Lawrence Arts Center presents Baron Wolman
Every Picture Tells a Story, The Rolling Stone Years.
August 26 through October 1

Available now exclusively at the Lawrence Arts Center for $37.95 + tax.

Baron Wolman was the original Chief Photographer for ROLLING STONE magazine during rock music’s heyday in the 1960s. In an era when photographers and musicians were part of the same explosive scene, Wolman had virtually unlimited access to his subjects. On August 26th, he will open a unique and multifaceted show at the Lawrence Arts Center. Every Picture Tells a Story, The Rolling Stone Years, curated by Ben Ahlvers, has three dynamic parts:

1. Baron Wolman’s photographs of Rock and Roll legends such as Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Van Morrison, Greg Allman, Grace Slick, The Band, Johnny Cash, BB King, Buddy Guy, Pete Townshend and the Rolling Stones. Some of these images have never been displayed before. Photos are for sale.

2. A Rolling Stone cover tribute will include many of the finished covers created by Baron Wolman, as Chief Photographer of Rolling Stone Magazine. Finished covers will be accompanied by pristine photographs and contact sheets for a behind the scenes look at how an image makes it to the cover.

3. Special Events:

• August 26th 2pm ~ Panel discussion moderated by Bill Snead. Wolman and panel members will discuss their experiences in the field of photojournalism. SOLD OUT

• August 26th 5-9pm ~ Show opens for Lawrence's Final Fridays. Baron will be there to meet fans and sign his new book. The Lawrence Arts Center is sold out of Baron’s Book. To purchase, please visit: http://www.therollingstoneyears.com/the-book/

• August 27th 2pm ~ Baron Wolman Lecture. Baron will share his stories and images from his years working as the first Chief Photographer for Rolling Stone magazine. (Free & open to the public but ticket required. Pick up tickets at LAC )

Enter to win this Yamaha acoustic guitar, donated by Mass Street Music for the Baron Wolman exhibit, inside the main gallery!

We will also give away a signed copy of Baron’s book and a signed 11x14 photograph by Wolman of Jerry Garcia.
All give aways begin on August 26 and winners will be drawn October 3.

Baron Wolman : www.fotobaron.com
The Rolling Stone Years: Every Picture Tells a Story http://www.therollingstoneyears.com
Baron Wolman Interview on CNN
Article in Lawrence.com

Exhibit sponsored by Kern Group, WSA Dentists, David Dunlap, MD First Med Family and Walk-in Care, Knology, Mass. Street Music and Pipeline Productions, Kennedy Glass, and Four Big Watts.

Exhibitions
The Cutting Edge Of Moby-Dick: Qiao Xiaoguang’s Papercuts
August 26 – October 2.
Reception August 26, 5-9pm
INSIGHT Art Talk September 27, 7pm

Underwritten by Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Kansas and Beth Schultz

In his 2009 Moby-Dick papercuts, Qiao Xiaoguang brings together diverse elements to illuminate Herman Melville’s iconic and capacious novel. Qiao, who was born in 1957 and is an established artist in Beijing and professor and director of the Cultural Heritage Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts, learned traditional Chinese papercutting techniques from the elderly women who practice it in rural China. Consequently, his very contemporary papercuts continue to reference the plants and animals of China’s countryside. They also continue to depend on an intricacy of design characteristic of these techniques which were developed in China more than 1500 years ago.

The three Moby-Dick papercuts in this exhibit demonstrate Qiao’s extraordinary skill in using this traditional Chinese craft to interpret visually a novel written in the nineteenth century in the United States about whaling, an industry now nearly obsolete. Although both his method of his art and his subject matter are connected to the past, Qiao’s vision makes his works contemporary. They appear realistic as well as abstract, humorous as well as thought-provoking. In his large portrait of Queequeg, the Polynesian harpooner in Moby-Dick, the long jagged lines suggest a strength of character, and the difference between his eyes suggest that one is ever watchful while the other gazes inward. In large and intricate papercuts, titled “The Story of Moby Dick” and “The Flowering of Moby Dick,” Qiao expresses the capiousness, the mystery, the regenerative possibilities of both the whale and the novel. He suggests that the whale literally blossoms while the characters are shown in relationship to its living mystery.
Elizabeth Schultz

different perspectives
New works by Akiko Jackson. 2010-2011 Artist in Residence.
July 15 – August 13
Opening reception July 15, 7-9 p.m.
Artist Talk on August 11, 7pm.

