Rotating Galleries

Jacqueline R. Hamilton Gallery: Jan Dickey - Constellations

The star is a source of life. Symbolically, it can be playful, decorative, magical or political. Virtue, truth, protection and justice may be conveyed through its presence. In combining abstract compositions with the star's ambiguity, Jan Dickey surrenders the meaning of his paintings to the observer. Spontaneous forms and clues offer wide potential, creating open-ended imagery in the interest of provoking diverse interpretations.

UK Hospital Auxiliary Gallery: Tag Christof - Roadtrip

Grab the steering wheel or relax in the backseat as you take in the changing scenery along Tag Christof's Roadtrip. There will be traffic, detours and unplanned stops along the way. You will see layers of paint and change, neighborhoods, cars and diners. It's not something to be measured in miles, but the sum total of endless landscapes and images experienced through the most American means of travel.

North Gallery: Christine Kuhn - Matrons, Maids & Maidens

Works created by the artist on a journey to better understand the changing roles of women from the time of her mother's formative years in the 1940s and 50s to those of her own in the 70s and 80s. This visual exploration features life size portraits of several famous actors known for their iconic television personalities through which they often mirrored the ever-evolving roles of women from one generation to another. The portraits are combined with vibrant and expressive combinations of plants, herbs and flowers used in traditional medicine and symbolizing the knowledge of, and association with Mother Nature.      

Chapel Gallery: Gary Edward Jennings - In Search of Dragons

Through charcoal, pastel and watercolor, Jennings captures a certain essence of place. Each work is a visual tale that we all recognize but also something very personal that only he has shared, alone in nature, during those sweet moments of peace when dragons are discovered. As Gary so, eloquently puts it, “I hope you can sense the beauty of the silence that these places speak.”

Kentucky Children's Hospital Gallery: Katie B. Carmichael - Pups of Color

A testament to the healing power of the arts and creative expression, this exhibits features colorful and joyful portraits of some of our beloved doggies from UK HealthCare's Animal Assisted Therapy Team. Artist and patient, Katie B. Carmichael, underwent chemotherapy and a surgery known as rotationplasty during her treatment for osteosarcoma at Kentucky Children's Hospital. Art was one of the only things Katie could do during her time at the hospital. She was able to express herself and hone her arts skills. From this extremely difficult journey, she produced a wonderful series of paintings that leave us all in awe of her strength and talent.

Kentucky Neuroscience Institute Gallery: Chuck Stanley - The Invisible World

A journey filled with texture, light, color and emotion that transforms the invisible world of beauty and spirit into visible substance.

Guy Mendes: 40/40 (April 2011 - September 2011): Silver gelatin prints of 40 portraits over 40 years of shooting Lexington personalities.

Thornton Dial: Coded Language (June 2011 - January 2012): Graphite and watercolor drawings depicting some of the early symbols of the Dial vernacular.

Albert Moser: Panorama (October 2011 - September 2012): Handmade panoramas of Lexington in the 1950s created by mentally challenged photographer Albert Moser.

Quilters of Gee's Bend: Mother-in-Law/Daughter-in-Law, Gee's Bend Prints ( February 2012 - August 2012): Hand-colored prints of the famous Gee’s Bend quilts.

Paul Sawyier: The Two Villages (September 2012 - January 2013): Watercolors based on Rose Terry Cooke’s poem of the same name.

John Cohen: The High Lonesome Sound (October 2012 - May 2013): Silver gelatin prints of Appalachia at work, at worship and making music in the 50s.

Body Mapping: (January 2013 - February 2013): Life-size canvases created by transplant patients in an art therapy workshop.

Lina Tharsing: Making a New Forest (March 2013 - August 2013): Black-and-white oil on panel based on archival photos of the creation of dioramas for the National History Museum.

Latitude Artist Community: Tipping Point - Twelve Years of Latitude Artist Community in Lexington (June 2013 - February 2014): A collection of art by mentally disabled artists that have flourished in the community of a local artist workshop.

Austin Eddy: Full Moon Swoon (August 2013 - April 2014): Black-and-white acrylic on canvas that pushes at the meaning of "good art."

James Baker Hall: The Mirror's Beveled Edge (February 2014 - November 2014): Four color and black-and-white groupings of Hall's photographs made between 1970 and 2005 featuring his self-proclaimed penchant for "noticing without being noticed."

