Arts Center Establishes Ceramics Residency Program
The Lawrence Arts Center’s ceramics program is announcing that we have initiated an “artist in residence program.” The residency program is designed to provide a young artist or pre-professional with studio space and materials to develop a body of work, opportunities instruct and to present his or her work. During the year-long residency, the ceramics resident will provide workshops or classes with students enrolled in the ceramics program at the Arts Center, as well as conduct community outreach presentations and demonstrations.
Another objective of this new program is to bring an individual with new techniques and different approaches to making art to our community for an artistic and educational exchange.
Applications were sent to university ceramics programs and accredited art schools around the country. Applications are due May 1, and a new resident will be notified of acceptance by June 1. The selected candidate will be given private studio space to work in and the use of materials and equipment in the Arts Center’s ceramics department. During the residency, the individual will have his or her work on view in the lobby throughout the year, and will be given a final exhibition in the Art Center’s Galley upon the end of the residency.
If your community group is interested in scheduling a presentation, workshop or demonstration with our 2005-06 artist in residence, please call Ben Ahlvers at 785-843-2787.
Marcus Skala is the current artist in residence. Marcus received his BFA in ceramics from The University of Kansas in May 2004. He is primarily a vessel maker and during his time at the Arts Center he has focused on creating teapots and researching glaze formulation. Marcus will be leaving in May to begin a new residency at Kansas City’s Red Star Studios. We enjoyed working with Marcus and appreciate all of his contributions to the ceramics program. We wish him the best in his new opportunity!
Art on a Roll: Art Tougeau
- by Richie Backus
It’s that time again... the 10th annual Art Tougeau art car extravaganza will roll through downtown Lawrence at noon on Saturday, May 21!
A rolling tribute to creativity and our never-ending capacity to express art through the unlikeliest of media, the annual Art Tougeau (say “Art to Go”) parade has drawn art car participants from Texas to Vermont.
If it rides, bring it on: You don’t have to have a car to enter. Last year’s parade featured the inspired lunacy of St. Louis’ Banana Bike Brigade, who wowed and amazed the crowd with music and dance performed from the seats of their artfully gilded bicycles. The parade has featured boat cars, toaster cars, dragon cars, pedal cars, shopping carts, pushcarts and skateboards.
The parade starts promptly at noon in front of the Arts Center, and ends at the same spot after rolling through the heart of downtown Lawrence. Last year’s event featured a pre-parade party on Friday night at the top level of the city parking garage across the street from the Arts Center. Kids got to splash paint on cars preparing for the parade, bands played, popcorn flowed, and participants showed off their entries as everyone got ready for the main event on Saturday.
A $15 entry donation is requested, but children’s entries are always free. Trophies crafted by local high school art students are awarded on the basis of merit. For entry forms and information, visit www.lawrenceartscenter.org.
Looking Ahead to Summer: Art Camps and Classes at the Arts Center
The Lawrence Arts Center is a cool place to be for kids when the weather is hot!
We have fun every season here at the Arts Center, but summer is the time of year when we roll up our sleeves, put on our thinking caps and plan the most lively, unusual, creative, enriching and outrageously fun ways to spend those long, hot summer days.
All students enrolled in education programs at the Arts Center have the opportunity to use state of the art equipment, in professional studios, with real working artists.They use the potters wheel, learn how to fire a kiln, make real jewelry, create large-scale mechanized sculptures, design and fly kites, learn portraiture, explore photography, draw and paint, write, illustrate and bind their own books, concoct their own art materials, make giant airplanes and fly them, produce, choreograph, learn stagecraft, work on sets, sing and dance in live theatre productions and much, much more.
Our classes aren’t just crafty-fun; our classes are designed to provide new and unusual experiences for kids that teach them creative thinking skills, test new ideas, meet friends and learn a new take on who, what, where and why art is and can be. Our goal is to show kids how to connect the arts with different areas of life and the world, and inspire them to be as creative and inventive they can be. All of the teachers in our programs are educated art professionals who hold degrees in art and art education. Many of them hold graduate degrees, and all of them are working professional artists. Our teachers are also familiar with the theoretical framework that tell us that art is a natural extension of the way children learn, and integrate that understanding into all their classes. We believe that when children learn an art, they learn valuable skills and ideas that help them succeed in every area of their lives.
We encourage you to come check out our summer camps and classes. The building’s cool, the classes are outrageously fun, and your kids will come away with experiences that will last a lifetime.
Gallery Exhibitions and Events
Through March 11
“Circles and Cycles”: Textiles by Carla Tilghman
Through March 11
Lawrence Art Guild All-Members’ Show
The Lawrence Art Guild helped found the Lawrence Arts Center in 1975 and the relationship continues with the annual All-Members’ Show in February each year. The Art Guild is an independent, non-profit organization that produces several major arts events in Lawrence each year, including “Art in the Park” in May and the annual “Holiday Arts Fair” at the Arts Center in December. Last year’s All-Members’ Show featured the work of 110 area artists in all media. See page 29 for information about the Lawrence Art Guild.
Mar. 18–Apr. 9
25th Annual Lawrence Art Auction Preview Exhibition
• Reception (for donating artists and Arts Center members): Wednesday, Mar. 30, 5-8pm Saturday, Apr. 9 25th Annual Lawrence Art Auction
• Doors open for Silent Auction bidding at 6pm
• Live Auction begins at 7:30pm
• Advance tickets available for $19 from Mar. 18 until 4pm on Apr. 9. Tickets will be available at the door on auction night for $25. Members of the public are cordially invited to attend.
The 25th Annual Lawrence Art Auction, sponsored by Robert W. Baird and Company, will be held on Saturday, April 9, at the Lawrence Arts Center. This year the work of approximately 200 area artists will be offered for sale in both silent and live auctions to benefit the exhibition program at the Arts Center.