Akiko Jackson is from Kahuku, a rural North Shore community on the island of O’ahu, Hawai'i. From 1999-2007, Akiko lived in Los Angeles and San Francisco to focus her studies in the arts. After receiving a Master of Arts degree from California State University, Northridge, she moved to Richmond, Virginia where she received her Master of Fine Arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. Akiko has been the Artist in Residence at the Lawrence Arts Center for the past year. Different Perspectives will be Akiko’s exit exhibition.

Rhyming The Lines:
Solo Exhibition by Tanya Hartman.
July 15 – August 13.
Reception July 15, 7-9pm

Lawrence, KS (July 7, 2011) – The Lawrence Arts Center will host a solo exhibition by Tanya Hartman July 15 through August 13, 2011.

From the artist:
“My work combines an obsessive dedication to technical precision and to traditional materials with a growing belief in the visual impact of collaged and painted text. Words have a visual presence. They are actual gestures, printed marks upon a two-dimensional surface. My artwork attempts to bridge the gap between what is perceived as a book and what is perceived as a piece of visual art. It is important for me to use phrases that move through time, so that the viewer experiences reading one of my paintings as they would experience reading a book. The interaction between drawing and painting, installation and display, large and small, and words and images helps to evoke my perception that the need to express certain facts about history is equal to the need to express the convoluted fantasies that we each carry about the meaning of our own unique histories. Though my works are about the upheavals experienced by just one family, it is my hope that through the language of common image and utterance, I can speak to many diverse viewers.”

Bio:
Tanya Hartman was educated at The Rhode Island School Of Design where she obtained a BFA in Painting in 1987. Between 1992-1994 she was a graduate student in Painting at Yale University. After her graduation from Yale (MFA/Painting, 1994) she was a Fulbright Scholar in Stockholm, Sweden. She now teaches painting and drawing at the University of Kansas where she is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Visual Art. She is represented by Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri. There, she exhibited her work in a solo show in January-February 2010 titled, Rhyming The Lines, an exhibition favorably reviewed in The Pitch and in the Kansas City Star and Review magazine. She has also exhibited at The Center for Book Arts in New York, A.I.R. Gallery in New York, ARC Gallery, Chicago Illinois; and at the Salina Art Center, Salina, KS.

2010-2011 Project-Based Artist in Residence Exhibition
AARON STORCK Wizard Porch and Garden
OPENING FINAL FRIDAY June 24, 2011

Word and Image

A SHOWCASE OF STUDENT WORK FROM THE LAWRENCE ARTS CENTER DIGITAL MEDIA PROGRAM

Exhibits include imagery from Photography, Photoshop, Photo Essay and Dark Room Photography classes and audio recordings from Screenwriting classes.

Located in the downstairs Hallmark exhibition hall

6th thru 9th Grade Darkroom with Ann Dean

STUDENT EXHIBIT

Exhibit is located in the downstairs lobby, outside of the darkroom studio

2010-2011 Print Making Artist in Residence Exhibition
Nicolette Ross. If You Say So
June 10 – July 11, 2011
Reception June 10, 7-9pm

Nicolette Ross, Lawrence Arts Center artist in residence, will display her newest body of work, If You Say So, at the Lawrence Arts Center June 10 through July 11. This body of work was created during Nicolette’s yearlong residency at the Lawrence Arts Center’s John Talleur Print Studio.

“If You Say So is an installation of hand carved illustrations symbolizing the incessant dialog between mind, body, and environment. Each illustration has been carefully selected to represent a particular memory, object, word, symptom, sound, or sensation related to my own afflictions with anxiety disorder, as well as the loss of personal relationships through time, circumstance, and communicational misunderstanding. I have made the choice to exhibit these carvings as sculptural objects, as they display the marks of individuality and movement- clues of my intimate and laborious engagement between my body and the material.”
-- Nicolette Ross

Bio:

Nicolette Ross is the 2010-2011 Printmaking Artist in Residence at the Lawrence Arts Center. In 2010 she earned an MFA degree with honors at Washington University in St. Louis, where she had the privilege of building a comprehensive understanding of traditional and non-traditional contemporary art practices with an emphasis on printmaking and the artist book. She is the recipient of the 2009 Belle Cramer Award in Printmaking and the 2010 Nancy Spirtas Kranzberg Award for Excellence in Book Design. She continues to fulfill her residency at the Lawrence Arts Center by teaching various Printmaking and Book Arts classes to all ages.

www.nicoletteross.com

Daniel Coburn. Object: Affection
June 10 – July 11, 2011
Reception June 10, 7-9pm

Daniel Coburn will exhibit photographs & text from his body of work, Object: Affection at the Lawrence Arts Center June 10 – July 11, 2011.

