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Click here to access the Lafayette Seminar Blog!

Lafayette Seminar in Public Issues

The annual Lafayette Seminar offers an opportunity for Lexington community members, elected officials, and faculty and students to discuss such issues as local economy, town and gown relationships, and the creation of successful public spaces.

The 2008 Lafayette Seminar in Public Issues:

ART + PUBLIC
Engaging the Community through Art

Click here to register for the Thursday afternoon lunches!

Click here to access the Lafayette Seminar Blog!

Lexington is home to a growing, vibrant arts community. As the downtown revival continues and as Lexington prepares for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, our community's interest in public art is greater than ever. How does public art contribute to the character and experience of our city? What processes best integrate public artwork into our community? What might the future hold for community art in Lexington? The tenth annual Lafayette Seminars in Public Issues address these questions.

Our first two speakers, Jim Clark, President of LexArts, and Jennifer McGregor, Director of Arts at Wave Hill Public Gardens in NY, will open the conversation about public art in Lexington on Wednesday, February 20. The following afternoon, Deborah Borrowdale-Cox of the UK Art Museum will present a brief response. The following presentations by artists will showcase a range of public art works being created in the US and around the world and will help us think about the possibilities for innovative art in our home community.

Bill Fontana, an internationally recognized innovator in the field of sound art, will present on February 27. His projects using the human and natural environment as a source of musical information have been installed in public spaces around the world including New York, Paris, London, Berlin, Venice, Sydney and Tokyo. Karen Lewis, Assistant Professor of Architecture at UK, will initiate discussion at noon the next day as she gives a response.

On March 5, Tim Rollins will discuss his work. Rollins is a conceptual artist, educator, and founder of the K.O.S. (Kids of Survival) artists' collective where he infuses art practices with educational concerns. He and K.O.S. members have collaborated on large-scale works that are on display around the world, and he has recently led workshops with teens to make art inspired by the writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. Artist and Transylvania University Associate Professor of Art Kurt Gohde will respond the next afternoon.

On Wednesday, March 19, Barbara Jo Revelle will discuss her public art works. Revelle is a photographer, film/video maker, installation and public artist, and Professor of Photography at University of Florida. Her work has been shown around the world. She is well known for her two block-long photo-based, computer generated tile mural, A People's History of Colorado, one of the largest public art murals in the world. She has completed several other photo-based public art projects around the country. Over lunch the following afternoon, Dr. Juilee Decker, Chair of Georgetown College's Department of Art, will give a response.

The Wednesday evening presentations are free & open to the public- no registration is required. Participation in the Thursday discussion sessions is also free, but enrollment is limited to a maximum of 40 persons to ensure opportunity for discussion. Pre-registration is required, as lunch will be provided by the Gaines Center.

The seminar will meet in the Stewards Room of the Bingham Davis House, 218 East Maxwell Street. Look for free or metered on-street parking on Maxwell Street or Lexington Avenue. Please respond early (no later than Tuesday, February 19) so that we can plan for the right number of lunches. We hope to see you in February and March!

Presented by The Gaines Center for the Humanities at University of Kentucky and co-sponsored by LexArts, Inc., with the support of The Abercrombie Foundation, Jay Blanton, Tom & Betsy Bulleit, John R. and M. Margrite Davis Foundation, Joan Gaines, Greg Gibson, Steve Grossman & Hilliard Lyons, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Fund at Bluegrass Community Foundation, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, David Mohney, Paul Ochenkoski & EOP Architects, Foster Pettit, Bob Woolery, and Jim Woolery. The Lafayette Seminars in Public Issues are supported by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Previous Lafayette Seminars: