Meena Khalili – UofL News Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:55:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Hite Art Institute’s Open Studio Weekend showcases UofL artists /section/arts-and-humanities/hite-art-institutes-open-studio-weekend-showcases-uofl-artists/ /section/arts-and-humanities/hite-art-institutes-open-studio-weekend-showcases-uofl-artists/#respond Wed, 24 Oct 2018 17:51:33 +0000 http://www.uoflnews.com/?p=44443 Artists from all over Louisville will open their doors Nov. 3 and 4 for. The event, co-hosted byԻ,gives anyone who appreciates arttheopportunity to step inside studios all over Louisville where they can meet artists and experience how and where local art is made.

This is the sixth annual Open Studio Weekend, featuring more than 100 artists in all visual media. Established professionals, exciting newcomers and students and faculty from the the Hite Art Institute will share their work in unique studio spaces.

This year, for the first time, the public may visit the facility, a renovated warehouse at 1606 Rowan St. in the historic Portland neighborhood. Hite faculty and MFA students will operate studios there with capacity for a range of media, including ceramics, drawing, fiber, glass, painting, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media, book arts and design.

This year also continues a partnership with , which makes free bike rentals available to OSW attendees. LouVelo will lead a free guided bike tour of downtown and Portland studios departing from Hyland Glass at 12:45 p.m. on Nov. 3.

In addition, a distinguished panel of curators from around the region will select works by participating artists to showcase in the 2018 Louisville Open Studio Weekend Juried Exhibition at Hite’s Cressman Center for Visual Arts, 100 N. Main St. All are welcome to a free opening reception for the exhibition during First Friday Hop, 6-8 p.m., Nov. 2.

Open Studio Weekend is 12-6 p.m., Nov. 3 and 4. Tickets are $12 (a 40% decrease from last year), or $10 for students, art educators and LVA members. A ticket provides access to all participating studios and includes a 60-page publication with maps to studio locations, suggested routes, information, and images of participants’ artworks. Purchase tickets onor at the Cressman Center. All proceeds from the weekend tour benefit the Mary Spencer Nay scholarship at UofL and Children’s Fine Art Classes through LVA.

Participating Hite students and faculty include: , , , , , ,,, , Reid Broadstreet, , Rachid Tagoulla,,, , ,,, , and .

Open Studio

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Artful geography: Hite Art Institute shows professor’s work exploring place /section/arts-and-humanities/artful-geography-hite-art-institute-shows-professors-work-exploring-place/ /section/arts-and-humanities/artful-geography-hite-art-institute-shows-professors-work-exploring-place/#respond Thu, 10 Aug 2017 13:05:48 +0000 http://uoflnews.com/?p=37839 When moved to Louisville a little over a year ago to start her job as an assistant professor of design at Hite Art Institute, she challenged herself to get to know her new home in a new way.

Meena Khalili

She would draw a picture a day of her life here.

“I’m new here, it’s a new city, and the best way for me to understand it is to draw it,” she said.

The daily practice resulted in “,” 365 drawings in seven accordion style notebooks. While the drawings are stylistically similar, subjects range from moments of reflection and snapshots of work life to sketches of many of Louisville’s most beloved haunts and traditions, like the Palace Theatre and the triple crown of running. Intrinsic in the series is a sense of discovery in what Louisville long-timers would consider familiar.

One of the notebooks from the collection is on display in “” the current exhibition of work by new Hite Art faculty at the Cressman Center, 100 E. Main St. The entire collection is also on Instagram: .

Khalili said several factors inspired the daily practice.

A Washington, D.C. native, she had lived in several cities in quick succession before landing in Louisville, including Richmond, Virginia, where she earned her BFA and MFA at Virginia Commonwealth University, School of the Arts.

“I was happy to settle down for a minute,” she said.

At the time, Louisville was grieving the loss of Muhammad Ali.

The rich outpouring of respect at Cave Hill Cemetery assured her that Louisville was a special place.

“I thought this city deserves a real homage. It deserves to be dug into and discovered and for me to understand where I landed.”

She had already begun drawing intentionally as a way to discover place on motorcycle trips she had taken down the east coast.

“I wanted to take a practice I did for fun and put into daily practice,” she said. “The ritual of drawing strengthens my visual skills.”

Khalili’s ‘Type Hike’ poster also on display

Khalili’s work will also be on display in an exhibition entitled “” in Schneider Galleries Aug. 18-Sept. 22.

“Type Hike” is a collection of artistic posters that celebrate the National Park Service.

Designers David RygiolԻJames Louis Walker created the project last year to raise money for national parks during its centennial celebration. They invited graphic artists from across the country to submit a poster for each national park. The resulting 60 posters reflected each park’s unique landscape through highly stylized typography.

Khalili created the poster for .

“I was honored to be included among so many award-winning, internationally recognized designers,” Khalili said. “This project also allowed me to see my work do some good and that’s very gratifying.”

Proceeds from print sales have raised thousands of dollars for the National Park Service at a time when federal funding has been cut.

“Type Hike” has been exhibited in galleries across the country, added to the permanent collection of the Library of Congress and received considerable national media attention.

The project recently expanded to include the National Park Services’ protected sea and lakeshores and endangered species.

Khalili noted that “New in Lou” and “Type Hike” both reflect geography, as is often the case with her work. As a first-generation Iranian American, she’s deeply influenced by geography, impermanence and history. Her academicresearch explores typography and Persian calligraphy through multimodal media and focuses on design, illustration and book art. Hermoving typography work will be showing in Jakarta, Indonesia this fall.

See more of her design work .

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