This project investigates the physical/psychological condition one experiences through the process of self-objectification. Coburn explores concepts related to the person as object and the photograph as object: the sitter as commodity and the print/media as the vehicle for distribution. In addition, this work illustrates the direct connection between an individual’s material possessions and that individual’s personal identity. The model is asked to participate in a photo shoot, and to approach the situation with the intent of making a photograph for a lover, significant other, or an ideal mate. Coburn’s long-term goal for this project is to study a widely diverse cross-section of people in an effort to understand how age, race, gender, sexual orientation and varying social/economic backgrounds affect a person’s approach and reaction to the process of self-objectification. Personal narratives from Coburn’s subjects accompany the photographs.

Bio:

Daniel Coburn is a contemporary photographer whose visually arresting images have garnered national and international praise. Selections from his body of work have been featured in prestigious exhibitions, including Top 40 at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art and the National Competition at SOHO Photo Gallery in New York. He is a recipient of the 2008 Kansas Mid-Career Artist Fellowship Award presented by the Kansas Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. Coburn received his BFA with an emphasis in photography from Washburn University and is currently a MFA candidate at the University of New Mexico.

This exhibition contains adult content. Viewer discretion is advised.

April 29-June 17, 2011

The New Old San Antonio: Tales from The Little Big Town

Artist Images: Top Left Clockwise: Jimmy James Canales, still from The Maria Experiment performance, Louis Vega Trevino, Shaped Canvas, Rolando Briseno, Heart Tablescape, Jayne Lawrence, Nuture/Nature, Jimmy Kuehnle, still from Make It Look Rich performance

This exhibition features the works of 33 artists with deep roots from San Antonio who are in various stages of their careers, from emerging artists to well-established artists with works in museum collections. Produced and curated by Rex Hausmann of the San Antonio, Texas studio program, Hausmann Millworks: A Creative Community, and Darin M. White of the Lawrence art collective b.a.l.m. (beauty, art and life movement), The New Old San Antonio builds upon a budding visual arts connection between the two cities that began with 2009’s The White Show, and is presented in memory of Chuck Ramirez & Marcia Gygli King.

The New Old San Antonio gathers responses artists who share what they love so dearly: their home town, artists, and art, creating a collection of work that any city would be proud to call their own. The show presents intimate conversations among the revered and established and the new and emerging.

INSIGHT Art Talk Series:

The Directors Talk | The Making of the Little Big Town
April 21, 7-8 PM
Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire Street
A lecture with the b.a.l.m. and Hausmann Millworks directors on the process and curation of the Little BigTown Series of events

Sponsors and Supporters

Greek Myths and Chapel Boxes of the Present Day
New works by Margo Kren

May 9 to June 3
Reception May 13 | 7 to 9 p.m.

Several years ago Margo traveled to Greece for her own Odyssey around the islands—to see the ancient murals, sculptures and vases of Mikonos, Koronos and Santorini. During her travels she discovered Greek Chapel Boxes. These boxes are used to invoke the saint--alongside the roads, near lake sides and in the center of parking lots. The boxes are each constructed and adorned uniquely.

Kren felt an attraction to these chapel boxes which were very similar to the ones I had seen as a child living in Texas near the Rio Grande. Margo Kren’s artistic investigation of the Greek Chapel Boxes has led her to create a new body of work that will be on display at the Lawrence Arts Center.

Prairie Print Makers

May 9 to June 3
Reception May 13 | 7 to 9 p.m.

To celebrate the legacy of the Prairie Print Makers,the Lawrence Arts Center will exhibit prints by four of its most notable charter members: Birger Sandzén, Herschel Logan, Norma Bassett Hall, and C.A. Seward. The Prairie Printmakers were formed in December 1930 with the goal to "further the interest of both artists and laymen in printmaking and collecting." Their contributions to Kansas art are exceptional not only because of the artistic quality and populist mission of their work, but because of their early focus on rural Kansas landscape and heritage. This exhibit is partially funded by the Kansas Arts Commission.

INSIGHT Art Talk Series

Thursday, May 19, 2011. 7PM

Kate Meyer will speak about the Prairie Print Makers. This talk is in conjunction with an exhibition currently on display at the Lawrence Arts Center featuring all of the charter members of this collective. Read more about the Art Talk.

Read more about the Prairie Printmakers in the Wichita Eagle.

