communities, with live music and dance, traditional foods, hands-on crafts, a candlelight parade after sundown from the Living Arts and Science Center, and an exhibition of altars in the Old Episcopal Burying Ground.
Creative Camera Club: Annual Print Competition and Exhibition. On display Nov. 13-Jan. 3. Lexington’s Creative Camera Club is one of the oldest camera clubs in the country, and this annual print competition and exhibition allows members the opportunity to compete in 11 different subject areas such as flora, fauna, portrait, still-life, sports, and creative abstract.
Cricket Press, John Lackey, and Robert Beatty: Gig Posters and Music Ephemera. On display Jan. 17-May 23. This exhibit will showcase the long history of utilizing posters and banners to elicit excitement for an upcoming music performance, featuring gig posters and other local and regional music ephemera from local artists.
Jim Brancaccio: Worlds Within. On display Jan. 10-March 6. Printmaker and collage artist Jim Brancaccio came to Lexington to study at Transylvania University in 1955 and was later appointed gallery director of the Living Arts and Science Center. To honor his contribution to the local arts community, LASC will partner with LexArts to present a retrospective alongside new works of Jim Brancaccio.
The Horse. On display Jan. 27-May 23. This exhibition of equine art will celebrate springtime in the Bluegrass with a national call for equine art of various media.
Art Instructors of the LASC. On display March 20-April 15. This exhibition will showcase many of talented artists who teach at the Living Arts and Science Center’s arts camps, “No School” days, and teen and adult classes.
11th Annual Youth Arts Council Exhibition 2020. On display May 11-June 27. This collaborative exhibition between Lexington’s Youth Arts Council, LexArts and the Living Arts and Science Center will feature the interesting expressions of Lexington’s most talented young artists. Submitted art created by local high school students will be on display in the renovated Kinkead Gallery.
Morlan Gallery
Mitchell Fine Arts Center • Transylvania University • www.transy.edu/morlan
Generous: The Dan Selter Retrospective. On display Sept. 10-Oct. 11. A celebration of the work and life of Dan Selter, Professor Emeritus of Art, who taught art at Transylvania for 35 years until his retirement in 2010.
Forest Portals by Zoé Strecker. On display Sept.10-Oct. 11. “Forest Portals: Pine Mountain (Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall)” is a video installation and sculpture that invites contemplation of the spectacular biodiversity in Kentucky’s old growth forests and the soil that supports them.
If I Could Turn Back Time. On display Oct. 25-Dec. 3. This exhibit focuses on artists who employ queer archives and histories both personal and collective, informal and institutional, real and imagined as a starting point for their work.
Resilience 101: Work by PSA (Public Service Artists and Friends). Jan. 14-Feb 21. Public Service Artists (PSA), a Cincinnati-based group of political art activists interested in proactively changing the political climate, create an exhibition along with invited friends expressing societal, physical, generational and environmental resilience. Gallery HOP reception Jan. 17 (5-8 p.m.); public lecture Jan. 22 (7:30 p.m.).
M.S. Rezny Studio / Gallery
903 Manchester St., Ste. 170 • www.msrezny.com
Melissa T. Hall’s photography exhibit “Aftermath” will be on display at M.S. Rezny Studio / Gallery Sept. 10-Oct. 12. Image furnished
Aftermath. On display Sept. 10-Oct. 12. Melissa T. Hall’s conceptual photography utilizes complex settings in unique locations. The final image is a mixed media combination of photograph, encaustic medium, oil paint and pastels. Preview party Sept. 8 (4-6 p.m.); Gallery Hop reception Sept. 20 (5-8 p.m.).
Arts Connect Open Studio Exhibit. On display Oct.15-26. Rezny Gallery is one of two Lexington galleries displaying artwork from participating artists in Arts Connect’s “Open Studio Weekend.” During the weekend (Oct. 19-20), more than 60 local artists will open their studios from noon-6 p.m. Artist directories and maps will be available at Rezny Gallery and New Editions Gallery for this benefit for Arts Connect. Artists’ reception Oct. 18 (5-7:30 p.m.).
