Common Ground

An uncommon landscape of art & community

The Lawrence Arts Center is pleased to announce an upcoming event showcasing seven years of visual arts education at the current Lawrence Arts Center location. Common Ground, a two week celebration, is a unique exhibit designed to pay tribute to the artistic achievements of LAC students, young and old It is the first ever exhibition of its kind at the center.

In the spring of 2002, the Lawrence Arts Center began offering classes at its new home located at 940 New Hampshire Street. Since the opening of this facility the arts center has evolved into an organization that reaches over 200,000 people annually. Thousands of students, young & old who have come and learned a skill or discovered an outlet for expression represent an astonishing cross-section of the community.

The theme, Common Ground, was chosen to recognize the Lawrence Arts Center is a place where people from all walks of life come together and find common ground in their passion for the arts.

The focus of this event will be a retrospective exhibition to highlight the creativity of students and faculty featuring works created by anyone who has taken or taught a class since moving into this building. The works will be displayed salon style in the public areas of the center, including hallways, lobbies, and stairwells. A catalog of these artworks will be created and will serve as a historical record of the community arts experience here. Common Ground event dates are as follows:

• Monday, September 28th October 11th – Exhibition of student work

• Saturday, October 3rd – Exhibition opening reception from 5-9pm.

  This family-friendly event is open to the public and will include studio tours, food, and musical performances, as Singer Songwriter Night II will be in the theater. Featured artists include Joe Comparato and his band, Stranger Tractor, Sommer Brechelsen, Johnny Ricker, Vi Tran, John Stephen Howard.

• Tuesday, October 6th, 7-9pm. Lawrence Arts Center Theater

  Presentations by local arts organizations, B.A.L.M and the Lawrence Percolator, followed by keynote speaker, Kerstin Niemann, Research Curator and Co-Curator of Heartland Project, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Netherlands. For more information about Kerstinn, visit www.heartlandeindhoven.nl/program_EN.php

• October 7. 7-9pm. Lawrence Arts Center Theater

  Presentations by local arts organization, the Lawrence Pottery Guild, music by Kelly Werts, followed by keynote speakers, Randy Mason, Michael Murphy and Don ‘the camera guy' television show hosts from PBS Rare Visions & Roadside Revelations. They will share highlights from their travels and introduce their new season. For more information about Rare Visions, visit www.rarevisionsroadtrip.com

• October 8. 7-9pm. Lawrence Arts Center Theater

  Presentations by local arts organizations, the Lawrence Art Guild and Art Tougeau followed by keynote speaker Bruce Hartman, Museum Director, Nerman Museum, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS. For more information about the Nerman Museum, visit www.nermanmuseum.org

All events are free & open to public.

This event is sponsored by the Eye Doctors and Peoples Optical.