Speed Art Museum

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Speed Art Museum An encyclopedic art museum in the heart of Louisville, Kentucky. For more information, visit the Speed’s at speedmuseum.org.
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The Speed Art Museum, in Louisville, Kentucky, is an independent, encyclopedic museum, and the oldest and largest art museum in the state. The Speed serves as a cultural hub where people can connect with each other and the work of artists from across the world in new and unexpected ways. Established in 1927 by philanthropist Hattie Bishop Speed, the museum has undergone several renovations and expansions, now occupying over 200,000 sq ft on the University of Louisville’s Belknap campus. The most recent of which, led by wHY Architecture’s Kulapat Yantrasast in 2016, tripled the amount of exhibition space and added a state of the art cinema, a family education center, indoor/outdoor café, museum shop, and a multifunctional pavilion for performances, lectures and entertainment to the museum’s robust offerings.

🎬THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 | Louder Than Guns with 91.9 WFPK at the Speed CinemaAfter the Covenant School shooting in Nashv...
09/21/2026

🎬THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 | Louder Than Guns with 91.9 WFPK at the Speed Cinema

After the Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Old Crow Medicine Show's Ketch Secor and journalist David Greene set out on the road to do something rare: get people who disagree on almost everything to talk to each other about gun violence.

Director Doug Pray's documentary follows the pair through barbeque joints, church pews, gun stores, and concert halls in search of common ground on one of America's most divisive issues.

Stay after the film for a discussion with director Doug Pray and journalist David Greene.

Co-presented with WFPK.

📅 Thursday, September 24, 7 pm
🎟️ $12 | $8 Speed and LPM members
🔗 https://www.speedmuseum.org/cinema/louder-than-guns/

Recommended for 15+

🎨 Legacy Workshops continues this Tuesday, September 24, 1-3 PMThis month's session focuses on wet media. Try your hand ...
09/20/2026

🎨 Legacy Workshops continues this Tuesday, September 24, 1-3 PM

This month's session focuses on wet media. Try your hand at watercolor, acrylic painting, and simple printmaking with local artist and Speed staffer Stephen Batiz. Bring something you're already working on (no larger than 16x20") or a sketch you'd like to turn into a painting. No experience necessary, come explore and create at your own pace.

This is a ticketed workshop, registration required.
https://www.speedmuseum.org/event/speed-studio-process-practice-legacy-workshop/

Up close with ALL STAFF: SPEED STAFF ART SHOW! Make sure you take a peek in the Satterwhite/Grey hallway next time you a...
09/19/2026

Up close with ALL STAFF: SPEED STAFF ART SHOW! Make sure you take a peek in the Satterwhite/Grey hallway next time you are at the Speed. This exhibition showcases the talents of our staff members, from security to guest experience and curatorial to marketing. We all have passion and creativity that extend beyond daily museum operation.

Artwork featured:

Amanda Haas, "it brings me so much joy", 2017, oil on panel
Jade Kern, "Domestic Bliss", 2026, cyanotype on paper
Whitney Andrews, "Basket", 2026, polymer clay, wire, felt, acrylic paint, and sewing thread on paper
Stephen Batiz, "Entropy at Dinner", 2026, acrylic paint on canvas
Elizabeth Truscott, "A Mind Run Rampant, continued", 2021, silicone, resin, synthetic hair, found objects

Louis C. Tiffany's colorful lamps debuted in 1898 and were an immediate sensation, turning everyday lighting fixtures in...
09/18/2026

Louis C. Tiffany's colorful lamps debuted in 1898 and were an immediate sensation, turning everyday lighting fixtures into illuminated works of art. But as their popularity and value grew, so did the reproductions and forgeries built to cash in on them.

Join us on September 20 from 2:00 to 3:00pm for a free lecture with Lindsy R. Parrott, Executive Director and Curator at The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass, as she traces the rise, fall, and revival of public interest in Tiffany lamps across the 20th century.

Tiffany Lamps: Innovation, Desire, and Imitation
Adele and Leonard Leight Series: Art, Design and Innovation

Free, but registration is required to attend. Register now: https://www.speedmuseum.org/event/the-adele-and-leonard-leight-series-art-design-and-innovation-presents-dr-lindsy-parrott/

Thank you to our radio partner, Louisville Public Media.

