Welcome to the School of Art and Visual Studies

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At SA/VS, we believe that a creative life is an extraordinary life. We’re a home for inspired creatives, educators, and visual scholars who make creativity central to their experience.  Every day, SA/VS is alive with activity: Sculpture students critique large metal installations in the atrium while students in a Fiber class quilt outside in the sun. A Performance Art class explores ideas for costuming and public interaction while a Graphic Design class displays typographic posters. Students install an exhibition in the Bolivar Art Gallery, in the seminar room, students interpret cultures past and present through their visual arts, and upstairs, students in Printmedia create zines by layering ink with a Risograph. From guerilla art, digital illustration, and 3D-printing to painting, animation, and still-life drawing, whatever creative opportunity you’re looking for, it’s happening here!

Explore Our Programs
Being an art educator is wonderful combination of personal creative practice and contributions to future generations. If you are excited about making art, then you can excite and encourage others to experiment and experience the joy of being an artist. 
Art History & Visual Studies (AVHS) majors are trained to develop astute observational tools that help them better analyze our image-rich world.
Where will creativity take you?
Why Limit Yourself?  When you pursue a Digital Media Design degree at U.K., you can shape your curriculum to suit your career goals!
The Master of Arts (MA) in Art Education cultivates a community of artist-researcher-teachers who ask critical questions and propose innovative solutions to issues within the field of art education.
The Master of Arts in Art History & Visual Studies prepares students with the course work, language skills, and research experience needed for further graduate study or work in a museum or educational setting.
A studio art degree prepares you for the creative life you plan to live and opens the door to an inventive career full of exploration, critical thinking, and a practice based in hands-on making.
The MFA in Curatorial Studies prepares students for careers in the expanded field of creative curation. As the first three-year hybrid MFA in Curatorial Studies in the United States, this practice-based terminal degree uniquely equips graduates for positions in a wide variety of arts and cultural organizations, as well as teaching positions at the college level.
Upcoming Events
  • Dec 6 2024 - Jan 24 2025

    In collaboration with the UK School of Art and Visual Studies' photography course, which explores diverse methods of printing and exhibiting lens-based work.

    Participating artists: Jaylin…

    Lexington Art League
    209 Castlewood Drive
  • Dec 6 - 11 2024
    Carey Ellis and DMDE Senior shows

    Carey Ellis Juror: Travis Townsend

    Travis Townsend draws, builds, rebuilds, paints, and tinkers upon wood and mixed media sculptures in his Lexington studio…

    Bolivar Art Gallery
  • Dec 6 2024 | 5 - 8pm

    Annual Open Studio, when SA/VS welcomes the public to explore studios and galleries in the Art and Visual Studies Building.

    Event includes the Carey Ellis Exhibition opening reception, a…

    Bolivar Art Gallery
Created 08/10/2021
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Last Updated 07/17/2024