Artist Lecture, Exhibits, and Workshops by Kay Dartt and Ronda Wright
Artist Lecture: Kay Dartt
Thursday, February 23 7:30pm, UT Art + Architecture Building, room 109
Kay Dartt, Shepherd University professor and metal sculptor, comes to the UT School of Art on Thursday, February 23, at 7:30pm for a lecture. Dartt’s creative practice combines sculpture, engineering, education, and community outreach. She teaches sculpture courses, engineering courses, and manages an interdisciplinary fabrication space called the FASTEnER Lab.
You are invited to attend this lecture via a Zoom meeting.
When: Feb 23, 2023 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Please register in advance for this meeting:
https://tennessee.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEpfuGorTIqG9Nwla9wo1IqJ9DE9xK-TWag
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
In 2020 Kay received the President’s Faculty Excellence Award for managing the production of personal protective equipment for front line workers at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the outstanding faculty award in service for her contributions to the campus community. Outside of academia she is the Co-Director of Keystone Iron Works, a program focused on building community, teamwork, and mentorship for young students through the process of metal casting. At the 2021 National Conference for Contemporary Cast Iron Art and Practice Kay received the Paige Wainwright award, an honor given to those making education and metal casting practices more accessible for future generations, an honor given for her part in the creation and fundraising for the Iron Futures Scholarship Fund. Kay’s work has been displayed nationally and internationally at galleries and public art venues.
Dartt will be participating in the UT Sculpture Iron Pour, assisting Ronda Wright and sculpture students in casting.
Downtown Gallery Exhibit with Kay Dartt and Ronda Wright
Downtown Gallery exhibit through February 25, 2023, Workshop with Ronda Wright February 17, 2023 from 12 noon to 2 pm in the Critique Space of the Art and Architecture Building at UT.
Dartt’s newest work has been on display at the UT Downtown Gallery as part of Kay Dartt + Ronda Wright: Creating Artifacts of Home. 
Downtown Gallery hosts this exhibit through February 25, 2023. This two-person exhibition of work by Kay Dartt and Ronda Wright has been accompanied by Social Action for Equality Workshops that encourage participants to create their own artifacts that remind them of home.
As an artist and activist, Wright has created the on-going sculptural installation, “Creating Artifacts of Home.” Through a series of workshops, participants sculpt small artifacts of home. These workshops started in response to the overwhelming rate of LGBTQ+ homelessness and bullying, the premise of these workshops is that we all have a relation to home; and that iron is an element necessary to sustain life. While sharing experiences, participants sculpt symbolic artifacts that reminds them of home. After being cast in iron, the artifact becomes part of the larger collection of memories that reflect relations of Home. Participants’ artifacts link themselves not as “others” but to others. Wright is the Academic & Professional Development Advisor and Adjunct Assistant Professor for UT’s College of Architecture + Design and an alum of UT’s School of Art.
One of these workshops takes place on February 17 from 12 noon to 2 pm in the critique space of the Art and Architecture Building at UT.
UT Sculpture Iron Pour
Saturday, February 25, 12pm-6pm, UT Gardens
On Saturday, February 25, students and community are invited to the UT Gardens to watch the iron melting and casting process by University of Tennessee sculpture students, faculty, and guest iron artists Ronda Wright and Kay Dartt. Objects cast at this demonstration include molds made by sculpture students and objects fabricated in several workshops facilitated by Ronda Wright and the UT Pride Center as part of the Creating Artifacts of Home exhibition at the UT Downtown Gallery. From 12-3pm, members of the public will be able to create a scratch block mold for casting a custom iron tile. The furnace will be tapped several times from 2-6pm.
If you have a short window of time, we recommend arriving between 2 and 3pm to experience the mold making and casting process.
The UT Pride Center is a sponsor of Ronda and Kay’s exhibition at the Downtown Gallery and associated programming.
If you plan on attending, please park in the main parking lot adjacent to the entrance of the UT Gardens plaza. The South Greenhouse classroom building will be open for public access to restrooms.