KU Department of Visual Art

Surprise! 🎉 Surprise Party opens on Thursday, August 20th at Off-Site as we fall into a new semester. Surprise Party is a KU Department of Visual Art Faculty and Staff exhibition of never-before-seen pieces. Join us at Off-Site from 4 PM to 6 PM next Thursday, August 20th for the opening reception & see our department's deep cuts, new works, and forthcoming research. There will be cake.

Surprise Party
Opening reception: Thursday, Aug. 20th, from 4–6 PM
On view: Aug. 20th–Sep. 12th, Thu. through Sat. from 4–8 PM

🔆Welcome New & Returning Visual Art Students!🔆

Board your flight for Visual Art Sunday Funday on AUG 23, 11:30AM - 2:30PM! Mingle with faculty and new students, update your headshot in the lighting studio, try your hand at painting or drawing, discover that ceramics/expanded media/metals/printmaking/sculpture/textiles/studio you never knew existed. We will have a scavenger hunt to help you find your classes, faculty to show you around, demos and activities in our studios and labs, pizza & refreshments.

SUNDAY AUGUST 23
11:30AM - onward: pick up your Passport in the Visual Art Office and Boarding Lounge, Chalmers 300. Explore the building and collect stamps as you go.
1:30PM: all stamped passports are due back in Chalmers 300 to enter the raffle. Enjoy pizza and refreshments in the lounge.
2:00PM: Raffle drawing! Prizes include: Wonderfair gift cards, Common Shop gift cards, Visual Art swag, and more!

See you Sunday!
If you have any questions, please email [email protected]
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⚡ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT⚡Kit Leffler, BFA: Expanded Media '08
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Q: What have you been up to post-graduation?
"After graduating from KU, I completed an MFA in Contemporary Art at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland from 2009–2011. In 2011, I relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I continue to live and maintain my artistic practice.

Professionally, I work at the University of Minnesota as a research project manager in a plant genetic engineering laboratory. A significant part of my role involves helping scientists visualize their research for journal publications and grant applications. This work has been a great fit for me, as my artistic interests are deeply inspired by science and the natural world.

Alongside this work, I continue to develop an interdisciplinary art practice that spans drawing, printmaking, performance, and community engagement. Across these mediums, my work is grounded in an ongoing curiosity about the natural world and how we move through it. I am currently working on a new print based upon Salvador Dali's "The Metamorphosis of Narcissus". This piece questions what happens after the myth concludes: where, or who, is Narcissus now?"
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Read more of our inspiring Q & A with Josh here: https://art.ku.edu/kit-leffler-bfa-expanded-media-08...... or via our website under Alumni > Alumni Stories. https://www.kitleffler.com/
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KU Alumni University of Kansas College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

✨Student Spotlight✨
"As a sophomore, Varelman took ART 132 Foundations of Metalsmithing/Jewelry to complete a required elective credit and further develop her growing interest in art. The class’ technical nature challenged her limits and showed her how far she could go with her creativity. She discovered that metalsmithing and jewelry could be more than a hobby, becoming part of her career path.

“Going through multiple programs has taught me a lot about myself, including how flexible I am,” said Varelman, whose interest in disability studies has shaped how she thinks about art, business and medicine. “I didn’t know I could be doing metalsmithing while listening to an accounting textbook and trying to figure out how the medical side integrates within the art community.”
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Read more of this fantastic piece at link below!

KU student uses art and business to advocate for disability access A KU student combines business, fine arts and disability studies to create accessible art and advocate for change on campus and beyond.

Get Repost App • Off-Site Art Space Announcing the Summer 2026 residents at Off-Site Art Space!