Reliquary — Art Contains the Past. On display Oct. 29-Nov. 30. Using a similar color palette and wide range of found materials, fiber artist Laverne Zabielski and assemblage artist Brandon Long each create a container for the past. The artists’ techniques are a stark contrast in textures and forms: soft and supple versus sharp and rigid. Opening/preview party Oct. 29 (6-8 p.m.) and Gallery Hop reception Nov. 15 (5-8 p.m.).
2019 Wrap-Up. On display Dec. 3-Jan. 3. A wide variety of artists, media and subject matter will offer an abundance of visual stimulation for the festive holiday season. Artists’ reception Dec. 5.
New Editions Gallery
500 W. Short St. • neweditionsgallery.com
New Works by Patrick Adams. On display Sept. 10-Nov. 2. Gallery Hop reception Sept. 20 (5-8 p.m.).
New Works by Laurie Doctor and Martin Erspamer. On display Nov. 5-Dec. 21. Gallery Hop reception Nov. 15 (5-8 p.m.).
Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center Galleries
141E. Main St. • www.lexingtonky.gov/city-gallery
Creative Alliance’s REIMAGINE. On display through Oct. 5 in the City Gallery. This exhibit features Fayette County elementary students’ artwork and corresponding “reimagined” versions by established local artists. Gallery Hop reception and auction Sept. 20 (5-8 p.m.).
Photographs curated by Tom Fielder. On display Sept. 13-Nov. 2 in the Community Gallery. Gallery Hop reception Sept. 20 (5-8 p.m.).
Metal Works. On display Oct. 11-Nov. 30 in the City Gallery. This exhibit features several artists working with various metals to create large and smaller scale works. Gallery Hop reception Nov. 15 (5-8 p.m.).
UK College of Design Exhibit. On display Nov. 8-Jan. 6 in the Community Gallery. Gallery Hop reception Nov. 15 (5-8 p.m.).
PRHBTN
Starting in mid-October, a series of four international artists will visit Lexington to create permanent murals around town for the ninth annual PRHBTN, a “street art” festival, which was created to celebrate murals and other forms of art that are often stigmatized. This year’s featured artists will include Bezt (Poland), who will be coming after an illness prevented his visit last year; Koz Dos (Venezuela); ELLE (Brooklyn); and SNUB23 (United Kingdom).
In addition to the public murals, the festivities will include a gallery exhibit for local/regional artists at the Lexington Art League’s Loudoun House (Oct. 18 through early November).
University of Kentucky Art Museum
405 Rose St. • finearts.uky.edu/art-museum
Mistaken Identity. On display through Dec. 8. Art is not always what it seems, and this exhibition features a range of forgeries, misattributions and works whose authenticity is compromised in some way. Among them are Rembrandt etchings and Albrecht Dürer prints that are copies or restrikes (made from the artists’ plates long after their deaths, and altered later), and a drawing attributed to Auguste Rodin that most likely is not by the sculptor.
TLC Part II: The Art of conservation and the Collection. On display through Feb. 9. In celebrating the museum’s 40th anniversary, this exhibition continues to recognize the institution’s mission to preserve the almost 5,000 works in the permanent collection. The paintings in this installation have all received tender loving care by a conservator, an arts professional who is equal parts chemist and artist.
Laura Letinsky: Recent Work. On display Sept. 14-Dec. 8. This collection features a collection of works from photographer Laura Letinsky, who creates spare, evocative still lifes that recall both Old Master paintings and the domestic intimacy of everyday life.
Interwoven: Joan Snyder, Judy Ledgerwood, Crystal Gregory. Sept. 14-Dec. 8. This exhibit brings together a trio of artists who make work deeply informed by feminism through their embrace of personal narratives, symbols and choice of motifs. Varied texture and a dynamic use of color, gesture, material and process tie the artists together.
Bethany Collins: Benediction. Sept. 14-Dec. 8. Chicago-based artist Bethany Collins uses isolated and manipulated text from dictionaries and political reports, manipulating the text in symbolic and provocative ways through rendering and erasure to highlight precisely chosen phrases. Her work addresses the personal and the political, filtered through conditions of race, power and histories of violence.