Public Relations www uky edu PR News CONTACT Whitney H

							                                                                          Public Relations
                                                                     www.uky.edu/PR/News
CONTACT: Whitney Hale, (859) 257-1754


FOR RELEASE


      Lexington Doctor, UK Present Community Sculpture Contest
           Students get chance to commission art at Lexington business


       LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 22, 2006) – In the University of Kentucky Department of
Art, sculpture students are getting another chance to show their work and earn a
commission at a Lexington business. With the guidance of Garry Bibbs, an associate
professor of sculpture at UK, Dr. David Dubocq, a family physician, has developed an
art competition for students called the Lexington Extraordinary Art Project. The project,
which aims to enrich the Lexington community with privately funded public artwork, will
host an exhibition of the students’ proposals 7 – 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, at Family
Practice Associates of Lexington located at 1775 Alysheba Way.
       Bibbs’ advance sculpture students were invited to submit a written proposal and
scale model of their piece, which they will present at the exhibition. Fourteen advanced
sculpture students will compete for first, second, and third place prizes. The sculptures
will be judged on originality, aesthetics, safety, durability and overall structure.
       The first place winner will receive a commission for a large scale public sculpture
to be installed in front of the Family Practice Associates office by the end of the spring
semester. A $1,000 commission will be awarded to the winner of the competition to fund
the construction of the sculpture, along with $500 prize for the artist. The students that
take second place and third place will win $250 and $100 respectively for their award-
winning concepts. The awards will be presented by Family Practice Associates at the
proposal exhibition.
       Bibbs and Dubocq hope to see this project grow in the coming years and have
worked to put together a model competition that can be reproduced by other
businesses.

                                            – more –
                                   An Equal Opportunity University
       “We have developed a business model for this process to be repeated for the
benefit of those students involved as well as for the Lexington community as a whole.
The businesses who participate in this project will receive high outstanding works of
art,” said Dubocq. “Likewise the artists will receive recognition for their work, funding,
and hands on experience in the art commission process.”
       The advantages are not only to the artist and the business, Dubocq hopes they
will benefit the community as well. “We hope that the competition will bring UK
recognition for the high quality education and public service, as well as attract more
students to their cutting edge art program. The Lexington community also benefits as it
will receive multiple sculptures that will remain in Lexington for years to come for our
enjoyment and attract tourism as well,” added Dubocq.
       Dubocq earned his bachelor’s degree at State University of New York – Stony
Brook and his medical degree at State University of New York – Downstate. After
completing his residency at the University of Cincinnati, he moved to Lexington in 1998
and joined Family Practice Associates. Dubocq also serves as voluntary faculty at UK
Department of Family Practice. An artist himself, Dubocq has studied ceramics as part
of UK’s Adult Education courses and sculpture with Bibbs. He has contributed artwork
to a number of private collections and Cassidy Elementary School.
       To learn more about the Lexington Extraordinary Art Project, contact Bibbs at
(859) 257-3719 or garry.bibb@uky.edu.



                                              ###




                                  An Equal Opportunity University