Welcome to the UK Art Museum

The University of Kentucky Art Museum, part of the UK College of Fine Arts, promotes the understanding and appreciation of art from diverse cultures and historical periods, providing meaningful encounters for audiences of all ages. Through our temporary exhibitions, educational programs, and permanent collection of approximately 5000 objects, we are a resource for the campus community and a cultural destination for citizens of the Commonwealth and beyond. Our Free Admission policy removes any financial obstacle that might stand in the way of opportunities for contemplation and connection.

We are proud to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, meeting standards for excellence and professional practices.

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Digital Learning Gallery

Elinor Carucci, My mother wants me to forgive my daughter, 2016, printed 2021, archival pigment print. Collection of the UK Art Museum, purchase: The Robert C. May Photography Fund.

All in the Family

Co-curated by Stuart Horodner and Leah KolbPresented at the UK Art Museum (July 16 – November 23, 2024)and 2nd Story, 522 West Short Street, Lexington (July 16 – October 12, 2024) “One day you will do things for me that you hate. That is what it means to be family.”– Jonathan Saffron FoerThis…

Chris Verene: Home Movies

Family dynamics and the relationship between generations have been Chris Verene’s subjects since he picked up a camera in high school in the late 1980s. Since then, he has consistently documented the lives of his relatives and friends in their hometown of Galesburg, Illinois.Verene has written, “…

Close up view of Henry Faulkner's self portrait, depiction of child's face in front of woman's face. Henry Faulkner, Self Portrait, circa 1970s, oil on Masonite. Courtesy of John Davis.

Promised Gifts from the John Davis Collection

This selection of paintings, sculptures, and drawings is part of a larger promised gift by John Davis, a Lexington-based collector and former art dealer with a rich history of creativity and patronage. Davis is perhaps best known to locals as the man who created the glitz and glamour of…

Detail view of Hannah Smith, Messy, Messy Choices, 2024, 3-D modeled and printed resin, programmed Arduino Nano and LED circuit, and dyed cotton. Collection of the UK Art Museum, purchase: Collectors Fund.

Floor, Wall, Outlet: Sculpture and Works on Paper

This exhibition explores the ways that ideas become form, and it features a range of artists represented in the Museum’s permanent collection, some being presented to our audiences for the first time. Sculptures using materials including wood, plastic, metal, and rope are situated in distinct areas…

Detail view of Catherine Wagner, Torch Bearers, 2022–23, archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist. Bronze arm holds sconce shaped like a torch above a staircase banister with blue painters tape in geometric shapes on white walls.

Catherine Wagner: BUILDINGS + HOMES + CLASSROOMS: perception and imagination

Absence and presence in the built environment have occupied Catherine Wagner’s practice for over thirty years. This exhibition includes examples of her early black-and-white works in the Museum’s permanent collection, including stage-like images of California landscapes and architecture in the mid-…

Close up of rainbow flag with depiction of American flag in the middle. Ross Bleckner, Flag, 1994, 11-color lithograph on paper. Collection of the UK Art Museum, gift of Marion Fugate.

Queer Views

This exhibition of works from the Museum’s permanent collection coincides with the Queer Art/Queer Archives Symposium co-hosted by the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville, taking place from September 20 – 21, 2024. The artists include Berenice Abbott, Ross Bleckner,…

Tarrence Corbin, The Saga and the Journey of the Ant Bully #2, 2000, acrylic on paper. Collection of the UK Art Museum, purchase: The Herman Lee and Nell Stuart Donovan Memorial Endowment and The Docent Art Fund.

re:museum ∙ RE:FRACT

The re:museum exhibition continues to evolve with updated artworks and informational displays, promoting a welcoming engagement with art and offering a peek behind the curtain at how our Museum operates. re:museum ∙ RE:FRACT maintains this education-forward approach while applying an additional…

Detail view of Jay Bolotin, still image of the Carnival set. Black and white photograph of geometric, modernistic town square.

Jay Bolotin: The Jackleg Testament, Part 2: The Book of Only Enoch.

This exhibition includes numerous drawings, prints, constructed sets and sculptures, and related ephemera that artist Jay Bolotin used to create The Jackleg Testament, Part 2: The Book of Only Enoch, a complex animated film that he was finalizing at the time of his death on May 14, 2024. The…

A-Tisket, A-Tasket 

This exhibition celebrates Black girls’ complex emotional lives as portrayed in a range of artworks, from portraits painted in the 1930s to twenty-first-century photographs. Resistance, hope, anger, defiance, curiosity, joy, anxiety, vulnerability, and exhaustion are some of the feelings seen on…

Tim Davis: Upstate Event Horizon

“I enter the classroom as an evangelist for the idea that photography is the most complex, important form of communication in our culture, and that it takes energy, will, humor, pathos, research, and legwork to learn to use the medium effectively.” This statement by artist, educator, and…

Touchstones (for Jay)

Dear Jay, When we spoke about this exhibition, neither of us knew that you would not live to see it. While deeply sorrowful, I am buoyed by bringing together a handful of touchstones—artists whose printmaking and drawing you held in high regard. A few of them we never discussed, but I think…

UK Art Museum announces Rachel Hooper as Curator

After an extensive and rewarding search process, the University of Kentucky Art Museum and the College of Fine Arts are pleased to announce that Rachel Hooper will start her new position as the Museum’s Curator on August 12, 2024.

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