Each semester, the UK SA/VS hosts a series of talks and screenings that invite the community to explore diverse perspectives in the visual arts. The series is designed to connect audiences with nationally and internationally recognized artists. All events in the series are free and open to the public.
The Fall 2026 lineup includes:
Artist Talk with Kota Sake - noon Friday, Sept. 11, in the Bolivar Art Gallery
Born in Tokyo in 1973, Kota Sake graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998. His photography has been shown in solo and group exhibitions both in Japan and internationally, and in 2014 he founded the gallery Studio 35 Minutes in the Araiyakushi neighborhood of Tokyo.
Artist Talk with Eric Stephenson - noon Friday, Oct. 16, Room 136, Art and Visual Studies Building
Eric W. Stephenson is an American sculptor based in Chicago whose work explores the form, spirit and experience of the body — human and otherwise — through abstraction informed by industrial materials and methods. One body of work has focused on the earthly remnants of insects and plants, another on commemorative containers for the human spirit; his most recent work returns to the human form to figure a language of movement through a mastery of metal.
Artist Talk with Kyle Carpenter - 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, Location TBD
Kyle Carpenter has been a full-time studio potter in Asheville, North Carolina, since 2002. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in ceramics from the University of North Carolina-Asheville and exhibits his work in galleries and museums across the United States. He is a juried member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, and his work is held in numerous private collections, including the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Artist Talk & Screening with Michael Alexander Morris - 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, Room 217, Art and Visual Studies Building
Michael Alexander Morris is Chicago-based artist and filmmaker whose work responds to the rapid changes in how moving images are created and experienced in the 21st century. His work affirms the traditional space of cinema while exploring the implications of new media. Morris’ films and videos have been screened at museums, galleries, microcinemas and festivals internationally, including the San Francisco Cinematheque’s Crossroads festival, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the International Symposium of Electronic Art, the Dallas Museum of Art, Microscope Gallery, Millennium Film Workshop and Artist’s Television Access. He has received honors from the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the Athens International Film and Video Festival and the Haverhill Film Festival, as well as the Dallas Observer’s Mastermind Award, and has held residencies at Signal Culture, the Visual Studies Workshop and Mudhouse. Morris also serves on the programming committee of the Oak Cliff Film Festival, curating experimental shorts and feature films.
For more information about the Fall 2026 Visiting Artist Series and future programming, visit the UK School of Art and Visual Studies events calendar.