Art Auction to Feature Landscape Painter Lisa Grossman
This year’s featured artist is Lisa Grossman, whose oil painting, Darkness Falls on the Konza Prairie, will be offered for sale in the live auction. Since moving to Kansas from her native Pennsylvania several years ago, she has made hundreds of paintings of the Kansas landscape — many in the Flint Hills and Konza Prairie. She had an extremely popular one-person exhibition at the Arts Center in the summer of 2004, and is represented in the region by Dolphin Gallery in Kansas City, Mo., and the Strecker-Nelson Gallery in Manhattan, Kansas.
The Lawrence Art Auction is composed of two parts. The Silent Auction will feature approximately 120 original works of art. Visitors to the Arts Center galleries will be able to make silent auction bids on these items between March 18 and April 9. The individual with the highest registered bid at 7:25pm on April 9 will receive the item. Another group of works — approximately 75 of them — will be sold in the Live Auction starting at 7:30pm. Auctioneer Casey Wold will officiate.
In order to bid on items in the Live Auction, interested persons must obtain a bidder number and be present (or represented) on auction night. Doors will open for the auction at 6pm. Hors d’oeuvres provided by Hy-Vee will be served in the lobby until the Live Auction begins. Wine and desserts will be available throughout the evening.
This year’s auction — the 25th — will honor those artists who were included in the first auction in 1981, and also those who have contributed to every auction. The first auction, held at the original Lawrence Arts Center at 200 W. 9th St., included 66 works and raised $5,500 for the Center. In comparison, last year’s auction included works by 193 artists and raised $66,500 in art sales and sponsorships.
The auction is the major fundraiser for the exhibition program at the Center, and it supports the production of approximately 17 exhibitions per year. An exhibition of 6-weeks duration at the Arts Center averages approximately $5,000 in overhead and direct expenses.
Advance tickets will be available for $19 until 4pm., April 9. Tickets at the door will be available for $25. Arts Center members at the level of $100 or higher are entitled to free auction tickets which will be automatically sent near the time of the auction. See below:
$100 membership: 1 auction ticket (worth $25)
$250 membership: 2 auction tickets (worth $50)
$500 membership: 4 auction tickets (worth $100)
$1,000+ membership: 6 auction tickets (worth $150)
April 11–15
Annual Lawrence Arts Center Arts-Based Preschool Exhibition
The Lawrence Arts Center houses one of the country’s first arts-based preschools. Established in 1985, it has provided hundreds of children with the opportunity to begin their formal education with encouragement for creative thinking and action. Every year, the Arts Center gallery displays works made by preschoolers in a special one-week exhibition — complete with receptions. All works will be hung at preschooler eye level.
April 18–May 18
Annual Lawrence Public Schools Art Students Exhibition
Each year the art teachers in Lawrence’s public schools select some of the best work created by their students during the school year for display in this exhibition. Last year, more than 400 students were represented in a show that featured painting, drawing, computer graphics, ceramics, printmaking, photography, metalsmithing, jewelry and mixed media.
June 1–July 15
“Homage to the Flint Hills”:
A Gathering of Art Inspired by the Tallgrass Prairie of Kansas
• Reception: Friday, June 3, 7-9pm
This exhibition includes works by 37 artists who have been inspired by this quintessential Kansas landscape - many return again and again to explore seasonal changes in the plants, light and weather. Don Lambert of Topeka organized the exhibition. Rick Mitchell, Lawrence Arts Center gallery director, advised him. The artworks will be shown in 12 exhibition venues in Kansas before the exhibition closes in May 2006.
A catalog has been published to accompany the exhibition with the support of the Kansas Land Trust, Central National Bank and The Andrea P. Glenn Fund for Education and Community Service. Catalogs are available now in the Gallery Shop at the Arts Center and will remain available through the time of the exhibition. Kansas Governor, Kathleen Sebelius, who has been invited to attend the opening reception for the exhibition in Lawrence, wrote a letter that introduces the reader to the book and the Flint Hills. She writes:
The Flint Hills are a natural monument to the beauty of Kansas and an inspiration to Kansas and regional artists.
The power of that inspiration is on display in this first-of-its-kind touring collection. The works in the collection depict the Flint Hills in all their seasonal beauty, from the fresh green pastures that cover them in the spring to the golden and amber hues that overtake them in summer and fall. I was recently privileged to have many of these works exhibited in the Governor’s office.Virtually everyone who visited during the months they were on display commented on their beauty.
"I am pleased that thousands of Kansans and visitors to our state will now have the opportunity to view these incredible works of art through this touring exhibit and this book, 'Homage to the Flint Hills.'"
-Sincerely Yours, Kathleen Sebelius
Included artists: Zak Barnes, Cottonwood Falls; Barbara Bulloch, Wichita; Gordon Bulloch, Wichita; Donna Carrington, Overland Park; Kim Casebeer, Lenexa; John Charlton, Lawrence; James Cook, Tucson, Ariz.; Louis Copt, Lecompton; Patricia DuBose Duncan, Rockport, Maine; Phip Epp, Newton, Terry Evans, Chicago, Ill.; Mark Flickinger, Arkansas City; Ralph Fontenot, Manhattan; Jerry Gaddis, Topeka; Anne Gagel, Kansas City, Mo.; Hugh Greer, Wichita; Marilyn Grisham, Wichita; Lisa Grossman, Lawrence; Dale Hartley, Emporia; Dana Hassett, Burns; Stan Herd, Lawrence; Paul Hotvedt, Lawrence; Cally Krallman, Topeka; Judy Love, Manhattan; Peggy Lyon, Emporia; Judith Mackey, Cottonwood Falls; Todd Matson, Valley Center; James Nedresky, Omaha, Neb.; Joan Parker, Westwood; Jim Richardson, Lindsborg; Judith Sabatini, Topeka; Deb Schroer, Strong City; Larry Schwarm, Emporia; Keven Sink, Roeland Park; Edward Sturr, Manhattan; Robert Sudlow, Lawrence; and Rodney Troth, Baldwin City.