Jill Frank: Latent History (April 2014 - August 2014): Color photographs taken with the goal of creating a new archive of un-photographed moments in history. They cite iconic artworks, religious symbols, social and historical events in American history as well as ubiquitous images from mainstream media.

Robert Tharsing: A Room with a View (August 2014 - May 2015): Colorful oil on canvas paintings done from the artist's view of downtown Lexington at his High Street studio in the 1990s. The paintings in this exhibition literally and elegantly depict one artist’s brief view of a small corner of the Earth in all of its beautiful banality. 

Chung Hwan Park: Closet of Prayer (September 2014 - March 2015): Large abstract paintings done with Korean pigments on paper and canvas. These stunning visual tableaus demonstrate a Korean approach as well as influences from American color-field painters such as Mark Rothko. 

Shirley Mason: Shirley Ardell Mason (November 2014 - September 2015): Drawings and paintings in a wide range of styles that may have been influenced by Mason's psychiatric diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder. Mason, a UK art professor, was the subject of the 1970s book and movie "Sybil."

Misleidys Francisca Castillo Pedroso: Cut and Flex (May 2015 - January 2016): Although this Cuban artist was born deaf and does not speak, she does communicate with the world through her vibrant and truly unique paintings of muscular male figures and other body parts. It is thought that perhaps these figures serve as her protectors or that they are playmates with whom she can converse. Whatever the true nature of her work may be, she is clearly breathing life into these creations that exist in the space between our world and her own.

George Szekely: Paint Marks and Figures/Sheet Studies (June 2015 - March 2016): Informed by the artist's own struggle with illness, these studies on paper use colorful marks and dots to represent struggling patients.

Nina Howell Starr: An Empathetic Eye (September 2015 - September 2016): Modern aesthetics and social justice infuse this collection of empathetic and visually compelling photographs taken over a span of 30 years.

Mike Goodlett: Non-Concrete (February 2016 - October 2016): A unique and beautifully displayed selection of figured-based drawings & abstract sculptures that take elements from the human form. 

Ellen Skidmore: Ellen - The Little Girl Who Found Her Voice (March 2016 - January 2017): Press proofs from her new children's book tell an inspiring story that is a poignant visual and verbal illustration of the healing power of art. 

Students from Cuba: Through the Eyes of Children (April 2016 - December 2016): Art work by young students from Baracoa, Cuba provides a glimpse into the culture of this small island nation.

Eric Oglander: Craigslist Mirrors (October 2016 - May 2017): In this project, Oglander acted as visual archaeologist, archivist and artist: unearthing, organizing and exhibiting the almost certainly unintentionally artistic images of mirrors for sale on Craigslist.

Aaron Skolnick: Concerning the Moon (November 2016 - March 2017): A stylistic myriad of personal, subjective, un-guarded and honest portraits of Lexington, Kentucky artist Louis Zoellar Bickett.

Mare Vaccaro: Photo Artifice (March 2017 - September 2017): Mar Vaccaro's arresting self-portraits explore evolving notions of feminine beauty. Adorning her own body with elegant props, she creates subtly subversive images that question the power of costume, both as a tool for assimilation and a means for expressing individuality.

Arturo Sandoval: Circling Back (March 2017 - January 2018): Re-purposed industrial discards turned into fine art objects. Featuring 21 selections from the larger series of sixty-eight abstract designs that were cut, woven and stitched from salvaged digital images on vinyl.

Adam O'Neal: Every Hour in a Day (April 2017 - December 2017): A series of paintings born from drafted compositions of minimalist geometric shapes that have been overcome by a growing mass of colorful strokes applied directly from paint tubes.

Mimi Gross: What is Real? (June 2017 - September 2018): Paintings of imagined changes in the sky that articulate various cloudscapes and their accompanying light from dawn until dusk. 

Beverly Buchanan: Southern Shacks (October 2017 - October 2018): An exploration of vernacular architecture of the American south through drawing and photography.

Raquel Albarran: Horses and Meatball Toes (January 2018 - June 2018): On the surface, Albarran has created a colorful, fanciful and humorous collection of drawing featuring horses, healthy foods and not so healthy foods. In a larger sense, however, the artist's drawings are hinting at the very real physical and medical relationships that exist between our bodies and the foods we use to fuel them.

Middle School Students: I AM ME (January 2018 - August 2018): Original works of art created by middle school students seeking to visually represent what the arts mean to them in terms of health and wellness.

