Thursday Night Film Series
The Lawrence Arts Center's Thursday Night Film Series kicks off this month with the award-winning science fiction film "Suspension" by Lawrence natives Alec Joler and Ethan Shaftel on September 11. The film shows at 7pm and will be followed by a talk-back with the filmmakers. Tickets are $5 at the door.
SUSPENSION Movie Trailer
Click Here for Official Suspension website.
The Coppelia Project:
A Clown Ballet in Three Acts
KC Hit Comes to Lawrence
This 'Clown Ballet' was the hit of the Kansas City Fringe Festival and features LAC's own Ric Averill in the title role. Based on a story by E.T.A. Hoffman (Nutcracker) the European clown-style movement theatre production is appropriate for ALL ages. The performance will be held Saturday, September 13 at 2pm. Tickets are $10 ($5 for students and seniors) and are available at the Lawrence Arts Center.
Conceived and directed by Heidi Stubblefield, featuring Ric Averill, Vanessa Severo, Marisa MacKay, Kalen Compornolle and Doogin Brown
Adult Interdisciplinary Classes
Can't Decide? No Problem!
A new season of Adult Interdisciplinary classes gives those 14 and older a way to experience many facets of creative study. Choose from the following this fall:
Art for Everyone
This easygoing and accessible class is for adults who want to want to take an art class, but aren't sure where to start. Each week we will introduce you to an art form - drawing, painting, ceramics and printmaking.No experience necessary, all materials provided.
Mixed-Media Collage
This class will provide an introduction to the diversity of styles, concepts and techniques used in creating mixed-media collages. The first sessions will focus on learning about collage materials (including glues and surfaces), techniques and how to conceptualize a collage. Students then will make a collage based on their own ideas and materials. Ask for a materials list upon enrollment.
Renaissance Woman
This is creative play to facilitate your own self-discovery and awakening through the arts - just as the Renaissance signified rebirth, paradigm shifts and taking risks. Participants will explore movement, fresco painting and sketchbook journaling in a supportive, creative environment.
The Found Object: Assemblage and Sculpture
This class will focus on the found object as the major source of material used in the creation of art works. The scope of objects that can be used range from the natural, to everyday consumer items, to esoteric industrial or architectural artifacts. Participants are encouraged to bring a stash of stuff to be used or contributed to a materials exchange.
Click Here for more information and to enroll in Adult Interdisciplinary Classes.
LAC Students to Perform with National Company
Velveteen Rabbit at The Lied Center September 21
More than 20 young dancers took to the Lawrence Arts Center stage on August 23rd to earn a spot in national dance company ODC/Dance's performance of The Velveteen Rabbit. In the weeks leading up to the performance, Arts Center Dance faculty will work with the children to prepare them for the show. Congratulations to Natalie Adams-Menendez, Ashley Ammann, Amelia Carttar, Grace Eason, Li Gordon-Washington, Elise Graves, Alexis Kriegh, Annie Olson, Delaney Rettele, and alternate Mia Comparato!
Click Here to learn more.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Auditions
Auditions Sunday, September 7 at 1:30pm
Students ages 6-18 are welcome to audition for two tales of Washington Irving, adapted and directed by Ric Averill. No prepared audition is necessary; performances will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday October 24-26. Please call 843-2787 to schedule an audition time.
Executive Director Search
The Lawrence Arts Center Search Committee has reopened the search for the Executive Director. Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, salary requirements and a one page statement on the role of a community arts center to artsdirector@sunflower.com by October 1, 2008. The search committee will review new applicants.
Click Here to read more.
Click Here to download complete position description(PDF)
Nutcracker Auditions
September 14, 2008 for Community Actors and Dancers
Auditions for community dancers and actors ages 5-95 for "A Kansas Nutcracker 2008" will be held Sunday, September 14, 2008 in the Lawrence Arts Center Theater, 940 New Hampshire. Auditions are scheduled by age groups as follows.
Audition Times
- Ages 5-8, 12-1:30pm
- Ages 9-11, 1-3:30pm
- Ages 12-18, 3-5:00pm
- Adults, 3-5:00pm
Families are encouraged to audition. Rehearsals will begin in October for dance and November for drama. This production has a large cast with opportunities for over 100 dancers and actors.
Get ready for snowflakes! This drama/ballet that played to sold out houses in previous years, returns to delight Lawrence area audiences. Don’t miss this wonderful community event when it returns December 12-14 and 19-21. Better still, become part of the excitement! This is a collaboration of area professionals, children and adult dancers and actors and local professional musicians.
There is a participation fee of $87. Enrollment will take place at auditions. For more information and to sign up for auditions, call the Lawrence Arts Center, 843-2787.
