By Matthew Wickstrom

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Art enthusiasts gathered Friday night at The Old Dixie Highlands on the north side of Lexington for a pop-up art gallery featuring work from students in an advanced photography course at UK.  All pieces of art on showcase were related to the topic of meat. Art studio senior John Moore takes credit for choosing the meaty topic for the art.

“One day in class an Intro to Photography student asked me if we ever take pictures of dead animals for our class,” Moore said. “The question caught me off guard, but from then on I had that moment stuck in my head. When it came time to decide our theme for this gallery I suggested meat, and everyone else just went along with it.”

Moore’s work featured in the gallery consisted of several pictures of people savagely eating McDonald’s hamburgers, all of which were placed in rustic picture frames.

“I wanted to illustrate how grotesque eating really is, and nothing is quite more disgusting than a McDonald’s hamburger,” Moore explained.

Masters of Fine Arts student Trey Jolly had another take on the topic, photographing every meal he ate for nearly nine weeks.

“The emphasis of my piece was to illustrate how college students often have to rush their meals due to their packed schedules,” Jolly said. “As a result, most meals I ate were fast food or ordered out from somewhere. Not only is that expensive, but extremely unhealthy.”

Heather Sims was one of many who attended the event to support their friends.

“I graduated from UK in the spring, so I know and am friends with most of the people here,” Sims said. “I’m here to support them and see the many different takes they have on meat.”

Studio sculpture senior Josh Sevy and Sarah Williams were there in support of their friend John Moore, but didn’t shy from what their favorite pieces of art were.

“We both really enjoyed Kathy’s farm animal presses, since they illustrate the origination of all meat,” Williams said of studio art junior Kathy Waldman.

Waldman said the goal of her art was to educate people on the personal side of farming.

“My photos are from farms across Kentucky,” said Waldman. “These farmers raise their animal’s cage free and don’t feed them any chemicals. Some even went as far as to name each animal. This side of farming and the food industry is too often overlooked.”

The event attracted roughly 50 people, and was put together by UK’s School of Art and Visual Studies. The class is led by Garrett Hansen, who said he’s excited to see his student’s work in the world, and not just in the classroom.

“Events like this are great because it allows people who normally wouldn’t see this artwork the opportunity to,” Hansen said. “Art galleries also help students and get their name out into the world.”

Other artists featured included Lee Wilbraham, Sarah Day and Lindsey Scherer.