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Drawn from the McClung Museum: Printmaking Showcase Gallery

Drawn from the McClung Museum: Printmaking Showcase Gallery

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Printmaking Showcase GallerySecond FloorArt and Architecture Building1715 Volunteer Blvd.University of Tennessee, Knoxville Drawn from the McClung Museum, a portfolio of prints about art and artifacts in the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture is currently on view at the Printmaking Showcase Gallery. The portfolio was firs exhibited at the McClung Museum in conjunction with the Southern Graphics Council International Printmaking Conference hosted by The University of Tennessee March 18-21, 2015. Organized by Sydney A. […]

Art History Professor Publishes Book, Curates Exhibition on Goan Artists 

Art History Professor Publishes Book, Curates Exhibition on Goan Artists 

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In December, UT Assistant Professor of Art History Kelli Wood celebrated the book publication and exhibition opening of a landmark project centered on artists and makers in Goa, a region with a rich history of artistic knowledge and innovation. Makers and Materials: Goa Past and Present connects Goa’s centuries-old craft traditions with the practices of […]

JILLIAN ROSS + BRENDAN COPESTAKE: April 16, 2026

JILLIAN ROSS + BRENDAN COPESTAKE: April 16, 2026

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Art + Architecture Building, Art + Architecture Building, McCarty Auditorium, 5:30pm Master printmakers Jillian Ross and Brendan Copestake are the owners of Jillian Ross Print, a collaborative print studio working primarily with South African and Canadian artists, studios, institutions and galleries to develop print projects, exhibitions, art workshops, talks and print publishing.

NOELLE AFRICH: March 5, 2026

NOELLE AFRICH: March 5, 2026

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Art + Architecture Building, Art + Architecture Building, McCarty Auditorium, 6:00pm Noelle Africh is a painter and educator based in Chicago. They received an MFA in Painting and Drawing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Their work […]

From Student to Exhibiting UT Downtown Gallery Artist: Alumni Spotlight on Ceramicist Kevin Kao

From Student to Exhibiting UT Downtown Gallery Artist: Alumni Spotlight on Ceramicist Kevin Kao

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While UT’s galleries feature work from many outstanding artists every year, it’s particularly exciting to welcome a School of Art alumnus back to town. Ceramicist Kevin Kao, a 2015 MFA graduate, has exhibited his figure-ish, biology-inspired sculptures throughout the U.S., including a recent solo show at Artspace in Raleigh, NC. Kevin’s work will be in […]

New Gift Establishes Scholarships, Increased Support for Printmaking Students 

New Gift Establishes Scholarships, Increased Support for Printmaking Students 

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Students at the University of Tennessee’s nationally recognized printmaking program can look forward to increased opportunities and support starting in 2026, thanks to a generous gift from Joel and Yann Dryer.    The newly established endowments, which include the $26,000 Joel and Yann Dryer Student Printmaking Award Endowment and the $100,000 Joel S. Dryer Printmaking Endowment, will help to fund awards and scholarships for outstanding undergraduate and graduate students, in addition to equipment and materials purchase, travel expenses for students to attend residencies and conferences, support […]

Examining the Feminine and Functional: Alumni Spotlight on Ceramicist Sam Briegel

Examining the Feminine and Functional: Alumni Spotlight on Ceramicist Sam Briegel

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Since her graduation from the University of Tennessee’s BFA program in 2013, educator and ceramicist Sam Briegel’s functional, feminine work has been featured in major craft fairs, exhibitions and publications throughout the country, including the annual Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, DC.  A Knoxville native, her art draws from craft traditions in Appalachia and the […]

Folkways and Identity: Alumni Spotlight on Ceramicist Gary White

Folkways and Identity: Alumni Spotlight on Ceramicist Gary White

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Since earning his MFA in 2022, artist Gary White’s work has been exhibited widely both across the country and in his home state of Tennessee.  A current Faculty Fellow at the Watkins College of Art at Belmont University, Gary’s interdisciplinary practice conducts a cross-cultural visual investigation that explores folkways, identity, and the experiences of the “southern Other” from a multi-ethnic southern […]