🧵✂️ NEW at Speed Together: Craft Circle! Join us Sunday, September 20 from 1-4 PM.From 1-2 PM, we're launching a communi...
09/17/2026

🧵✂️ NEW at Speed Together: Craft Circle! Join us Sunday, September 20 from 1-4 PM.

From 1-2 PM, we're launching a community craft circle. Bring whatever project you're working on, knitting, mending, sewing, embroidery, and pull up a chair alongside other makers. Our facilitator will be on hand to help you troubleshoot or brainstorm your next move. Just bring your own materials and a willingness to share what you're making (a cup of tea optional, but encouraged).

Craft Circle is just the start. Speed Together runs 1-4 PM with art-making in the Atrium, an Open Studio in Art Sparks, and self-guided time in the galleries. Free and open to all ages.

Registration is free
https://www.speedmuseum.org/event/speed-together-explore-create-6/

🎬 THIS WEEKEND: Barbara ForeverA vital, intimate portrait of Barbara Hammer, the pioneering filmmaker who made cinema un...
09/16/2026

🎬 THIS WEEKEND: Barbara Forever

A vital, intimate portrait of Barbara Hammer, the pioneering filmmaker who made cinema unapologetically her own across eighty-plus films. Director Brydie O'Connor draws on rare archival material and audio interviews to let Hammer's voice and vision lead the story.

A Sundance Film Festival selection.

📅 Saturday, September 19 & Sunday, September 20, 3 pm
🎟️ $12 | $8 Speed and Women in Film-KY members
🔗 https://www.speedmuseum.org/cinema/barbara-forever/

Recommended for 16+

I want to go to here.Chinese"Volume III, Houses; Silk; Tea; Rice", about 1790Gouache and watercolor on wove paper22 7/8 ...
09/15/2026

I want to go to here.

Chinese
"Volume III, Houses; Silk; Tea; Rice", about 1790
Gouache and watercolor on wove paper
22 7/8 × 17 7/8 × 1 in. (58.1 × 45.4 × 2.5 cm.) (book closed)
22 7/8 × 35 3/4 × 3 in. (58.1 × 90.8 × 7.6 cm.) (book open)
Gift of Mrs. Martha M. Davis and Family 1979.2.3

🎞️ ON 35MM PRINT THIS WEEKEND: Rose of NevadaGeorge MacKay and Callum Turner star in Mark Jenkin's hypnotic, time-bendin...
09/14/2026

🎞️ ON 35MM PRINT THIS WEEKEND: Rose of Nevada

George MacKay and Callum Turner star in Mark Jenkin's hypnotic, time-bending tale of a fishing village haunted by a boat that vanished 30 years ago and just sailed back into harbor.

Shot on 35mm and steeped in analogue texture, this is the kind of film that demands the big screen.

📅 Friday, September 18 & Saturday, September 19, 6 pm
🎟️ $12 | $8 Speed members
🔗 https://www.speedmuseum.org/cinema/rose-of-nevada/

09/14/2026

With love, indeed!

It has been an incredible year so far at Joanna Hay Productions. Thank you.

My documentary film "Stories from the Balcony" celebrated a sold out premiere, received the London Independent Film Award, a Kentucky History Award, we published our official trailer, and more.

As a Docs in Progress Impact Producing Fellow, with support from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, I have gained valuable skills, resources and connections to amplify the impact of “Stories from the Balcony.”

New exhibits at Lexington’s Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation and New Albany’s Town Clock Church are in the works, preserving the stories of historic places to better shape our future.

Stay tuned with more to come, including a new public art installation in downtown Frankfort, Kentucky!

vanessa german’s artwork, pictured, was recently on exhibit at the Speed Art Museum during my Speed Cinema screening of “Stories from the Balcony” earlier this year. It features a direct quote from civil rights leader, Reverend Dr. William Barber II, during his address at the 2016 Democratic National Convention: “We must shock this nation with the power of love!”

Photo by Liliana Fischer

Address

2035 S 3rd Street
Louisville, KY
40208

Opening Hours

Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+15026342700

Website

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