In this inaugural year of the residency program, Lawrence-based performer and musician cliff hoitt-lange and KU Expanded Media MFA candidate Ian O’Neill will explore themes of durational dissonance through experimental performance, video, and sound. Ian and cliff are collaborating to create a pop-up installation and performance event at the conclusion of their residency—stay tuned for more updates!

cliff hoitt-lange is a multi-hyphenate artist based in Lawrence, Kansas, with a practice spanning theater, puppetry, opera, music, and writing. They perform under the alias rawhide, an experimental act of ethereal, operatic sound utilizing electric violin, pedals, and vocals. rawhide explores visceral sensations and trance states, primarily through long-form improvisational sets, and performs or has collaborated with EMAS Kansas City, Megafauna, Agrekulture, and Apricot Glow. In the past year, cliff has written a q***r coming-of-age libretto for the Come as You Are Festival, commissioned by No Divide KC and Lyric Opera of Kansas City, went on tour with the acclaimed Bread & Puppet Theater, staged managed for the Exponential Festival (NYC), and acted in the world premiere of The Devil’s Eyelash (Charlie Wood). Originally from New York, they have a B.F.A. in Theater with a minor in English from New York University. They are currently working on their first album and a gender-nightmare libretto.
(images 2, 3)

Ian O’Neill is a Kansas City-based media artist who examines the myths, norms, and mechanics of our intertwined digital/physical experiences. O’Neill employs a range of tools, including video, generative systems, interactive media, and live performance. Central to his work is imposing the “full range of humanity” onto his systems, often embracing glitch, noise, and distortion as precious imperfections that shape our existence. Ian’s work has been featured in exhibitions and events, including the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Charlotte Street Foundation (Kansas City, Missouri), the Missouri Experimental Sonic Arts Festival, and TechArtista (St. Louis, M

The Department of Visual Art will continue to offer Open Figure Drawing once a month while classes are in session. Workshops are FREE and open to anyone who wants to draw the figure.
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Drawing the human figure in its various shapes and positions is an important activity for all visual artists. Figure drawing, the process of drawing the human body from observation of a live model, is arguably the most difficult subject an artist commonly encounters.
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One of the most enduring themes in the visual arts, figure drawing is important practice for the genres of portraiture, cartooning, graphic illustration, sculpture, medical illustration, and other fields that use depictions of the human form. Figure drawing can be done very simply, as in gesture drawing, or in more detail, using charcoal, pencil, or other drawing tools.
11AM - 2PM | 9/5. 10/3. 11/7. 12/5.
Room 405, Chalmers Hall
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eXplore Lawrence Katie Desch KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
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[image features black and white photo of student drawing a face accompanied by pink and blue design elements detailing information for Fall 2026 Open Drawing]

*see original post for more pics!*
Get Repost App • We welcomed 12 students and 2 teachers from the University of Kansas KU | The University of Kansas on the first week of June. They learned mokuhanga and made their own prints with Asuka Tatsumi and Toby Kobayashi tobykobayashi . Please take a look how they enjoyed the workshop and created amazing 🤩 prints.

A group from KU comes to MI-LAB every 2 years, and some of the participating students come back to our residency.
Special thanks to Shawn Bitters Shawn Bitters and Matthew Garcia M. Willie Garcia for organization and for the wonderful photos.

#木版画

⚡ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT⚡Josh Goering, Double Major: BFA, Ceramics & Environmental Studies, '21
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Q. What would you like to share with current and future Visual Art students?
A: "School is the perfect place to push yourself to grow in ways that might feel a little uncomfortable. Don’t be afraid of trying on new ideas and new hats because you can always come back to your old ones, and oftentimes your original ideas will benefit from your explorations. Most importantly, if you are graduating, figure out a way to keep making, in your basement, a community studio, a residency, or continuing on into graduate school."
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Read more of our inspiring Q & A with Josh here: https://art.ku.edu/josh-goering-double-major-bfa-ceramics-environmental-studies-21... or via our website under Alumni > Alumni Stories. https://www.instagram.com/joshgoering/
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University of Kansas College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

✨ Faculty Spotlight! ✨"Steve Gurysh, associate professor of visual art, has been awarded the KU Keeler Family Intra-University Professorship for the 2026-2027 academic year. Established in the 1980s, the professorship supports faculty in their pursuit of collaboration across disciplines.

Gurysh’s most recent sculptural and research explorations incorporate Mars Global Simulant (MGS), an engineered material that replicates the mineral profile of samples collected and analyzed by NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover." Read more at the link!

KU collaboration on Mars simulant research A visual art professor is expanding extraterrestrial simulant research by partnering with a senior scientist of ecology & evolutionary biology.