Past Art Exhibits

Rebel with a Cause
H’Artful of Fun Preview Exhibition

January 16 – February 8

Sneak a peek at the fabulous works of art that will be in the spot light at this year’s H’Artful of Fun auction. This exhibition will feature an array of fine art from the area’s most respected and appreciated painters, photographers, printmakers, mixed media, and fiber artists. The generous donations of over 75 artists benefit the LASC and the programs and services that we provide throughout Central Kentucky. View the exhibition and if you find something you can’t live without, don’t wait for the H’Artful of Fun Auction—Buy it Now and take the works straight home. Purchase $350 or more of art work during the preview exhibit and you’ll receive a free ticket (a $60 value) to “Rebel with a Cause,” the 22nd annual H’Artful of Fun, Saturday February 11!

Creative Camera Club
41st Annual Print Competition and Exhibition

November 16 – December 30
Gallery Hop Opening—Friday, November 18, 5 – 8 pm

Lexington’s Creative Camera Club is one of the oldest camera clubs in the country! For this exhibition, the LASC and the Creative Camera Club unite to promote interest and understanding in the art and science of photography.

For the club’s prestigious print competition, visitors will see over 100 photo images from Kentucky and far beyond!Visitors will also have the opportunity to interact with the science and history of photography through our walk-in camera obscura and other hands-on stations! Learn about the optics of light and history of photography while viewing the world turned up-side down!

In My Neighborhood
The East End Rain Garden Project

November 10 – December 30
Gallery Hop Opening—Friday, November 18, 5 – 8 pm

In May, 2011, through an LFUCG Environmental Water Quality Grant, the LASC presented Rain Garden and Rain Barrel workshops to residents of our East End neighborhood. Residents learned about the importance of protecting our rain and ground water through the installation of 24 rain gardens and rain barrels. Artist, Blake Eames provided design assistance for painting the rain barrels as well.

Neighborhood photographers Angela Baldridge, Thad Salmon and Shannon Greer will illustrate the community effort and spirit that enhanced our east end community. This exhibit is sponsored by Kentucky American Water.

Monarchs at the Old Episcopal Burial Ground

October 17 – November 4
A Special Outdoor Installation of Monarchs by the Community.

Every autumn, millions of beautiful orange and black monarchs flock to Mexico to avoid the cold weather of the North. Their migration coincides with El Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The Ancient Aztecs of central Mexico believed that the Monarch butterflies were the souls of their fallen warriors and that they should be honored. This was and still is a time of joyous celebration because the souls of loved ones return for a visit. For the LASC’s annual Day of the Dead Festival, November 1, monarch butterflies created by individuals and groups in the community will be installed along the fence by the Old Episcopal Burying Ground at the corner of E. 3rd Street and Elm Tree Lane. The Monarchs will begin to appear along the fence on October 7^th and continue through November 4^th. Participants include Christ Church Cathedral, James Lane Allen Elementary, William Wells Brown Community Center, Sayre School, Glendover Elementary, Lexington Traditional Magnet School, Crawford Middle School, Sts. Peter and Paul, Cardinal Valley, SAFinc SmArt Start Students, Ashland Elementary, Arlington Elementary, and East 7^th Street Community Center.Interested in Participating? Click here for more information about the project.

Joel Feldman:
Fables and Prints

June 6 – November 1

Joel Feldman is an artist in Lexington, KY. He is known for woodcut printmaking and often uses literature, especially folk tales and fables (Aesop’s in particular), as source material for his imagery. Feldman has been involved in numerous exhibits and residencies around the globe, his most recent taking place in Achill Island, Ireland, and Beijing, China.

Enjoy this preview of a large scale collaboration between Joel and a select group of middle to high school students this fall. Together they will produce an exhibit of large woodcut prints that will be displayed in the LASC Gallery, February – March 2012.

Alebrijes:
Colorful, Fantastical, Creature Creations

October 17 – November 4
A Community Art Exhibition!
Entries Due October 7

We invite you to create festive Alebrijes to showcase during our annual Day of the Dead Festival.

El Festival Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead Festival) at the LASC is a joyful celebration for the entire family. This year, children and adults are invited to participate in our art gallery exhibition by creating “Alebrijes,” a form of folk art first imagined by Mexican artist, Pedro Linares in the 1930’s.

Traditional Mexican alebrijes are three-dimensional structures made of wood or paper mache and painted with colorful detail and decorative patterns; however, artists for this exhibit may use any 2D or 3D material including ceramic, acrylic, color pencil, paper mache, digital media, found objects , etc. Bright colors are a must, and anything fantastical is encouraged. Entry information can be found here.