Fall 2008 Enrollment Information
- August 10: Fall Arts in Action available at LAC and in Sunday Journal-World
- August 11: Member enrollment begins (Click Here to become a member!)
- August 15: Non-member enrollment begins
Fall Preschool Happenings
Enrollment continues for our new "Kindergarten Art Club" for children enrolled in kindergarten in local schools. Students will explore the arts and expand on their public school activities. Four-week sessions are available Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays and the Wednesday sessions meet early to allow for early dismissals in Lawrence Public Schools.
Younger children can enjoy our new one-day-per-week workshops for four- and five-year olds, and old favorites like Coloring Outside the Lines and Integrated Arts are back too! Click here for the full preschool class schedule and online enrollment forms.
The Arts-Based preschool is for children ages 3-5 years and provides social, motor and creative experiences that excite a love for learning. Music, sculpture, painting, drawing and creative movement are an integral part of the program. The self-esteem of your child will grow through rich and varied experiences with the arts in combination with sound preschool education. The LAC Preschool's curriculum allows students the opportunity to work with professional artists, actors, dancers, and musicians in addition to the full-time staff; attend performances; and create in the ceramics studio. Lots of fun, lots of love, and lots of good arts experiences nurture creative thinking, decision-making, imagination and art appreciation.
Starting in the fall, our preschool will have one room which will accept children who are 2 years and 9 months old. In other words, if they turn 3 years old in September, October, or November they are eligible. Currently they must be 3 years old by September 1st, but we are changing that.
The class will meet on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9:30 to noon.
For more information please contact Bonnie Cherry or Linda Reimond, Preschool Director, at 785-843-2787 or lacpreschool@sunflower.com.
Click Here to download Enrollment Form (PDF)
Fall Dance Classes
Tap, ballet, modern, jazz... the Lawrence Arts Center Dance Program has a way for you to get moving. Fall classes begin the week of August 25 for dancers of all ages and experience levels. Classes fill quickly, so enroll early!
Parent of young children will definitely want to check out our Child/Adult Movement and Music classes for youngsters aged 12 months to three years. Activities include creative movement, games, songs, fingerplays and more, all appropriate to the child's age and abilities. Times and prices will be available in our fall schedule.
In The Galleries...
Metalsmithing in the Sister Cities:
Lawrence and Eutin
August 1 – 30
August 28
- Metalsmithing in the Sister Cities: Lawrence and Eutin
- Lectures: Pioneers in Metals Education: Alma Eikerman and Otto Kunnzli
- Presenters: Marlies Behm, curator and metalsmith; Glen Brown, Ph.D., critic and professor
- Lecture date and time: Thursday, August 28, 2:30 – 4p.m. in the gallery at the Lawrence Arts Center
August 29
- Metalsmithing in the Sister Cities: Lawrence and Eutin
- Closing Reception 7 – 9p.m. in conjunction with the exhibition Annie Helmericks Louder: Painting and Art Textiles.
Metalsmithing in the Sister Cities: Lawrence and Eutin is a partnership of the Lawrence Arts Center and the University of Kansas departments of Design and Art. Sponsored, in part, by Emprise Bank and the donating artists to the annual Lawrence Art Auction.
Annie Helmericks Louder
August 1 – September 19
- Annie Helmericks Louder: Bears, Beasts, Bodies and Boats
- Reception: August 29, 7 – 9p.m in conjunction with the reception for Metalsmithing in the Sister Cities.
Originally from Tucson, Arizona Annie Helmericks Louder now lives and works in Missouri. She holds a BFA in painting from the University of Arizona and an MFA in painting and fiber from the University of Missouri.
"As an artist, I establish understanding by visually tracing and recording where I have been. Love of land forms my inner landscape; it is my geography of hope.
I am an autobiographical storyteller; my art visually records where I have been and guides me to where I want to go.
My "stories" focus on the singular poignancy of life's everyday personal experiences. My mother, nature writer and explorer Constance Helmericks, showed me that looking into landscapes-mountains and canyons, rivers and streams-could be my way of life. Working extensively on location continues to be an essential practice; it fills me up.
I have always been a maker of things-finding with my hands the spirit of home and my place in the world. I make art daily- like a musician practicing notes- often making just little things. Technically, I am inspired by a variety of media and materials-poetry, painting, drawing, cloth, weaving and knitting. I slip between methods and choose and combine techniques that best clarify and communicate what it is I want to say. In my studio I circle around ideas and materials-scratching and sorting and moving images and ideas until a work feels finished.