DONTÉ K. HAYES: February 4, 2026

DONTÉ K. HAYES: February 4, 2026

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Art + Architecture Building, Art + Architecture Building, McCarty Auditorium, 5:30pm Donté K. Hayes graduated summa cum laude from Kennesaw State University at Kennesaw, Georgia with a BFA in Ceramics and Printmaking with an art history minor. Donté received his MA and MFA with honors from the University of Iowa and is the 2017 recipient […]

Examining the Everyday: Alumni Spotlight on Painter Marta Lee

Examining the Everyday: Alumni Spotlight on Painter Marta Lee

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UT alumna Marta Lee may paint unremarkable objects – a vase, a pride flag, a colander – but reviews of her work have been anything but mundane. The New York-based artist’s recent solo show at Tappeto Volante in Brooklyn has garnered coverage in major art publications such as Hyperallergic, Artspiel, The Electric Pencil, and Two […]

Ceramics MFA Student’s Work in 2026 NCECA Exhibition

Ceramics MFA Student’s Work in 2026 NCECA Exhibition

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Second year Ceramics MFA Lindsay Skvarek’s work Global Warming: Meltdown has been curated into the 2026 NCECA Exhibition. The exhibitions will take place during Volumes, the 60th annual conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, in Detroit, Michigan, from March 25-28, 2026. Learn more here.

Students, Alumni and Faculty Screen Films at Film Fest Knox

Students, Alumni and Faculty Screen Films at Film Fest Knox

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It’s that time of year again: the leaves on the surrounding mountains are turning color, there’s a chill in the air, and Film Fest Knox is back in town! Cinema Studies professor Paul Harrill and other area filmmakers co-founded Film Fest Knox in 2023 in order to promote Knoxville as a premiere location for filmmaking and the […]

Student Study Abroad + Residency Reports: Summer 2025

Student Study Abroad + Residency Reports: Summer 2025

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Summer may be in the rearview mirror, but many School of Art students are already planning creative getaways for 2026. Whether their practice takes them to a remote Alaskan lodge, a printmaking institute in Wroclaw, Poland or to traditional quilting workshops in the Appalachian Mountains, the School of Art offers students the support they need […]

Colette Fu: November 13, 2025

Colette Fu: November 13, 2025

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Art + Architecture Building, McCarty Auditorium, 5:30pm Colette Fu is a Philadelphia-based artist who received her MFA in Fine Art in Photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2003, and soon after, began devising complex compositions that incorporate photography and pop-up paper engineering. Her pop-up books are housed in esteemed institutions such as the […]

Alex Paik: November 6, 2025

Alex Paik: November 6, 2025

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Art + Architecture Building, McCarty Auditorium, 5:30pm Alex Paik is an artist, community builder, curator, and writer based in Los Angeles. He is Founder and Director of Tiger Strikes Asteroid, a non-profit network of artist-run spaces and serves on the Steering Committee at GYOPO, a collective of diasporic Korean cultural producers and arts professionals. https://www.alexpaik.com

Mandy Cano-Villalobos: October 16, 2025

Mandy Cano-Villalobos: October 16, 2025

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Art + Architecture Building, McCarty Auditorium, 7:30pm Mandy Cano Villalobos is an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans installation, 2D, performance, and sculpture. Her projects explore ideas of home, memory and cultural identity. Cano Villalobos has exhibited in venues including Bridge Projects (Los Angeles, CA), POSITIONS Art Fair (Berlin, DE), Proyecto T (Mexico City), Proyecto Pikaro […]

School of Art Holds 2025 Kimberly D. Iles Art Awards

School of Art Holds 2025 Kimberly D. Iles Art Awards

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The UT School of Art held its annual Kimberly D. Iles Scholarship Awards Ceremony on September 18th, honoring nine students from the School of Art and two from the College of Architecture and Design.     Kimberly D. Iles, an artist and graphic designer who earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the UT School of […]

Ceramics professor wins environmental art grant

Ceramics professor wins environmental art grant

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Socially engaged artist Amanda Evans has been awarded an AWAW Environmental Art Grant, a competitive national award from organizations Anonymous Was a Woman and the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). Evans, an Assistant Professor of Ceramics at the University of Tennessee, and her collaborator, Tia Kramer, were awarded the grant to support their […]

