Kent State University's College of the Arts and College of Architecture and Environmental Design proudly continue the esteemed Thomas Schroth Visiting Artist Series, a dynamic platform launched in 2001 to bring celebrated artists and designers to the Kent State campus and Northeast Ohio community.
Named in honor of regional architect Thomas Schroth, whose global perspective framed creativity as a "window onto human experience," the series has featured acclaimed guests including Tony Award-winner Stephen Schwartz, the Grammy-winning Emerson String Quartet, minimalist icon Richard Tuttle, and fashion visionaries Ruben and Isabel Toledo.
The 2026-2027 featured guests are Simon Ungless and Jody Neiderkohr, Saya Woolfalk, Aimee Lee and Jeremy Bullock. Their visits will combine free public programs with workshops, classroom engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration for Kent State students and faculty.
Simon Ungless and Jody Neiderkohr
Sept. 14-18, 2026
Designer and printmaker Simon Ungless and his partner, Jody Neiderkohr, will bring 35 years of experience in sustainable fashion, textile design and printmaking to Kent State for a five-day residency.
Ungless and Neiderkohr operate two artisanal, sustainability-centered design companies under the U.N. Real Productions banner: When Simon Met Ralph, focused on apparel and textiles, and Blackened, focused on accessories and home goods, both built from one-of-a-kind deadstock and vintage materials. Ungless began his career at London’s Central Saint Martins, where he collaborated with the late Lee Alexander McQueen on early collections that helped launch the Alexander McQueen brand. He later returned to the label under creative director Sarah Burton, whom he introduced to McQueen in 1996. Over a career that has touched brands including Tory Burch, Givenchy, Paul Smith, Versace and Calvin Klein, Ungless has also taught at the Academy of Art University, Arizona State University and other institutions. Their collection is sold at Atelier Jolie in New York, where Ungless also serves as a design consultant; Church Boutique in Los Angeles; and at their atelier in Sausalito, California.
During their visit, Ungless and Neiderkohr will lead three hands-on silk screen workshops in the Reactor Makerspace at the Design Innovation (DI) Hub. The workshops are designed to teach students how to use silk screen surface design techniques to transform existing garments.
On Sept. 17, the pair will take part in a free public panel discussion at 3 p.m. in the DI Hub’s auditorium, followed by a question-and-answer session exploring the intersection of fashion, printmaking and sustainable design.
Work created during the residency will be featured from Sept. 17 through Oct. 1 in a student exhibition at the DI Hub’s gallery. Kent State’s DI Hub is located at 400 Janik Drive in Kent.
Saya Woolfalk
Oct. 14-17, 2026
New York-based interdisciplinary artist Saya Woolfalk, whose work blends science fiction, anthropology and biology to reimagine how we see ourselves and the world around us, will spend four days at Kent State, working with students and faculty.
Woolfalk is known for multiyear projects including “No Place,” “The Empathics” and “ChimaTEK,” which envision a fictional race of women able to alter their genetic makeup and fuse with plants. Her midcareer survey exhibition, “Empathic Universe,” was presented at New York’s Museum of Arts and Design in 2025 and is scheduled to travel to additional institutions in the coming years. She has held solo exhibitions at museums nationwide, including the Newark Museum of Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her work is held in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Seattle Art Museum, among others. She teaches in the Master of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts programs at Parsons School of Design in New York.
During her residency, Woolfalk will lead a group of students and faculty through her “Woods Woman Method,” a guided exercise in observation along the Cuyahoga River with Kent State Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Darren Bade, Ph.D., followed by a roundtable discussion with Interim Director of the School of Art and Professor Taryn McMahon, Assistant Professor of Architecture Kristen Mimms Scavnicky and Associate Professor of Art History Joseph Underwood, Ph.D. Woolfalk will also meet individually with graduate students during studio visits.
Woolfalk will close her residency with a free public lecture open to the Kent State community and the general public from 12-1 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16 in Room 165 of the Center for Visual Arts, located at 325 Terrace Drive in Kent.
