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The Visiting Artists Lecture Program engages our students to learn from renowned artists drawn from extraordinarily diverse styles, practices, and personal backgrounds. Since 1994, each semester around fifteen artists are invited to the Lecture Program, bringing their own experience and voice to the students and expanding the perspectives offered by faculty. Students have opportunities to connect with these artists through the School of Art Artists in Their Own Words Lecture Series (course Art 101), individual MFA studio visits, and College of the Arts Lecture Series supported by the Cecelia Anderson-Malcolm Lecture Series Endowment.

The Lecture Program not only gives our School of Art students a peek into the life of a highly accomplished relevant artists, but also becomes a hotbed of inspiration fueling students with drive and creativity to produce their own accomplished body of work.

Visiting Artists

Visiting artists participating in the Lecture Program represent many racial and ethnic backgrounds, ages, and gender identities reflecting our student population. Their work spans across mediums of sculpture, photography, video art, performance, painting, graphic design, illustration, animation, fiber, wood, metal and ceramics. This rigorous program is top tier among art schools.

Recently we’ve welcomed highly accomplished artists Elle Pérez, Dionne Lee, Nikita Gale, Victoria Fu, Leslie Martinez, Vick Quezada, Aaron Turner, Ilana Harris-Babou, Silas Munro, Kenturah Davis, and Daniel Ramos among many others.

Undergraduate and MFA Student Impact

• School of Art majors take Art 101 Artists in Their Own Words twice while at ºÚÁÏÍø.  
• The School of Art has over 1,700 undergraduate majors, 74 minors, and 80 graduate students.
• The Lecture Program inspires 350 students per semester, totaling over 25,000 students since 1994.
• The lectures are often recorded and then archived into a repository for student learning.

• MFA students sign-up for individual studio visits with visiting artists, a core element of an artist’s education and professional life beyond graduate school.
• Visiting Artists provide MFA students with personalized feedback that improves their artwork.
• MFA students acquire valuable communication skills for discussing their practice with other art professionals.
• Studio visits offer MFA students generative networking opportunities leading to possible exhibitions, artist jobs, and teaching opportunities.

Professional Practices

The Lecture Program inspires students to pursue careers as fine artists by empowering BA students to apply for the BFA programs and motivating senior undergraduate students to apply to competitive MFA programs at top tier institutions. Furthermore, it gives students insight into established artists’ professional practices instilling the confidence to help them prepare for their first art jobs.