June 1–July 15
“Arrangements”: Still Life Paintings
• Reception: Friday, June 3, 7-9pm
Lawrence painter Constance Ehrlich is the guest curator for this exhibition of contemporary still life painting. Eight painters are included with work ranging from the impressionistic to the photo-realistic.
Included artists: Constance Ehrlich, Laura Carriker, Robert Zerwekh, Paula Hauser Leffel, Robert Brawley, Margie Kuhn, John Kuhn and Terri Juarez.
July 19–August 31
“Headwaters”: Boat and Figure in Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture —Metaphors for Journey and Transformation by Margaret K. Haydon
The sculpture in this exhibition is characterized by an obsession with images of boats and figures as metaphors for psychological landscape, journey and transformation through time.
Margaret Haydon, who teaches ceramics at the University of Wyoming, has been working with boat imagery for over ten years. In her work, the boat is a visual reminder that life is a journey, ever changing, never fixed. Haydon incorporates other elements, such as bones, house forms, landscape and the figure to convey the link between human life and that of a boat adrift.
Theatre News
City Youth Theatre Presents Cabaret Showcase: A Celebration of the Sacred and the Profane
Join us at 7:30pm on Friday, Feb. 25, or Saturday, Feb. 26, for Cabaret Showcase! This year’s production features some of City Youth Theatre’s most talented young artists including writers Ben Barthell, Lauren Bornstein, Prisca Kendagor and Ian Weaver. The show also features choreography by Ellie Goudie-Averill and students Sara Bezek and Sommer Breicheisen. All 20 students have done an incredible job creating a night of songs, dances and scenes to remember. Director Trish Averill is a recent graduate of the University of Northern Colorado’s musical theatre program. She also directs the Arts Center’s Spring Break Camp for elementary youth.
City Youth Theatre is in its fourth season of producing challenging work by and for students in grades 8-12. This school-year upper-level drama program looks for work that might not be produced in a public high school setting. The program grew out of the Arts Center’s Summer Youth Theatre program, now in its 22nd year.
Spring Break Art and Drama Camp Expands to Two Sections
If your children aren’t going to Cancun over Spring Break, why not send them to our Art and Drama Camp? This year, students in 3rd-6th grades will work with Trish Averill and Natalie Aillon on a program called “Dingbats, Damsels and Dragons.” Students in K-2nd grade will work with Leslie Long and Natalie Aillon on “Kittens, Mittens and maybe a Dog or Two.” Both groups will create their own sets and costumes for a 2pm production for parents and friends in the performance classroom on Friday, Mar. 25. See page 9 for information about how to sign up.
Summer Youth Theatre: Misery and Mockingbirds, Ashes and Peace
Despite life’s challenges, we can find personal freedom through making right choices — often those that reflect social justice. We’ll explore these very subjects this year through Summer Youth Theatre: Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, Cinderella in her own sweet way, and the boys and girls in Free To Be You and Me all find their way — and as they do, they create a greater good for those around them. “Trying on” the lives of others and feel the impact they have on society at large is part of what theatre can do for us.
Looking Ahead: Treasure Island
What happens when the Seem-To-Be Players meets the Card Table Theatre Company meets EMU Theatre Company meets KU faculty... and they go out to sea in search of treasure? You get an amazing, unrivaled professional production with pirates everywhere you look — and maybe even a real, live parrot!
Come out in April to see our production of Treasure Island and enjoy the acting talents of Ric Averill, Jennifer Glenn, Jerry Mitchell (yes, “Victor Continental”), Jeremy Auman, Andy Stowers, Ry Kincaid, Don Schawang and one of our well-chosen student actors who will be playing the role of Jim Hawkins. The production also will feature the exciting fight choreography of Doug Weaver.
This play was written by Scot Copeland of Nashville Children’s Theatre and will be directed by Ric Averill. The production will be sponsored by US Bank and other local businesses. A lucky audience member at each show may even walk away with a treasure of his or her own.
Join us at 2pm on April 23, 24, 30 or May 1. Tickets are $8 for adults; $6 for children, students and seniors. Fun for everyone!
An Arts Center Export
Ric Averill, Seem-To-Be Players artistic director and playwright, spent a week in Amsterdam, Holland, at the invitation of the Theatre Instituut of the Netherlands. The Netherlands Cultural Affairs Embassy sponsored his attendance at 12 productions in December that were part of the per4m (“perform”) festival of theatre for youth.
His favorite show was a choreographed piece called Angst (“Fear”) by the Danstheater AYA. It combined video, modern dance, ballet, hip-hop, in-line skating and theatre to explore fears that teenagers confront on a daily basis. Another amazing company, ISH, performed a piece called 4ISH with skating on the half-tube, rap, hip-hop, break dancing and kick-boxing. ISH also did an incredible residency with youth “off the street.”
Ric saw a delightful comedy about romance entitled Meisjes Zijn Niks (“Girls Are Useless”). The company’s artistic director, Haus en Amsterl, described the play as a Woody Allen “sex comedy” for youth. Another well-respected company, Speeltheater Holland, adapted the book, The Curious Incident of the Dog by Night, to create a beautiful play about an autistic boy and his father. The boy’s role was made particularly poignant and charming as portrayed by an actor working with/ through a life-like, life-sized puppet.
Ric also met with artistic directors, choreographers, playwrights, directors, dancers and actors throughout northern Holland. He plans to reciprocate by bringing a Dutch director or choreographer to the Arts Center sometime next year.
Other Irons in the Fire
In addition to writing most of the plays and music for the Seem-To-Be Players and the Family Theatre Series, Ric Averill is frequently asked to work for other theatres and on other projects.