Aimee Lee
Oct. 22, 2026, and Spring 2027
Internationally renowned papermaking artist Aimee Lee will bring the centuries-old Korean tradition of hanji to Kent State this fall and spring. Lee will give a free public lecture at 5 p.m. on Oct. 22 in Murphy Auditorium at the Kent State University Museum, 515 Hilltop Drive in Kent. Sponsored in part by Dr. Chris Sullivan, the lecture is presented in community partnership with Case Western Reserve University's Siegal Lifelong Learning Program.
Lee, an Ohio Arts Council Heritage Fellow and Midwest Culture Bearer awardee, established the first hanji studio in North America through her Fulbright research and is the author of “Hanji Unfurled” and “As Good as Our Tools,” published in 2025. Her work is held in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Kent State University Museum, among many others, and has been featured by The New York Times, PBS and CNN’s “Great Big Story.” The Cleveland-based artist was also recently announced as a 2026 Cleveland Arts Prize awardee.
Lee will return to campus in February 2027 for a two-day, hands-on workshop where Kent State students and faculty will learn the fundamentals of making hanji from paper mulberry bark. The workshop will include a guided tour of Lee's solo exhibition at the Kent State University Museum, led by curator and Professor Sara Hume, Ph.D.
Jeremy Bullock
Fall 2026 and Spring 2027
Los Angeles-based composer and musician Jeremy W. Bullock will spend the 2026-2027 academic year collaborating with students and faculty in the School of Music and the School of Theatre and Dance, culminating in Kent State’s spring 2027 production of “Romeo and Juliet.”
Bullock got his start as a founding member of the indie band Wild Cub, whose breakout single “Thunder Clatter” led to national radio play and television performances. Since relocating to Los Angeles in 2016, he has scored film and television projects including “I Love My Dad,” winner of the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at SXSW; HBO’s “Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children”; and “Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story” for PBS’ “American Masters.” He also runs JNUARY Music, composing for advertising campaigns for brands such as Apple, Google and Nike, as well as trailers for major film releases.
Bullock's three-day, on-campus visit this fall will include classroom engagement with students and a free public film screening featuring music he composed, followed by a reception. The date, time and location will be announced.
The collaborative work Bullock develops with students throughout the year will be showcased in the Kent State School of Theatre and Dance production of “Romeo and Juliet,” on-stage April 15-25, 2027, in Wright-Curtis Theatre, located at 1325 Theatre Drive in Kent.
About the Thomas Schroth Visiting Artist Series
Since 2001, the Thomas Schroth Visiting Artist Series has presented guest artists respected in the fields of theatre, dance, visual arts, music and architecture, including such noted artists as Tony Award-winner Stephen Schwartz, the composer of “Wicked,” “Godspell” and more; “Next to Normal” actress and Kent State alumna Alice Ripley; the Grammy-winning Emerson String Quartet; postmodern minimalist artist Richard Tuttle; artists and fashion designers Ruben and Isabel Toledo; the internationally acclaimed dance company Ballet Florida; actor, dancer and arts advocate Ben Vereen; and the renowned Limón Dance Company, just to name a few.
The Schroth series was established by Cecile Draime and her late husband, Max, of Warren, Ohio, to honor their dear friend Thomas Schroth (1922-1997). A noted regional architect, Schroth designed the Butler Institute of American Art's Trumbull museum in Howland, Ohio (now the Medici Museum of Art), as well as numerous other award-winning projects. Schroth spent his life in Niles, Ohio, as a prominent architect and inveterate collaborator in the artistic life of the Mahoning Valley and Northeast Ohio. As a world traveler, he saw human creativity as a window framing human experience. The Thomas Schroth Visiting Artist Series brings diverse views through that window to the Kent State campus and community.
The events are always free and open to the public.
For full event details and ticket information, visit www.kent.edu/artscollege/thomas-schroth-visiting-artist-series.
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Kent State University College of the Arts Media Contact: Jen Crabtree, jcrabt13@kent.edu
Kent State University College of Architecture and Environmental Design Media Contact: Kristy Antrobius, kantrobi@kent.edu