Skye Tafoya, Jakeli Swimmer, Michelle Long, Keli Gonzales: September 30, 2025

Skye Tafoya, Jakeli Swimmer, Michelle Long, Keli Gonzales: September 30, 2025

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Art + Architecture Building, McCarty Auditorium, September 30, 5:30pm Rhiannon Skye Tafoya (b. 1989) is an interdisciplinary artist from the Eastern Band of Cherokee and the Santa Clara Pueblo Tribes. She earned a BFA in printmaking from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM, and an MFA in print media from Pacific […]

Xia Zhang: September 11, 2025

Xia Zhang: September 11, 2025

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Art + Architecture Building, McCarty Auditorium, September 11, 5:30pm Xia is a multi-disciplinary artist born in southern China, grew up in suburban Maryland, and came into adulthood in Appalachia. She works with process as a physical and conceptual medium to convey intersectional concepts of craft, colonialism, and femininity. Historical research of othered-ness heavily influences the […]

School of Art Welcomes New Faculty in Photography, Art History

School of Art Welcomes New Faculty in Photography, Art History

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The UT School of Art is thrilled to welcome two new faculty members. Assistant Professor Bucky Miller joins the School of Art’s Photography area. An artist and writer who photographs to unearth stranger possibilities for joy, Miller is a recipient of the Aaron Siskind Foundation Individual Photographer’s Fellowship, has had solo exhibitions at spaces including the […]

UT Filmmaker Awarded Inaugural Vimeo Short Film Grant 

UT Filmmaker Awarded Inaugural Vimeo Short Film Grant 

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UT Filmmaker John C Kelley has been awarded the inaugural Vimeo Short Film Grant for his animated project, The Ineffable Hum.  Kelley,  an associate professor of Cinema Studies and Time-Based Art at the University of Tennessee, is one of five filmmakers selected from thousands to receive the first-of-its-kind award. The grant includes $30,000 in funding, access […]

Alumni Spotlight: Documentary Filmmaker Ronald Levy

Alumni Spotlight: Documentary Filmmaker Ronald Levy

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Since graduating from the University of Tennessee in 2019, filmmaker Ronald Levy has been busy: he’s started his own production company and completed two full-length documentary films, traveling all over the United States for projects.  He’s told stories about subjects ranging from long-distance cyclists on different ends of the political spectrum to food insecurity in […]

UT Printmakers attend Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI) in Puerto Rico

UT Printmakers attend Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI) in Puerto Rico

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In April, students and faculty from the UT School of Art’s printmaking program traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI), an annual gathering of artists, printmakers and graphic designers that draws participants from all over the world. UT’s long-standing, top-ranked printmaking program regularly has a significant presence at SGCI […]

UT students collaborate with Malaysian printmaking collective

UT students collaborate with Malaysian printmaking collective

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The UT School of Art welcomed Malaysian printmaking collective Pangrok Sulap this spring, a group of artists, musicians and social activists who engaged with UT students through a collaborative visiting artist seminar.    Pangrok Sulap ( “Pangrok” being the local pronunciation of “punk rock”, and “Sulap”  a hut or a resting place usually used by farmers in Sabah, […]

Alumni Spotlight: Printmaking and conservation meet at the Museum of Infinite Outcomes

Alumni Spotlight: Printmaking and conservation meet at the Museum of Infinite Outcomes

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Studying art can lead you to surprising places. For University of Tennessee printmaking alumna Ashlee Mays, it was to a plot of foreclosed land in Knoxville’s Parkridge neighborhood, where she created one of Tennessee’s most unique outdoor spaces: the Museum of Infinite Outcomes, an open-air museum that is shifting the narrative of conservation through the […]

UT Art, Engineering Host METAL Bootcamp

UT Art, Engineering Host METAL Bootcamp

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The UT School of Art is collaborating with the Tickle College of Engineering to train the next generation of metal casters and forgers. Last month, faculty, staff, and graduate students from the SOA’s sculpture program helped to facilitate the first of three UT-hosted metallurgy bootcamps through the  Metallurgical Engineering Trades Apprenticeship & Learning (METAL) program, an […]