His latest is an opera for teens. Arabesque and Grotesque: A Symphonic Tone Poem with Modern Dance Based on the Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe received its world premiere staged reading at San Diego State University’s Theatre of the World Festival on Feb. 4-5. Local SYT alumni working on its development include singers Kitty Steffens, Trish Averill and George Brahler; Ellie-Goudie Averill and the Bowery Dancers; and musicians Andrew Algren, Andy Forscheler, John Zahr and Jade Brown.
Ric’s work also will be featured through performances of Los Zapatos Magicos (“Pedro’s Magic Shoes”), directed by Tony Perez. Tony will play the part of Pedro in the Seem-To-Be Players spring tour and hopes to take the play to Mexico!
Additionally, Ric is creating the musical score for a new play by Jose Cruz Gonzalez based on a book called Old Jake’s Skirts. It will premiere at Child’s Play Children’s Theatre Company and will find its way into the Family Theatre Series lineup within the next two years.
Dance
New Works (New Director/New Dancers) Concert
The Prairie Wind Dancers’ New Works Concert promises to be full of wonderful new surprises this year. Excitement at the Arts Center is high as new artistic director Susan Warden brings a whole new repertoire to our stage. Susan has won two NEA Choreography Fellowships and the first-ever Kansas Arts Commission Choreography Fellowship. Known to PWD audiences for her beautiful and challenging work set on the former dance company, Susan will combine favorites from her past work and several brand new works for this event scheduled for 7:30pm on April 15 and 16 in the Arts Center’s theater.
A new group of seven talented dancers have been working together since August to prepare for this event. Company members include Bridget Bartholome, Whitney Boomer, Malinda Crump, Tuesday Faust, Beau Hancock, Amanda January and Laura Parkhurst, apprentice.
Susan’s new works will include a fun and athletic work choreographed to Missy Elliot’s hip-hop music, an ensemble work choreographed to a lovely duet for piano and violin composed by Arvo Part and New School—First Day.
New School—First Day. This work premiered to a delighted audience at the Folly Theater in January. Paul Horsley of the Kansas City Star described it as “a well-paced comic romp set to humorous vocalisms by Meredith Monk and danced by PWD. The new girl carries a rainbow-colored backpack, yet she suffers as much from Mom as from her erratic peers. The deftly frenetic choreography was made to fit Monk’s vocals.”
Tapestry. This work is a joyful visual exploration of the formal classicism of J. S. Bach. The five dancers in red costumes weave the stage space with lines of energy and unending motion, bringing the exquisite tapestry of the first movement of Bach’s “Brandenburg No. 3” to life.
Incoming. Created to Arvo Part’s stunning choral music, this work exemplifies the beauty and fragility of ensemble work. The dancers move together with a soft grace and attention, forming a visual community that is ultimately broken apart by the threat of war heard in the sound of incoming helicopters.
Spring Fever. This delightful and amusing love duet involves two innocent creatures whose hopeful attempts to find love make a humorous movement contrast to the music, a melodramatic operatic duet by Guiseppe Verdi.
Improvisation. At least one improvisation is performed in every show. The audience has an opportunity to see the dancers create a dance spontaneously that is unique to that audience and that place. This provides the audience with a wonderful opportunity to see the inner workings of dancemaking and to experience the excitement of spontaneous work.
Several dancers from the company will present work at the concert, as well. Tuesday Faust has created I Do, a dance with two dancers who find themselves separated by an invisible barrier and try to find a way to meet.
The Prairie Wind Dancers is a professional contemporary dance company dedicated to exploring and sharing the deep commonality of human experience through movement. Under new artistic direction by award-winning choreographer Susan Warden, this commonality is expressed in the company’s versatile and accessible repertoire that has consistently delighted audiences with its appealing variety of themes and music.
Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to see PWD’s new direction. Join us in April!
Prairie Wind Dancers: A Stellar Season Continues
- February 27
- Siouxland Movement Arts Center, Sioux City, Iowa
- • Workshops: Marina Inn, 10am-2:30pm
- • Performance: Klinger Auditorium, Morningside College, 5:30pm
- March 9
- Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Ark.
- • Concert Performance: 7:30pm
- March 17
- Wonderscope, Shawnee, Kan.
- • Youth Performance/Workshop: 10am, 11am
- April 15 and 16
- New Works Concert: 7:30pm, Arts Center
- April (various dates)
- Young Audiences of Kansas City performances and workshops
- May 2
- Wonderscope, Shawnee, Kan.
- • Youth Performance/Workshop: 10am, 11am
- May (various dates)
- Young Audiences of Kansas City performances
- June 5
- PrairieFest, Arkansas City, Kan.
Holiday Shop Magical for Children
More than 760 children, ages 3-12, had the unique experience of selecting their own gifts for their parents, brothers and sisters and pets at the 11th annual Children’s Holiday Shop sponsored by the Center’s Hearts for the Arts auxiliary.
“Volunteers are so important to this community tradition and so sincerely appreciated,” says Ann Evans, the executive director of the Lawrence Arts Center.
Each shopper was escorted by an “elf” volunteer who ensured that they had a wonderful experience selecting their gifts and having them wrapped. This year, more than 250 volunteers including university students and former holiday shop shoppers escorted the children.
Special thanks go to Cathy Ison, chair, and gift table chairpersons Cris Bandle, Julie Embrey, Jill Giele, Alicia Janesko, Bonnie Maddox and Kristen Piper. Amanda Vail and volunteers from Central National Bank wrapped the gifts. Kelly Randall organized the volunteer “elves.” Sissy Webber and Aletia Vaught were responsible for obtaining more than 4,000 gifts that the shoppers purchased for $1 to $5. Other volunteers making the shop successful were Maggie Feiger, Diane Guthrie, Jay Haugh, Adrienne Paranjothi, Karen Smoot and Grace Vogel.
