EKU Giles Gallery

10/15/2026

Install is underway for In Solidarity! Opens this Monday 10/19 to the public! Come by Giles Gallery 11-4PM to see the work before the opening reception 10/22 6-7:30 PM it’s going to be amazing!!!! We can’t wait to see you!

10/14/2026

EKU Giles Gallery welcomes the new academic year with In Solidarity on view October 19 – November 6, 2026, in the Upper Giles Gallery!

In Solidarity is a pop-up exhibition that brings together the artworks of five distinguished student gallery technicians Adrien Clifton, Julian Holt, Iris Ilarraza, Andrew Loiselle, and Heather Zimmerman, and the new visiting gallery Director April Pauza. Interwoven are artworks that range from various media including paintings, drawings, ceramics, metalwork, sculpture, and found objects. The public is invited to a free opening reception, Thursday, Oct. 22, 6:00-7:30 PM

The public is also invited to a free Visiting Artist Lecture, Thursday, October 22, 5:00-6:00 PM in the Foster Building, room 100 with Appalachian artist Rachel Linnemann prior to the opening of In Solidarity. EKU Giles Gallery is open 11:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., Monday–Friday, when exhibits are on display. All gallery programming is free and open to the public.

EXHIBIT: October 19 – November 6, 2026
RECEPTION: Thursday, October 22, 6:00–7:30 p.m.
ARTIST TALK: Thursday, October 22, 5:00–6:00 p.m.
HOURS: Monday–Friday, 11:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. (or by appointment)

NAVIGATION ADDRESS
EKU Giles Gallery, 2396 Crabbe Street, Richmond, KY, 40475

PARKING
Free reception parking for visitors is available after 5:00 p.m. in the Crabbe Lot, directly across the street from the Campbell Building. Please be advised, the Crabbe Lot is a pay lot prior to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays, payable via the Park Mobile App, Lot # 3355.

10/05/2026

DIRECTOR SPOTLIGHT

We would like to welcome our new interim Giles Gallery Director, April Pauza! She earned her MFA in Studio Arts with an emphasis in Ceramics and Fiber Arts from the University of Kentucky and brings six years of experience teaching higher education arts curriculum and three years of experience serving as the Gallery Director at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland. Her research focuses on women studies, sculpture, foundations in the arts pedagogy, curatorial studies, and interdisciplinary contemporary craft-based practices. Outside of the classroom, April maintains an active studio practice in sculpture and installation art that unravels domestic ideals of womanhood, gender roles in the home, and her southern upbringing. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries both nationally and internationally.

Some of these museums and galleries include the Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan, Alabama, Patricia Sweetow Gallery in San Francisco, California, Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, Illinois, Kinhouse Gallery Fort Wayne, Indiana, the McColl Center, the Mint Museum both in Charlotte, North Carolina, Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio. For Spring 2025, she exhibited with Sean Riley in a two person show, Thresholds at Montgomery College in Silver Spring, Maryland. In 2024 she was awarded third place at the Howard County Arts Council, Juried Arts Maryland Biennial for her work “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”. For fall 2025, she was invited to exhibit work in a solo exhibition titled, It’ll all come out in the wash at the Art Council of York County in Rock Hill, South Carolina. For spring 2026, she was invited to exhibit her sculptures in a solo exhibition titled, Southern Hospitality at the Goodall Gallery at Columbia College. Welcome April!

Instagram:
Facebook: April Pauza

10/02/2026

STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Heather lives in Richmond, Kentucky pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a focus on ceramics and painting at Eastern Kentucky University. Heather has an Associates of Applied Science in Visual Communication and Video Production from Somerset Community College and a Bachelors of Criminal Justice from New Mexico State University. She moved to Kentucky from Texas where she was a Child Development teacher. She started drawing as a young teenager and enrolled in several drawing classes while attending school in New Mexico. She is new to both the ceramics and painting disciplines. Heather hopes to one day own an old gas station and transform it into an art gallery and studio to host workshops and exhibitions to show off the work of local artists. In her free time, she enjoys photography and working on the art of tattooing.
Heather has been working in the gallery since January of 2026.
Instagram: .n.gauges

10/02/2026

STAFF SPOTLIGHT

Julian Holt

Julian “JuJu” Holt is a painter & printmaker hailing from the shrouded hollers of Southeast Kentucky. By means of oil paint, encaustic & found objects, Holt’s work dissects the malaise contradictions of mortality, time, love, & belonging through characters, scenes, & effigies of the Appalachian Region. Their work has been published in YNST Magazine as well as being a featured artist for ReImagine Appalachia. Holt’s work has been the recipient of two People’s Choice Awards (2024, 2025), Chair’s Award (2026), & Best in Printmaking Award (2025). Julian is a current student at Eastern Kentucky University pursuing a BFA in studio art with concentrations in painting & printmaking. Holt has been working at Giles Gallery since fall of 2025.

Instagram:
Facebook: Julian Holt

09/29/2026

STAFF SPOTLIGHT

Adrien Clifton

Adrien is a junior with a concentration in Art Education. He has been working at the Giles Gallery since the Fall 2024 semester. He is currently the president of the Art Education Student Association (AESA) and hopes to teach high school after he graduates in 2028. Last semester three of Adrien’s pieces won awards in the ASA juried exhibition: Best in 3D for Insecurity (2025), Best in Printmaking for Fortune Teller (2026), and Best in Show for No Evil (2026).

Artist statement:
“Art making and art viewing are not passive experiences; I do not intend to make art that pleases people, but rather art that invites others to listen, inspires them to be creative, empowers them to act, and forces them to think critically about their own lives and the world around them. As I move toward a career in art education, I feel I have an obligation to teach my students how to think creatively and critically, and to foster both their confidence in themselves and their compassion for others. I seek to create art that embodies these concepts while challenging my audience and contemporaries, and to share a body of work that reflects my values, experiences, and perspective.”

Adrien’s instagram:

09/27/2026

STAFF SPOTLIGHT

Iris Ilarraza

Iris is a senior graduating this semester (Fall 2026) with a concentration in Jewelry and Metalsmithing. She has been working at the Giles Gallery since Fall 2024. Under the alias Atlas X Moon, Iris has been exhibited in the 2025 and 2026 Art Student Association Juried Student Exhibition at EKU Giles Gallery, the 2025 The Power of Protest inaugural exhibit at the EKU Powell Student Center, and most recently, the 2026 University Exhibition at LexArts. Iris has also received the Distinguished BFA Award in Studio Art at EKU for the 2025-26 school year and the Dick Mayo Allen Scholarship at John Crabbe Library in 2025.

Instagram:

09/26/2026

STAFF SPOTLIGHT

Andrew Loiselle

Andrew is a Senior General Business major with a minor in Psychology. He has been at Giles Gallery since Fall 2022. Andrew’s time in the Art & Design department motivated his exhibition in The Lexington Art Leagues’s PRHBTN (2025 & 2026) and Giles Gallery’s In CommonWealth (2025).

Drawing on the varied mark-making that defines narrative and sequential art, Andrew acts with intention to reflect Biblical interpretations using the artistic fundamentals. Employing Christian doctrine as both spiritual and artistic inspiration, Andrew creates to render the Gospel physically approachable.

Instagram:

09/21/2026

05/01/2026