Different from my earlier landscape based works I have recently embarked on several figurative series. My earlier deliberate exclusion of human forms was meant as an artistic statement: "it isn't all about us." But in spite of myself, people have crept in-sometimes with just a shadow or a hand or a foot. But now no denying-here they are. Although my personal narratives seem very straightforward to me, I do not think it is relevant to detail specific tales. As my "stories" focus on the poignancy of life's everyday experiences, it is my hope that they can exist as structures that contain room enough to inject other personal readings."
Click Here to read all about it.
- Light OK’d for LAC Crosswalk
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City commissioners at their weekly meeting approved a request for a new $35,000 pedestrian-activated crosswalk for the portion of New Hampshire Street between the Lawrence Arts Center and the city-owned parking garage.
“I think we’ve all had the experience of essentially playing dodge the car as you go across that section of the street,” said City Commissioner Sue Hack.
Commissioners unanimously approved the request — after hearing several stories of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts — despite not having a clear funding source for the project.
Read More in the Lawrence Journal World
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- Wak Fest rocks for kids
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Once again, the Lawrence Arts Center helped make the Wakarusa Music Festival a little bit more kid friendly. The Wakarusa Children's Tent was hosted by the Arts Center in the Revival Village. Activities were provided on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and included Children's Drum Circles, Instrument Making and much more.......
Click Here to read all about it in the Lawrence Journal World.
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- Thoughts on Unsung
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Chris Takett has a great story on his blog over at Lawrence.com about the recent gallery extravaganza at the Arts Center. Chris also shot a lot of great videos that are posted at his blog as well! ~Thanks Chris
Unsung: TJ Tungpaz demonstrates his crab sculpture from tackett on Vimeo.
"The coolest art opening I've ever seen"
Since the event was sort of a "you had to be there" type of night, I wanted to hear what others thought of it. A contributing artist and curator of the show, Molly Murphy, was generous enough to share with me (and you) her thoughts after allowing the dust to settle for a few days.
Here's what she had to say about the evening:
"I feel the night could not have been more fun from my standpoint. The response to the opening party was almost overwhelming. I had so many people throughout the night express their excitement for not just the art, but the energy of the opening. Snuff Jazz, who voluntarily made themselves captive performers inside their tent of zoo-rave-jazz-performance were the talk of the town as I made my way downtown later in the night. Even more people, who could not attend due to the many many events of graduation weekend have since gone to the show due to the buzz of the impromptu afterparties.
I could truly not have been more proud than when I heard a group at the Replay discussing the work of Betsy Timmer, and one of the bartenders mentioned they had people walking in all night talking about the show.
I hope the energy of the exhibit and opening can pull through to other shows at the Arts Center. This night brought many many people who had never even stepped through the door who will be returning now. Lawrence has such a wealth of talent, I feel there should be more nights like this one that bring together younger parts of the community with the more initiated artists and arts supporters in Lawrence. It can't be anything but good for everyone to keep this kind of support running through the entire arts community rather than separated generations and venues."
Art is obviously different to different folks. But I was left thinking "well, this was officially the coolest art opening I've ever seen."
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- Carmine Ballare 2008-09 Dance Scholarship
Recipients Determined
Lawrence, Kansas- The Lawrence Arts Center is pleased to announce the recipients of the Carmine Ballare Dance Scholarship for the 2008-2009 year. Helen Hawkins, daughter of Dawn Hawkins, and Juliet Remmers, daughter of Bill and Ruth Remmers, were selected. Julia Davidson, daughter of Jane Faubian and Steve Davidson, and Lucy Shopen, daughter of Peggy and Frank Shopen were selected as alternates. These recipients were selected through an audition process on May 19th.
The Carmine Ballare scholarship fund was established by Dan Sabatini in honor of his grandfather, Carmine Sabatini. Its purpose is to reward excellence and commitment to dance, and to encourage rigorous training in ballet. The scholarship will fully fund four ballet technique classes per week at the Lawrence Arts Center and participation in this year’s holiday production, The Kansas Nutcracker in the winter and the Youth Ballet Company in the spring.
“It is a wonderful opportunity to encourage, as well as a reward our dance students who have made dance a real priority in their lives.” Candi Baker, Dance Program Director.
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“To enrich individuals and the community by nurturing love of the arts through education, exploration and expression. Serving the comminity of Lawrence, Kansas since 1975 with arts programs and services for individuals of all ages, interests and backgrounds.”
Join the Arts Center Online
The best way to enjoy the Arts Center to the fullest is to become a member. While you enjoy these great benefits, you also will be supporting arts programs in your community - through scholarship, artist residencies, workshops and exhibitions. An online membership form is now available.