Morlan Gallery

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Evidence of the country’s economic downturn could not be found at Transylvania University’s Morlan Gallery Wednesday, as the 2008 Empty Bowls Project opened its doors to a crowd that snapped up 500 bowls in 50 minutes. By 4 p.m., all bowls were sold out and the project had raised $6,638 for local charity Community Action, a record amount. Over the last eight years, the Morlan Gallery bowl sales have raised nearly $24,000 for local agencies such as Moveable Feast, the YMCA Spousal Abuse Center and the Hope Center. “There was no doubt in my mind that we would sell all of our bowls, I just didn’t expect to sell almost all of them in the first hour,” said gallery director Andrea Fisher. Created by Transylvania and Morehead State University ceramic students and their professors Dan Selter (Transylvania) and Kira Munson Campbell and Steven Tirone (Morehead), the ceramic bowls were sold for $10 each, with proceeds going to Community Action, a Lexington agency that provides living essentials for local residents. Some larger bowls and strictly decorative pieces, donated by local artists, sold for more than $10 each. A soup supper scheduled for Wednesday, December 3 at 6 p.m. in the Rafskeller will raise still more money for Community Action. Soup supper tickets are available for $5 each at the door. The soup supper coincides with Transylvania drama professor Tim Soulis’s annual solo performance of the Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol.”

Read “Transylvania’s Empty Bowls Project overwhelming success; bowls sold out in four hours, more than $6,600 raised for charity”

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. 3–5, noon-5 p.m. Transylvania and Morehead State University ceramic students and their professors Dan Selter (Transylvania) and Kira Munson Campbell and Steven Tirone (Morehead) have thrown and donated several hundred beautiful ceramic soup bowls available in the Morlan Gallery for $10 each. Started 16 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 eight years, the Morlan Gallery bowl sales have raised nearly $24,000 for local agencies such as Moveable Feast, the YMCA Spousal Abuse Center 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.” Included with every bowl purchase is a ticket to a vegetarian bean soup supper in the Rafskeller in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center from 6-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 3. Soup supper tickets are available for $5 each without a bowl purchase. All proceeds from the bowl sale and the soup supper will go to Community Action, a Lexington

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Ten artists have created fantastic coffins that reside between the enigma of life and the mystery of death for “Death’s Showcase,” which opens Wednesday, Oct 22, in Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, runs through November 21. The ten artists featured in this exhibition—Steve  Armstrong, Roy “Bud” Davis, Marvin Francis, Jimmy Gordon, John Ishmael, Diane Kahlo, Sherry McGee, Bob Morgan, Fabio Rodriguez and Lynn Sweet—come from diverse backgrounds. Last spring, Lexington artists Morgan and Armstrong approached Morlan Gallery Director Andrea Fisher with the idea of exhibiting artist-made coffins and caskets. “Artists have been fabricating and decorating burial coffins for thousands of years,” says Fisher. “I thought it would be interesting to see how contemporary artists translate our modern day sensibilities into this ancient practice.” The gallery’s regular hours are Monday-Friday, noon-5 p.m. and by special appointment. The gallery will also be open for the Lexington Gallery Hop on Friday, Nov. 21, from 5-8 p.m. For more information, contact gallery director Andrea Fisher at (859) 233-8142. Roy “Bud” Davis, Rolla Davis Killed. In 1908, Davis’s grandfather, Rolla Davis, was murdered at a baseball game in Perryville, Ky., by Thomas and Samuel Wheat. The coffin contains a portrait of Rolla with a baseball bat hovering above it. The coffin lid is lined with newspaper articles about the murder and the court trials of the Wheat brothers.

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery opened its 2008-09 season September 12 with an exhibition featuring the finest of Transylvania University’s own collection. The exhibition runs through October 10. Curated by Estill Curtis Pennington, considered by some to be Kentucky’s resident expert on the fine arts of the state, The Transylvania University Collection exhibition features early historic portraits, as well as academic, pastoral and early modern artwork. “The collection of Transylvania University is distinctive as a repository for many early Kentucky portraits which might otherwise have been lost,” said Pennington. “But the University also owns later work, like those of Sudduth Goff and Robert Burns Wilson that are clear indicators of the climate of taste at various times in the Bluegrass.  All of the works in the collection help illuminate the role Transylvania has played in shaping the intellectual history of the Commonwealth.”A special event will be tied to this exhibition. The Making A Kentucky Master: Gilbert Stuart and Matthew H. Jouett Symposium, Walking Tour and Reception is scheduled for Saturday, October 4, from 3-5 p.m. Guest lecturers are Ellen G. Miles, Head Curator of Painting and Sculpture for the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution and Estill Curtis Pennington. The event begins in Transylvania’s Cowgill Building, room 102, tours through historic Gratz Park and concludes with a reception in the Morlan Gallery. This event is free and open to the public, although reservations are suggested. To make a reservation, contact

Read “Pieces from Transylvania’s extensive collection featured in first Morlan Gallery exhibit of 2008-09 season; runs through October 10”

LEXINGTON, Ky.—“Draw, Build, Stamp,” opens Feb. 29 in Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery. The exhibition title honors the approach the three artists—Jim Cogswell of Michigan, Kendra Frorup of Florida and Dale Leys of Kentucky—take in creating their work. Ley’s drawings are influenced by his travel experiences and by science, philosophy and psychology. While growing up near the Wisconsin coast of Lake Michigan, he observed and collected various specimens that washed up on shore and one can easily identify bones, shells and natural fibers in his drawings. His work is among the permanent collections of the Great Sand Dunes National Monument Visitors Center in Colorado, Brown-Forman Company in Kentucky, the Springfield Art Museum in Missouri and the University of Kentucky Art Museum. Frorup has been described as a collector who uses discarded materials to create works that display poignancy and invigorating humor. For this exhibit, she has built two large sculptures that take the forms of a merry-go-round and a tree house. A native of the Bahamas, Frorup is an assistant professor of art at the University of Tampa, where she received her undergraduate degree. She holds a M.F.A. from Syracuse University. Cogswell has used stamps and vinyl stickers to create his work for this show. He was born and raised in Japan by his missionary parents and earned a B.A. in English literature from Rhodes College. He then returned to Japan to begin the study and practice of painting. He later earned

Read ““Draw, Build, Stamp,” runs Feb. 29 – April 18 at Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery; exhibit features work of Kentucky, Michigan and Florida artists”