“We also thank the many generous donors to the ‘Santa Dollars’ fund so that children in the community who otherwise might not be able to buy gifts for their loved ones have this special experience,” Evans says.
Prints Charming at the Arts Center
Glorious Donations!
- The John Talleur Print Studio (JTPS) has received several recent and lovely donations:
- • an anonymous donation to purchase a large hand-roller for use on the Washington/Hoe hand press
- • an original oil painting done by our benefactor John Talleur
- • two box fans to help our ventilation
- • screenprint equipment that mysteriously appeared (thank you!)
- • vertical files and a bulletin board from K. T. Walsh
- • a big box of funky letterpress cuts, found at a rummage sale by our very own Tim O’Brien
Shows
Thanks to everyone for the wonderful feedback about the JTPS show held in the Arts Center Lobby in January. Also, please get out and take a look at our show in the Lawrence Public Library Gallery through the end of February, entitled “Prints Around and About Lawrence.” This show features 25 pieces from 10 different Lawrence printmakers.
JTPS Spring Classes and Workshops
The enrollment for our winter classes was entirely full! Needless to say, we are giddy with joy. Joy, but not shock, because we know that our instructors are amazing.
This spring we are offering Introduction to Printmaking with Nick Alley, and Letterpress with Tim O’Brien. If you have taken our classes before, but aren’t quite ready to join JTPS and work in the studio on your own, try Open Studio with Maril Hazlett. JTPS members are welcome to hang out during Open Studio hours. The cost to become a JTPS member is $50 per year, plus $2 per studio hour.
Be sure to check out our Stupid Easy Silkscreen T-Shirts workshop and our Monoprint techniques workshop, both taught by Nick Alley. For more information about classes, workshops and becoming a JTPS member, please call 785-843-ARTS.
Hats off to Beth Schultz
The Lawrence Arts Center wants to express its heartfelt thanks to our special friend Beth Schultz. A long-time Lawrence resident, Beth is committed to supporting our community in diverse ways. She not only is dedicated to the Arts Center but also to the Kansas Land Trust and the Jayhawk Audubon Society. At The University of Kansas where she taught in the English department for 34 years, she was a Chancellor’s Club distinguished chair for many years and the director of the humanities program for seven years. She also is the author of two books and a writer of articles on 19th-century American fiction, American women’s writing and African-American writing, as well as poetry and essays.
“Commitment from community members like Beth allows the Arts Center to continue to provide quality programming to Lawrence and the surrounding communities,” says Ann Evans, director of the Arts Center. “Beth has been so important to helping us continue our mission of bringing the community together, involving children and adults in the arts.”
Beth contributes both volunteer and financial support to the Arts Center. She sits on the board of directors, has been involved with the Langston Hughes Creative Writing Awards competition, and also is very involved with the Kansas Conference on Imagination & Place.
“Activities which enhance both our community and our special environment are very important to me,” Beth explains. “Through the commitment of this group, it has been possible for me to engage with others in focusing on the multiple ways in which the arts and nature may intersect and reinforce each other, in the interest of understanding our place here - in Lawrence and on earth - more deeply.”
She continues, “I believe the Arts Center is at the heart of our community. Here, people of all ages and from every background are encouraged to discover themselves and to express themselves more fully through creativity and imagination (and hard work and discipline, too). Here, through all the arts, they can come to appreciate wonderful and diverse ways of connecting to life and to our rare and astonishing world.”
A Souper Big Thanks!
Thank you to the following individuals and businesses for supporting Souper Bowl Saturday and our ceramics program this year:
Hy-Vee • Great Harvest Bread • McDonalds of Lawrence Brackers Good Earth Inc. • The Potters’ Guild • Ben Ahlvers • Staci Ahlvers • Grant Ahlvers • Max Ahlvers • Rebecca Pickering • San Bradshaw • Francis Elling • Kim Brook • Hollie Rice • Kelly Hormell • Marcus Skala • Chris Hotvedt • Deena Amont • Larry Brow • Pamela Lowenstein • Free State Art Honor Society • Laurie McLane Higginson • Katie Whitenight Senecal... and everyone else who helped out! (If we missed your name, it is because we didn’t have it before our publication date, but we still know who you are and extend a hearty thanks for all your help!)
Thank You — A Kansas Nutcracker Style!
A Kansas Nutcracker 2004 was a huge success with a few new characters, a wonderful “Clara’s Tea for Two,” sold-out performances and, of course, magic! Thanks to all who made this year happen. Many wonderful people and organizations have helped to make A Kansas Nutcracker possible. We thank them for their generosity and belief in this project.
- Angels: $5,000-15,000 or more
- Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation • DST Systems, Inc.
- Cavalry: $500-1,499
- The Schriner Family
- Sugar Plums: $250-499
- Kathleen & Tom Hodge • The Cookie Bakers (Deb, Ballet Ensemble, and moms and dads)• Deborah & Robert Bettinger
- Chocolates: $100-249
- Michael & Elizabeth McCafferty • Sunfire Ceramics • Durand Reiber & Martin Moore • Annie & Paul Stevens
- Coffee: $50-99
- Leslie Bennett & Joshua Rosenbloom • Ken & Katie Armitage
- Business Line Sponsor
- Marx Salon
Production Staff
Deborah Bettinger • Ric Averill • Candi Baker • Jeff Dearinger • Jennifer Glenn • Lee Saylor • Danny Rogovein • Karen Jacks • Ellie Goudie-Averill • Beau Hancock • Rachel Sanner • Laura Parkhurst • Brandie Mann • Sarah Bodle • Eaton Saylor • Nels Hotvedt • Joel Reavis • Brittany Saylor • Michael Manley, photographer
Thank You! To those parents, teachers and performers who gave hundreds of hours of volunteer effort, ushered, created tiaras, supervised our youngest performers, sewed stitches, drove to practices and contributed to this event in so many large and small ways.