Janelle VanderKelen Wins Creative Capital Award

Janelle VanderKelen Wins Creative Capital Award

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School of Art professor Janelle VanderKelen has won a Creative Capital award for her project, The Golden Thread, a 16mm feature film that highlights ways unseen fungi help slow climate change and mitigate its effects. VanderKelen, an assistant professor of Cinema Studies and Time-Based Art, is one of 55 artists representing 49 projects who received the prestigious award […]

Art Alumni Writing Book About UT Sculpture Tour

Art Alumni Writing Book About UT Sculpture Tour

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Two School of Art alumni are writing a book about the University of Tennessee Sculpture Tour, a unique loan program in the 1980-90’s that influenced outdoor art exhibitions at institutions and communities throughout the country.  Leticia Bajuyo (MFA ‘01), an Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University of Oklahoma, and Durant Thompson (BFA ‘97), a […]

School of Art Faculty Receive Heart and Soul Awards

School of Art Faculty Receive Heart and Soul Awards

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Jason Brown’s Community Art Class in Spring 2024 Two School of Art professors received Heart and Soul Awards from the Faculty Senate, a new honor recognizing faculty members who foster exceptionally inclusive, respectful, and supportive climates at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  Heather Coker Hawkins, an assistant professor of time-based art, and Jason Brown, a […]

Multiple UTK Films Screening at Film Fest Knox

Multiple UTK Films Screening at Film Fest Knox

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Cinema Studies professor and co-chair Paul Harrill, along with other area filmmakers, co-founded Film Fest Knox in 2023 in order to promote Knoxville as a premiere location for filmmaking and the arts. The international festival is an important platform for Tennessee filmmakers in particular, and this year’s regional showcases – which incudes the American Regional […]

ISC Honors Two from School of Art

ISC Honors Two from School of Art

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Christopher McNulty Kyle Cottier The sculpture program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville—already recognized and respected among national and international art communities—recently came further into the spotlight. This fall, the International Sculpture Center (ISC) honored School of Art (SOA) Director Christopher McNulty with its prestigious Outstanding Educator Award, which recognizes inspiring, influential artists who have […]

School of Art Holds 2024 Kimberly D. Iles Awards Ceremony

School of Art Holds 2024 Kimberly D. Iles Awards Ceremony

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The UT School of Art held its annual Kimberly D. Iles Scholarship awards on September 19th, honoring nine students from the School of Art and two from the College of Architecture and Design.     Kimberly D. Iles was known for her vivacity, generosity of spirit, and passion for the arts. She graduated with honors from […]

John Powers Exhibits Work During Venice Biennale

John Powers Exhibits Work During Venice Biennale

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The Venice Biennale is one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious art exhibitions. This year, an installation by UT School of Art Professor John Powers is among the featured work.   Established in 1895, the Biennale has showcased art from many of history’s renowned artists and architects, and in recent years attracted over 800,000 […]

School of Art Welcomes New Faculty

School of Art Welcomes New Faculty

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The School of Art at UT, Knoxville is excited to introduce two new instructional faculty members. Assistant Professor Amanda Evans joins the School of Art’s Ceramics Program. Evans is a socially engaged ceramic artist whose work manifests as participatory sculptures, performance, print and digital media, and long-term collaborative systems. She received her MFA in Art […]

UT Printmaking Newsletter: Fall 2024

UT Printmaking Newsletter: Fall 2024

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This annual newsletter celebrates the professional and life achievements of students, alumni, faculty, and staff from the UT School of Art’s Printmaking Program. We are proud of our record of creative activity, and grateful to have our graduate program recognized as 3rd among public universities by U.S. News and World Report. We hope that you […]

Alumni Spotlight: A Conversation with Art Historian Robert Hobbs

Alumni Spotlight: A Conversation with Art Historian Robert Hobbs

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School of Art Alumnus Robert Hobbs has led a career that many art historians could only dream of.  He has written nearly sixty books and curated dozens of exhibits, working closely with artists, ranging from sculptors Alice Aycock and Robert Smithson to painters Lee Krasner and Robert Motherwell.