Morlan Gallery

LEXINGTON, Ky.—The art program at Transylvania University invites the community to help feed the hungry by doing some early Christmas shopping for beautiful handmade ceramic bowls at the Morlan Gallery Dec. 6-8, noon-5 p.m. Transylvania University ceramic and design students, along with local potters, have created and donated several hundred beautiful ceramic soup bowls available in the Morlan Gallery for $10 each. In addition to soup bowls, there will be larger individually priced bowls and wall tapestries designed to visually correspond to the graphic motifs on some of the soup bowls. When the Morlan Gallery last hosted this event, in 2008, almost 600 bowls sold in just hours. This year, local potters have been added to the gallery event to augment the supply of handmade ceramic bowls. Started 17 years ago, the Empty Bowls Project is an opportunity for local artists to donate handmade ceramic bowls that are made available for purchase, with the proceeds benefiting community agencies that feed the hungry. Over the last ten years, the Morlan Gallery bowl sales have raised $31,000 for local agencies such as Moveable Feast, the YMCA Spousal Abuse Center, the Community Action Council and the Hope Center. “Local artists can still donate bowls for sale as part of the Empty Bowls Project,” said Morlan Gallery director Andrea Fisher. “Functional or nonfunctional artists’ bowls of any media: wood, glass, fiber or paper mâché would be wonderful additions to this worthy event.” Customers browse

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—A world-class exhibition, “Memories of the Past: Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting,” opens Oct. 29 in Transylvania University’s Morlan Gallery. The exhibit, curated by eminent Asian art historian Kuiyi Shen, features 15 internationally recognized contemporary Chinese artists and runs through Nov. 30. The featured artists are from mainland China, the United States and Taiwan, and include Xu Bing, Pan Gongkai, Lu Fusheng, Wang Dongling, Zhang Yu, Wang Tiande, Qiu Deshu, Feng Bin, Xu Lei, Li Huayi, Zhang Hong, Wu Yi, Zheng Chongbin, Li Huai and Luo Qing. “This selection of contemporary ink art represents the highest caliber work by important Chinese artists working in the medium today,” said Julia F. Andrews, an expert in Chinese painting and modern Chinese art, who has written extensively on the subject and curated many important exhibitions in the United States, France and China. “The paintings in the exhibition present an extremely refreshing, even surprising, view of the many ways Chinese artists are finding to build upon and surpass their tradition. The power of these images testifies both to the contemporary quality of contemporary ink painting and to the continued vitality of an art form that has flourished in China for a millennium.” Morlan Gallery Director Andrea Fisher credits Transylvania art history professor Wei Lin for orchestrating an exhibition of this caliber. “Dr. Lin is a scholar who specializes in Asian art history and has worked closely with Dr. Shen to bring the work of

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  Video artist Valerie Fuchs drew inspiration for her work, above, from Rosa Bonheur’s original sketchbook, below right. LEXINGTON, Ky.—In celebration of the World Equestrian Games, the Morlan Gallery proudly presents “The Illustrious Horse: Kentucky Artists Respond to the Clara Peck Collection,” an invitational exhibit of critically renowned contemporary artists from Kentucky. Twelve visual artists and one poet were asked to creatively respond to a horse image found in Transylvania University’s esteemed Clara Peck Collection. The Peck Collection, located in the Rare Book Room of Transylvania University’s library, houses collectable books dealing with the history of the horse and natural history. Exhibition participants are sculptor Steve Armstrong (Lexington); painter Gaela Erwin (Louisville); conceptual artist Kurt Gohde (Lexington); drawing and mixed media artist Michael Goodlett (Wilmore); video artist Valerie Fuchs (Louisville); photographer Guy Mendes (Lexington); painter Lennon Michalski (Lexington); fiber artist Arturo Sandoval (Lexington); conceptual artist Zoé Strecker (Harrodsburg); drawing and mixed media artist Lawrence Tarpey (Lexington); sculptor Travis Townsend (Richmond); sculptor Lavon Van Williams (Lexington); and poet Richard Taylor (Frankfort).   Original Rosa Bonheur sketchbook. These artists innovatively respond to the uncommon and diverse visual imagery of the Peck Collection. For example, Steve Armstrong replies to George Stubbs’ “1766 Anatomy of a Horse,” a virtuosic collection of drawings; Lennon Michaslski answers to “Hortusan Itatis” (Garden of Health), a rare illuminated manuscript from 1400; and video artist Valerie Fuchs finds inspiration from Rosa Bonheur’s original artist’s sketchbook, complete with the initial

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—A juried student exhibition opens Wednesday, May 5, in Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery. All students who made art during the 2009-10 academic year were invited to show their work in the Juried Student Exhibition, which runs through Friday, May 21.   A public reception honoring the artists will be Friday, May 7, from 5-7 p.m. Jurors’ awards will be presented at 6 p.m. William Pollard, dean of the college, will select one piece to receive the Dean’s Purchase Award. The award-winning piece will become part of Transylvania’s permanent collection. Morlan Gallery is open weekdays, noon to 5 p.m., and the exhibit and reception are free and open to the public. For more information go to: www.transy.edu/morlan or contact Morlan Gallery Director Andrea Fisher at (859) 233-8142.