Contact: Whitney Hale or Carolyn Payton

Janie Welker

As part of her new role at the UK Art Museum, Welker looks forward to leveraging intellectual resources at the university and hopes to build on relationships with other departments, initiating projects that benefit students and the public at large.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 24, 2005) -- The University of Kentucky Art Museum welcomes Janie Welker, formerly of the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, N.Y., as its new curator of collections and exhibitions.

Welker holds a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Pennsylvania State University and a master’s in art history from State University of New York at Stony Brook. With a specialty in photography, she instituted a nascent photography collection at the Heckscher Museum.

Prior to her work at the Heckscher, Welker worked at the International Center of Photography in New York and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. She was also an editor and newspaper reporter covering the visual arts, and a contributing art reviewer for Newsday.

As part of her new role at the UK Art Museum, Welker looks forward to leveraging intellectual resources at the university and hopes to build on relationships with other departments, initiating projects that benefit students and the public at large.

“Janie’s exhibition experience and photography expertise are a good fit for our museum,” said museum director Kathy Walsh-Piper. “Her dedication and passion are evident. I anticipate some exciting exhibitions.”

The UK Art Museum, located on the corner of Rose Street and Euclid Avenue, is open noon to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, and noon to 8 p.m. on Friday; it is closed Monday and university holidays. For more information, call (859) 257-5716.