By Whitney Harder

 

(Oct. 12, 2015) — Italian muralist Hitnes is in Lexington this month not only for the PRHBTN street art festival and his LexPark garage mural, but also to paint a mural at the University of Kentucky Ecological Research and Education Center with help from students in his mural master class.

 

Hitnes will teach a two-day mural master class to pre-registered participants — creating a mural together as he teaches — and will also give a free lecture open to the public at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13.

 

The lecture and class will be held at the UK Ecological Research and Education Center at 1737 Russell Cave Road.

 

Hitnes’ lecture, "When Art and Science Collide," will investigate the sometimes conflicting, sometimes complementary relationship between art and science, with special emphasis on his large-scale mural work.

 

His class will take place from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, and Thursday, Oct. 15. Participants will learn techniques for painting large-scale murals using brushes, rollers, and other tools. The workshop will cover the theory of muralism and give instructions into mural painting and execution. 

 

Since July, Hitnes has traveled throughout the eastern United States working on "The Image Hunter," a project where he has loosely retraced the route of John James Audubon, spending time observing birds in nature and then painting the results in murals across the country.