Here are the names of those we know about: Shani Anderson, Kimber Andrews, Morgan Bahn, Leslie Bennet, Jen Carttar, Shawn Hastie, Dawn Hawkins, Allison Haworth, Melissa Hickman, Kathleen Hodge, Anne Hollond, Susan Jansen, Sheena Koehn, Mary Ellen Kriegh, Elizabeth & Pete Laufer, Beth Anne Mansur-Heckler, Cat McMahon, Mary Menendez, Fadra Andrews Mitchell, Martin Moore, Lynn Murphy, Nora Murphy, Nicole Olson, Stephanie Olson, Vicky Olson, Durand Reiber, Cami Santee, Sally Schriner, Denise Severn, Peggy Shopen, Ann Talleur, Katherine Tilden, Stacy Van Houten, Agnes Walsh, Jean Younger & Scott Dold, and anyone who stepped in at the last minute to assist in whatever way needed.
Thank You! To Laurie McLane-Higginson and the Lawrence High School Arts Honors Society for the wonderful tiaras. Special thanks to Renee Saylor for organizing the volunteers and to Renee, Mary Catherine Keslar and Peggy Shopen for organizing the tea.
Thank You! To tea donors Anderson Erickson, Bittersweeet Floral, Chestnut Charlie, Hy-Vee, Image Works, Pendleton’s, Russell Stover and Waxman Candles.
Thank You! To friends in the community whose assistance is priceless: The Lied Center of Kansas, Larry Maxey, Charles Hoag, Chipotle Mexican Grill Downtown, The Bay Leaf, Jim Bagget, Susan & Wade Delfelder, Robert Sitek and Sitekdesign, Robert Bettinger, Bruce Bettinger, Jim & Nora Murphy and Hancock Fabrics.
Thank You! To the Dance Program Advisory Committee, especially Nora Murphy, Katie Armitage, Mary Devlin, Gunda Hiebert, Barbara Hill, Bill Roach, Shaffia Laue, Dan Sabatini, Jennifer Sanner, Annie Stevens and Johnathan Morris.
Thank You! To our special dance program friends: Dan & Nicole Sabatini and Sabatini & Associates, Architects.
Thank You! To the wonderful staff at the Lawrence Arts Center, especially Ann Evans, director; Ben Ahlvers; Al Arthur; Maggie Backus; Ann Dean; Tolgay Figarelli; Maril Hazlett; Michael Ingle; Karen Jacks; Leslie Long; Macklen Mayse; Rick Mitchell; Margaret Morris; Laura Rose; Steve Richardson; Lee Saylor; Ariel Sherman; and Noelle Uhler.
Thank You! To the project staff who gave countless hours above and beyond the call of duty and whose positive willingness, commitment to excellence and joy in dance and theater make all this happen.
Langston Hughes Awards Presented
Two Teachers — Both Poets — Take the Prize
by Jerry Masinton
The 2005 Langston Hughes Creative Writing Awards have been won by two English teachers, both poets. Max Keith Sutton is a recently retired English professor from KU, and Kevin Rabas teaches as artist-in-residence at Emporia State University. Rabas is also working on his doctorate in English at KU.
The annual awards, sponsored by the Arts Center and The Raven Bookstore, carry cash prizes. The competition is open to Lawrence and Douglas County residents. The awards were created a few years ago to honor the memory and artistic achievement of Langston Hughes, one of America’s greatest literary figures who lived for a number of years in Lawrence during his boyhood.
Both Sutton and Rabas submitted collections of more than a dozen poems. Several poems in each collection deal with family and domestic situations. Each poet, moreover, uses free verse. But I think that the resemblance pretty much ends there.
Sutton’s work owes more to the literary tradition than Rabas’ poems do. That’s hardly surprising since Sutton shaped his career principally as a teacher of Victorian prose and poetry. He has also published books and articles dealing with this field of study.
Rabas, on the other hand, has from the beginning striven toward a career as a poet first and foremost. Many of the influences on his work arrive from outside the academic world. For instance, he’s a jazz drummer and historian. He once presented a paper on Langston Hughes and the blues. Hughes himself was also influenced by jazz. The looser, almost improvisational style of some of his poems comes from jazz.
Probably the best way to appreciate their very considerable accomplishment is to read a poem by each. First is one by Sutton, with its interesting and sometimes amusing tension between the ordinary and earthbound, on the one hand — and the magisterial and heavenly on the other:
The Bach Ensemble (for Claire)
You love it: the great taskmaster
multi-tasking, going about his celestial
busyness like the deity, but perhaps more neatly:
nothing random, hit or miss
in this spinning universe with all its moving parts
for strings, oboes, bassoon and relentless
continuo—perpetual bowing and blowing,
runs, chases, statements, echoes,
sixteenth notes whizzing past the upper balcony
like swifts, like starlings orbiting,
swirled energies in unearthly order.
I wonder, though: does the divine mind
never rest? Never settle on just one thing
at a time? Someone might use a breather.
not you: intent as when you edit copy,
balance the checkbook or clean house, but happier,
breathing ozone, rarefied airs,
while the clod beside you with his rustic ears
longs for bird song, a solo bobwhite,
a raindrop, icicles trickling from the eaves.
You love the eternal discipline of overlapping sounds.
I pray for rests, a single tune: a little plainsong, please
And now one by Rabas, on the concrete Garden of Eden in western Kansas:
Eden, or Lucas, Kansas
as told by my uncle, Charles Keller, who gives tours of the place. “You know where I live? I live right next door to the Garden of Eden. Up the way’s Paradise, and you go down about a half a mile and you end up in Hell Crick.” - My Grandmother, Bertha (Keller) Rabas
Your father’s mother’s people lived not far
from where old Dinsmoor lies now.