Ann Tower: Open Window (July 2018 - February 2019): The artist projects a sense of place, light and color with these paintings of objects and places while revealing beauty in the ordinary and providing impetus to be still, observe and contemplate.

BioArt Students: Transanimation (December 2018 - January 2019): Since 2015, Biology professor Ashley Seifert's University of Kentucky BioArt course students have been exploring the intersections of molecular biology and art. The varied, explorative and unique works of art in this exhibit were created by students and faculty from the 2018 course. This year's course was co-taught with adjunct instructor Joe Davis, visiting from Harvard University and MIT.

Elypsis Art (Sonya Blades & David Arnold): Mandalic Journey (September 2018 - April 2019): Straight forward imagery such as flowers and streams are captured alongside such images as the twisting reflections of trees on water. The digital photographic art created by capturing these various patterned settings from unusual camera angles results in the formation of symmetrical mandalas that captivate the eye and soothe the wandering mind.

Carey Gough: A Music So Subtle and Vast (November 2018 - June 2019): A visual history of folk music and Kentucky that is told through photographs of places significant in the lives of the musicians. Gough has captured a part of the mythical Kentucky that only now lives in song lyrics, as the homes, churches and stages of the past have fallen to decay or disappeared altogether.

Carol John: In Relative Obscurity (March 2019 - August 2019): Large scale paintings that immerse you in a world of colorful patterns, shapes and forms that twist, turn and repeat, engaging the viewer in a visual push and pull.

Carlos Gamez de Francisco: Specimen Lost in a Tropical Island (March 2019 - March 2020): A series of stunning photographic portraits featuring a creative, young generation of Cubans that are the future of the country.  This creativity emerged out of necessity due to isolation and a lack of material goods and resources.  The potraits are a powerful visual expression of this generation, as the strikingly beautiful and ornate clothing the models are wearing was created from regular household objects such as plastic bags, towels, curtains, tablecloths, clothespins, steel wool and more...

Patsy Corns: Conversations with Kentucky's Champion Trees (May 2019 - October 2019): A truly lovely and engaging series of oil portraits featuring "Kentucky Champion Trees."  By taking the time to sit and converse with these trees, the artist has visually translated their history and personality onto canvas.

Oraien Catledge: Cabbagetown's Picture Man (July 2019 - June 2020): Beginning in the late 1970’s and up until his passing in 2015, Oraien Catledge took thousands of photographs.  His primary focus was on the residents of Cabbagetown, a small neighborhood built around the Fulton Cotton Mill in Atlanta, Georgia. This exhibit features a selection of his timeless portraits of those residents. The portraits capture the raw beauty of a people, time and place like no other, and yet akin to so many other mining and milling towns and neighborhoods across the south. 

Claudia Keep: A Day in Maine (September 2019 - February 2020): A series of paintings the artist refers to as "situational landscapes," reveal daily chores, activities and surroundings through color, line and a thick slathering of oil.

Gerome Kamrowski: Revealing a Lifetime of Work (March 2020 - August 2020): Gerome Kamrowski left his mark on the art world. Involved in the genesis of action painting, working alongside Jackson Pollock and William Baziotes, Kamrowski ultimatley remained dedicated to Surrealist ideas and imagery. This exhibit reveals a glimpse into a career that spanned seven decades.

Kevin Nance: Even If (November 2019 - February 2021): A beautiful collection of photography inspired by healing through encounters with nature.  Poignant haiku poems accompany each image, adding literary insight to the significance of each photograph. 

Ellie Lee Weems: Discovering Mr. Weems (July 2020 - May 2021): A series of studio portraits that capture both time and place while expressing a certain, timeless beauty and elegance.

Maryjean Wall: Untamed Beauty (April 2020 - July 2021): There is no mistaking Maryjean Wall's love of the natural world and the wild creatures that inhabit our Earth.  "Untamed Beauty," a testament to her passion, showcases stunning wildlife photography taken during her travels to points around the world.

Captain William E. Jordan: Blind Vision (September 2020 - July 2021): In 1957, after losing his sight to Glaucoma at age 62, Captain William E. Jordan developed a method of color drawing that allowed him to produce as many as one thousand vibrantly colored works of art during the remaining years of his life. This representative display of his work serves as a testament to the human desire to create and communicate despite the circumstances of life.