Companion Planting:
New Paintings by Isaac Powell

August 22 – October 7
Gallery Hop opening—Friday, September 16, 5 – 8 pm

In Isaac Powell’s art, the organic imagery of plants and landforms float on top of backgrounds of saturated colors and multicolored squares. Botanical cuttings are transplanted into new environments and there is a playful experimentation with the balance between order and chaos, and growth and decay. Some of Powell’s paintings are interactive with panels that slide or open.

Through his paintings, Powell interweaves the themes of life, growth, and reproduction with those of his own personal history. Having been born without a right hand, the flora in his work directly references the body, its appendages and digits. By addressing his own anxieties through the imagery of plant cuttings and grafts, he has developed his own method for confronting both awkwardness and beauty.

Powell is a graduate of the MFA program at Washington State University and now teaches at Eastern Kentucky University. Recently his work has been on display at The Armory Show 2011 in New York City, and at the Smithsonian Institution’s International Gallery in Washington, DC.

Youth Arts 2011

June 6 – August 6
Gallery Hop: June 17, 5:00 – 9:00 pm
The LASC will host Gallery Hop until 9:00 pm for guests to enjoy the luminary exhibit after dark.

The LASC is once again showcasing the talented youth of Lexington in our 2nd annual Youth Arts Exhibit. This year’s youth arts exhibit was juried by one of Lexington’s finest working artists John Lackey, who just opened his new studio, “Homegrown Press” on N. Limestone.

All of Lexington’s current high school youth, public, privet or homeschooled students, are invited to apply. Students interested in applying should fill out the application found here and return it to the LASC. Don’t forget to also check out opportunities to volunteer as a summer teachers assistant and/or to sign-up for one of our teen and adult classes.

The Art of Illumination
An outdoor exhibition at the LASC

May 25 – July 15
Gallery Hop: June 17, 5 – 9 pm
The LASC will host Gallery Hop until 9:00 pm for guests to enjoy the luminary exhibit after dark.

A design challenge was issued by the Living Arts & Science Center to individual and groups of artists, designers, architects, engineers, students, and the general public, to create SOLAR POWERED LUMINARIES for decorating and illuminating outdoor spaces. On exhibit throughout the grounds of the LASC are the works selected from all of the entries.

This project, and the June Discovery Night on alternative Energy, is sponsored by an EcoArt Grant from the Lexington-Fayette Urban Co. Government!

Pattern Play

April 4 – May 28
Gallery Hop Opening Reception: Friday, April 15, 5 – 8 pm

From circles to stripes, squares and spikes, local and regional artists are showing off their creativity with imaginative plays on pattern. The range of work within this exhibit will extend from painterly abstractions of shapes to the mathematical precision of computer assisted creations.

You will marvel at the variety of patterns these artists have presented and the diversity of sources from which they are inspired—from the natural geometries of plants, to patterns influenced by a cultural identity. While many artists utilize outside inspiration, others still are creating new patterns by playing with shapes, colors, and repetition to create their own unique designs. Whatever the inspiration, it is curious to see the sometimes quite unpredictable ways that patterns are formed and utilized within the artists’ domain.

Two local fiber art groups recently stretched their collaborative skills to create the beautiful and delightful collections in this exhibition. The Japanese-American Quilt Bee of Lexington created a “Whisper Quilt”—a group of quilts created in a semi-secret fashion. One quilter was originally inspired by a landscape photograph and created a quilt based on that inspiration. She shared her quilt with another member who then created a quilt based on the 1st quilter’s interpretation of the photo. The 3rd quilter used the 2nd quilt as inspiration and created her own quilt from that. And so on it went as eight artists created eight quilts, inspired by one another as well as the original photograph. The second collection comes from the Louisville Area Fiber and Textile Artists (LAFTA). This talented group, in a progressive fashion, created dolls that traveled from artist to artist. Each artist contributed to each doll once and documented the dolls metamorphosis in the dolls’ travel journals.

Creative Camera Club
40th Annual Print Competition and Exhibition

November 17 – December 31
Gallery Hop Opening Reception: Friday, November 19, 5 – 8 pm

Lexington’s Creative Camera Club traces its roots back to the 1930’s, making it one of the oldest camera clubs in the country. Lexington’s Creative Camera Club is proud to present their 40th annual print competition of award-winning photographers who exhibit and work from the local to the international arena. Viewers can expect to see over 100 photographs on exhibit and will include flora and fauna, portraits, still life, to sports and creative abstract work. Viewers will also enjoy the 3-D photos of Lexington Camera Club member, Ron Curtis, in The Shop at the Living Arts & Science Center. This artist and his 3-D technique will be a featured event at the LASC’s Discovery Night on December 2.