Your grandmother fed old Dinsmoor’s badgers gingersnaps
Sunday mornings while Dinsmoor mixed cement.
Some called it sacrilege, some sacrament.
But Dinsmoor was 64,
and figured the Lord would forgive,
knowing he had so few flexible years left to live.
Already he was stiffening.
Evenings, before turning in,
Dinsmoor worked backyard aloe balm
into the cracks in his hands,
fearing his fingers just might crumble
under his wife’s pillow during the night.
He’d spent his whole life planning the place,
the cabin stacked and mortared using concrete logs,
the ziggurat for his body and the body of his wife,
the shed, the garage, the planter,
and Eden above.
Every year, while Dinsmoor built out back,
we had to borrow just to put the wheat back into the ground.
I thought what he built
would last forever.
However, at the start of autumn
when it rains
you can see the faces of Dinsmoor’s statues erode so slowly
it pricks your own skin to watch.
No one knows how to mix the mortar,
no one learned the secret,
so the arms are falling off of Cain, the legs off Abel,
the breasts off their wives are crumbling,
Adam’s cane is crooked, Eve’s hair has fallen,
and the snake’s in need of complete repair.
Rabas’ poem isn’t much like Sutton’s, but they both end with a sly wink of humor. And they’re both fun to read.
Celebrate National Poetry Month!
April is National Poetry Month - and to celebrate, the Lawrence Arts Center once again is teaming with 219 Press to co-sponsor the Lawrence Poetry Series. This series brings local and regional poets to the Arts Center’s Performance Studio for evenings of readings. Each Friday in April (1, 8, 15, 22, 29) will feature two poets. The readings will begin at 8pm, and the suggested donation is $2. There will also be an anthology of the 2004 series for sale. Proceeds will help support the 2005 series.
Already confirmed are Ed Tato, Jason Ryberg, Chris Citro, W.E. Leathem, Dan Jaffe and Amy Fleury. The full schedule will be available soon at www.lawrenceartscenter.org and at www.219press.com. Come out and listen to these fine wordsmiths!
smARTs: How the Arts Support School Readiness
by Gayle Stuber, Ph.D.
Although many adults may have a personal definition of “school readiness,” parents and teachers often wonder exactly how school readiness is defined, and what it means for the children in their care. It is also important to know what can be done to help our young children be successful in kindergarten, in school and in later life.
It is clear from brain research and child development information that young children learn and experience many things during their first years of life. Experience actually molds the brain and, over time, makes each of us the unique and special people that we are. These years before school entry are a time of development, growth and incredible learning. Parents and teachers want to be sure that they provide positive and appropriate experiences to support and encourage the joy of learning. Such experiences not only inspire learning, they also bolster school readiness skills and knowledge.
One way to support and enhance learning in young children is to provide them with exciting and appropriately stimulating experiences through high-quality preschool or child care. Caring and knowledgeable adults are an essential component to a safe environment that promotes learning. It has long been known that children learn through interacting with their environment — which is another way of saying “learning through play”! In fact, children learn best when they play with materials, with each other and with the adults in their life.
Many preschools provide art centers, block centers and dramatic play centers. These playful experiences will help each child learn to work successfully in a group or use the blocks or dolls to retell a story they heard or describe a field trip to the local firehouse. Children in kindergarten usually need to recognize shapes and patterns. Toys, blocks and art supplies (buttons, paper, pictures, crayons, etc.) are great materials to help young children begin to learn a variety of different shapes and to make patterns with those shapes.
Art activities and projects are excellent for helping children learn a wide variety of skills. Painting is science when colors are blended; playdough supports fine motor control which is a pre-writing requirement; and organizing buttons and other materials into piles before creating a three-dimensional work of art is a prerequisite to classification, a necessary mathematical skill. Children often describe their art to a teacher or parent who can then “write their words.” This is an early literacy activity which supports later reading and writing.
Most teachers — especially preschool and kindergarten teachers — know that children who can perform certain skills and have certain abilities are more likely to be successful in kindergarten and in school. If Susie can participate appropriately in small groups, follow rules and put her coat on by herself, she will be more likely to be successful in a kindergarten classroom. If Johnny shows curiosity and interest in learning, stays focused while playing independently, represents his ideas through constructing a block building or uses art to convey his feelings and ideas, he, too, will be more likely to enjoy a successful kindergarten year.
It is clear that art (and music and other art-based activities) do provide a wonderful learning environment for young children, particularly if the art curriculum is provided by knowledgeable and caring adults. Learning through the arts is a smart and fun way to enhance brain development, support individual learning, and help children prepare for success in school and in life.
Dr. Stuber is the education program consultant for the Kansas Department of Education.
Jim Cosgrove to Kid-Rock the House!
Join us at 11am on Saturday, Feb. 26, as Midwestern kid rocker Jim Cosgrove (a.k.a. Mr. Stinky Feet) and his band, The Hiccups, entertain us with their third Kids Concert at the Arts Center! Back by popular demand, these award-winning musicians have entertained kids of all ages throughout the U.S. and Europe. Their playful, poignant songs focus on the important things in childhood - laughing, singing, dancing and playing. This super-fun concert is recommended for children ages 2-10 years. Tickets are $5, and proceeds benefit the Arts-Based Preschool’s scholarship fund. For information, call 785-843-2787.
17th Annual Honor Recital: Mar. 13, 7pm
The Lawrence Arts Center, with support from Kansas Public Radio and the Stephen Paul Wunsch Foundation for Young Musicians, will host the 17th annual Honor Recital musical competition this year. The competition is designed to recognize and encourage talented young musicians by providing them with professional performance opportunities.