Sarah Hoskins: The Homeplace (May 2021 - January 2022): Photography featuring powerful and beautiful images that capture a spirit of hope, honesty, hard work and perseverance.

Ellen Siebers: Sunrise to Sunset (October 2021 - February 2022): Made with oil on birchwood panels, these paintings, created in Sieber's studio, were born from long moments of observation and true curiosity. They serve as a meditation on the sublime beauty of the Earth.

Charles Rice: Faces of Donation: Be the One (March 2022 - April 2022): Born out of Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates’ (KODA) “Be the One” campaign, these beautiful and powerful portraits represent individuals who are vital elements of organ donation and transplantation. Through the powerful medium of visual art, this exhibit seeks to raise awareness around organ donation and transplantation within Black communities throughout the state.

Carey Gough: All the words that used to work have melted in the sun (September 2021 - June 2022): A visual archive born of a pandemic and living with a loved one’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis.  The images captured, reveal the beauty, intricacy and abundance of nature found in the small world of a garden while representing a larger contemplation on the cycle of life, the beauty of imperfection, of letting go and embracing change.

Esther Greenfield: Portrait of Her Time (January 2022 - June 2022): Features a series of elevated, figurative paintings defined by the artist’s own version of Expressionism. Her realistic yet stylized approach was cultivated, in part, during the early 1920’s when Greenfield moved to Paris to study as an apprentice to the Belgian painter, Nicolas Eekman. This opportunity greatly influenced her practice, exposing her to the works of Lost Generation icons like Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, and Ernest Hemingway.

Margaret Coleman: Essential Work (June 2021 - September 2022): During her long days and nights at the hospital, Margaret Coleman created drawings of the nurses, doctors and other caregivers who were fighting to save her child. These richly colored portraits emphasize the individuality and warmth of those individuals while more broadly representing the brave network of health care workers across the globe who offer hope to us all.

John Brooks: Tomorrow is Still June (May 2022 - January 2023): A series of large-scale, graphite, colored pencil and pastel drawings that capture mood, evoke movement and interpret the physique of the natural world.

Terri Albanese: A Garden of Gratitude: Thanking our wounded healers - Healing our communities (July 2022 - January 2023): An exhibition of glass paintings that symbolize the heart and soul of our hospital workers and honor their resilience, inner strength, hope, courage, compassion and dedication. These works of art honor those who chose to be on the frontlines while we stayed safe within our homes; for those who were away from their families while caring for ours; for those who held the hands of our loved ones when we could not.

Ayè Aton: Abstraction According to Aton (February 2023 - November 2023): Primarily recognized as a percussionist for Sun Ra and his Arkestra, Ayè Aton's relationship with Afro-centrist philosophy, jazz, and community were driving forces in his life and art. This exhibit features a series of his abstract work that is filled with intense purples and reds, cosmic swirls, elongated stars, and human gestures, culminating in a pop-psychedelic mirage.

Leo N. Yenwongfai, MD: Patterns and Pollinators (August 2022 - November 2023): Yenwongfai's stunning photographs document a myriad of flowers and insect life by capturing beautiful and complex patterns with a pathologist's eye for detail.

Jamie Ward: Tranquil and Timeless Island Life of the Galapagos (March 2023 - April 2024): Jamie's photographs offer a glimpse into the tranquil and stunning island life of the Galapagos. While her photos capture moments within the slow, deliberate pace of these beautiful islands, they offer a cherished view of the natural world that is both fleeting and timeless.

Kevin Ford - Making Light (December 2023 - May 2024): A series of large-scale works created using a combination of observational sketchbook drawings, plein air painting studies, photographs and recollection. Ford's paintings exist somewhere between reality and fantasy, memory and real-time, clarity and fogginess. They are both familiar and foreign, with potential to ignite the imagination.

Case Mahan - Inner States (October 2022 - July 2024): This visual journey narrates a story that is both highly personal, and yet, anonymous. The images are born of the artist's unique perspective, straddling the fine line between documentary and expressive while remaining open to the projections and viewpoints of others.

Daren Pitts Redman - Color Time (December 2023 - August 2024): Through bold colors, patterns and dedicated stitches, each piece tells a small part of a deep and rich story that is grounded in family history, culminating in a beautiful display of textile artworks that evoke a sense of time and place. With one end of the string tied to history and a myriad of stitches woven together in the present, these works move through the future in a timeless fashion.