Every year during the first weeks of March, the Arts Center hosts more than 45 young musicians in this unusual musical competition. Entrants perform a selection of memorized music in front of a panel of judges. The musicians are critiqued by the judges on accuracy and intonation, rhythm and tempo technique, quality of tone, phrasing, dynamics and articulation, and memorization. They compete for one of 10 to 12 spots in a public performance. A select few are invited to perform live on Kansas Public Radio. Musical selections range from classical music, jazz to contemporary. The concert is free, and the public is encouraged attend to see the up-and-coming young musicians in our area!
The musicians all are students who live in Lawrence or study with Lawrence-area teachers. “Lawrence is special in that we have incredible musical talent and resources,” says Margaret Morris, Arts Center education director. “The purpose of the Honor Recital is to recognize that talent, and provide an opportunity for young musicians to perform and build their audience.”
Auditions will be held at the Arts Center from 9am to 5pm on Saturday, Mar. 5. Selected performers will give a free concert at the Arts Center at 7pm on Sunday, Mar. 13. The concert will be hosted by Rachel Hunter from Kansas Public Radio. Competition judges this year are Elizabeth Suh-Lane, Kansas City String Quartet—strings; Genaro Mendez, The University of Kansas—voice; and Cameron Dibble, the University of Missouri– Kansas City—piano.
Lawrence Children’s Choir Prepares for Trip to Germany
We are friends forever when we sing together, the whole world is better when we sing.... These poignant lyrics from “Come and Sing,” the signature piece for the Lawrence Children’s Choir this season, will be performed at the choir’s Spring Concert on Mar. 12. They will take on additional meaning, however, when the choir travels to Germany in late May and performs the song with a high school choir from Lawrence’s sister city, Eutin.
This opportunity for the tour choir members is part of an 11-day tour of Germany. The choir will stay in both Eutin and Berlin while performing in a variety of settings including St. Michaeliskirche in Eutin and St. Marienkirche in Luebeck. The tour is a joint project of the Lawrence Children’s Choir, the Lawrence Sister Cities Advisory Board and the Friends of Eutin.
Phyllis Farrar, German teacher at West Junior High and member of Friends of Eutin, is assisting the choir with planning and execution of the tour. The singing exchange with the local Eutin high school is one of the many opportunities she has facilitated for the group, along with tremendous help from the Friends of Lawrence in Eutin. Farrar has been teaching the choir German phrases in preparation for the experience.
Janeal Krehbiel, the choir’s artistic director, is looking forward to the trip. “It will be a wonderful and educational trip for the choir,” she says.
While performing repertoire in many different languages is not unusual for the choir, this year the emphasis is definitely on German. They will perform three love songs by Brahms, two German folk songs, and a traditional German part song, “The Orchestra.” In addition, the choir will be performing traditional American folk songs including “Home on the Range” for their German audiences.
The choir will be presenting a preview performance of these pieces and the rest of the Germany tour repertoire at their Spring Concert at 5pm on Saturday, Mar. 12 at Lawrence High School. Tickets are available in advance for $6 from Hume Music, 711 W. 23rd Street. Tickets are $8 at the door.
Lawrence Art Guild's All-Members' Show
At the Lawrence Arts Center through Mar. 11, 2005
Art In The Park: May 1
Plan to attend this annual, juried, outdoor exhibition featuring high-quality work by many area artists. Enjoy continuous musical entertainment, good food and great art. As many as 10,000 people typically attend this spring event!
The Guild Online:
www.lawrenceartguild.org
The Lawrence Art Guild is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization created to promote art awareness in Lawrence and the surrounding areas. Our group supports the creative growth of our members and area artists. Meetings are held on the third Monday of each month, 6:30 to 9pm, in the Lawrence Public Library auditorium at 707 Vermont Street. All meetings are open to the public.
The Guild sponsors various shows and events throughout the year. Art in the Park, held annually on the first Sunday in May in Lawrence’s South Park, features the work of up to 150 local and regional artists. The Guild also hosts the Holiday Art Fair each December and the All-Members’ Show at the Lawrence Arts Center.
For more information about the Guild and its upcoming events, or for a membership form, visit www.lawrenceartguild.org or call 785-887-6010.
Artist Forums
The Guild is fortunate to have exciting Artist Forums scheduled this spring. Several local artists will share their knowledge of art and provide slide shows of various works. Each of these forums begin at 7pm, following the 6:30pm business meeting at the Lawrence Public Library.
• February 21: Connie Ehrlich was awarded a Lawrence Art Guild Opportunity Grant in 2004 for a series of work entitled “Indecent Liberties.” She will discuss her application process for the grant and how the funds were used to help her finish the project, show slides of her work and talk about the ongoing search to find a place to exhibit this series.
• March 21: Linda Baranski, Lawrence Art Guild vice president and Opportunity Grant recipient, will share her travels to Italy this past October and discuss the mosaic class she attended in Ravenna, Italy.
• April 18: Yoonmi Nam, also an Opportunity Grant recipient, will share her travels to Japan and the art of Japanese woodblock printing and paper making techniques.
• May 16: Board elections will follow the business portion of the meeting. Members also are invited to bring something to “Show and Tell” and participate in an arts supply swap.
• June 20: Active in the visual arts for many years, Barbara Waterman-Peters has served on various museum and arts organization boards and committees. She will share her knowledge of art and many of her works.
Art Exhibits at Lawrence Public Library
• February: painting by Anastacia Drake...“Prints Around and About Lawrence” etchings, woodcuts and linoleum cuts by Lawrence printmakers...“Fine Art Photography” by Jim Swanson • March: Peace Corps Anniversary Exhibit...“Art for Art’s Sake” paintings by Dorothy and Leonard Rosenthal...paintings by A. Louise Woodard • April: oil paintings by Chance Huffmann...“Simple Gifts: Photos by Vera’s Child” by Julie Matchett...Douglas County Child Development Association’s “Children’s Artwork: Celebrating the Week of the Young Child” • May: group exhibit of mixed media organized by photographer Mike Yoder...“Wood Trellises” by Terry Miller.