April 18 – May 4, 2011

Lawrence Public School Exhibit. April 18 – May 4

April 11-17th, 2011

The Lawrence Arts Center Preschool 25th Anniversary
“Still Inspired” Alumni Exhibit, April 11-17th Click here for more info.

31st Annual Lawrence Art Auction

Lawrence Arts Center Gallery Program Benefit

This exhibition will feature original art from approximately 150 artists. Artwork generously donated by artists represents a diverse spectrum of forms and mediums, including paintings, sculpture, photography, ceramics, jewelry and prints. The art auction committee is working hard at ensuring this event is teeming with quality art and that the event is truly a great experience for all involved. You can expect fresh changes to many aspects of this event. Ben Ahlvers, Exhibitions Director along with the Art Auction Committee are enthusiastic to bring this annual event to the community.

» Read More about the Auction

Roger Shimomura Exhibition
Shadows of Minidoka

February 11–March 12
Reception: February 11, 7-9 pm
Hosted by Kathy and Bill Tuttle and friends

• Lecture: Dr. Emily Stamey, February 19, 4 pm
  Emily Stamey, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Ulrich Museum, Wichita State University, will discuss Shimomura’s Minidoka imagery in the broader context of his artistic career and the ongoing tradition of pop art. Stamey is the author of The Prints of Roger Shimomura: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1968-2005.

  Emily a 2002-2006 Self Fellow, received her Ph.D. in history of art in 2009. She received a B.A. (2001) in art history from Grinnell College in Iowa and an M.A. (2004) in art history from the University of Kansas. Emily is interested in the social history of the 20th and 21st century art in the United States, as well as the current practices of our country's museums. She has worked in educational roles at the Faulconer Gallery in Grinnell, Iowa, the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies in Washington, D.C., and the Spencer Museum of Art at KU.

  This event is free and open to the public.

• Printmaking workshop : Katie Baldwin, February 22, 7 pm in the John Talleur Print Studio
  Japanese Style Waterbased Woodblock Printing: Mokuhanga
  Become acquainted with the secrets of achieving multiple colors in a woodblock image with perfect registration through the traditional techniques of mokuhanga. Learn about the technical aspects of this process. Gain a basic understanding of the tools, materials, kento registration, carving sequence and printing methods associated with this ancient technique. Participants will be introduced to contemporary artworks that use the technique of Mokuhanga.

• INSIGHT art talk: A discussion with Roger Shimomura and Bill Tsutsui, February 23, 7 pm

  From Bill Tsutsui
  "I look forward to having a wide-ranging discussion with Roger about the themes that emerge from the Shadows of Minidoka exhibition and from his lifetime of artistic work. We will talk about his experience as an Asian American artist in Kansas, the weight of history and the importance of remembering, his passion for collecting, and the significance of community, place, and materiality to his art. Roger and I both hope that the audience will actively join in the conversation as well." Click here to read more.

• Film: “The Cats of Mirikitani,” February 28, 7 pm, followed by a discussion with director Linda Hattendorf and Roger Shimomura. Seating is limited. Click here for more info.

• Drawings from Jimmy Mirikitani
  Read the review in ereview.com.

Roger Shimomura will be the featured artist for the 31st Annual Lawrence Art Auction on April 9, 2011.

Roger Shimomura’s paintings, “Minidoka on My Mind,” will be exhibited beginning February 11 at the Arts Center, accompanied in this exhibition by his collection of art and artifacts created by Japanese American prisoners held in 10 internment camps in the U.S. during World War II. The Arts Center will host several presentations and events during the exhibit. Join us to view the award-winning film “The Cats of Mirikitani”; hear a talk by Dr. Emily Stamey, curator of modern and contemporary art at Wichita State University’s Ulrich Museum of Art and author of The Prints of Roger Shimomura: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1968-2005; and participate in a workshop by Katie Baldwin, a Japanese woodblock printer and bookbinder from Philadelphia, Penn. See page 25. Thanks to our partner, the KU Center for East Asian Studies. With the sponsorship of Allen Press and Callahan Creek, the Lawrence Arts Center will publish a limited-edition catalogue for Shimomura’s show.

»  View online gallery guide, Education materials, and podcast
»  Download and print gallery guide

Shadows of Minidoka
Paintings and Collections of Roger Shimomura

This exhibition catalogue features Roger Shimomura's works responding to the Japanese-American internment camp experience during WWII. His paintings and lithographs are beautifully photographed and juxtaposed with photographic images from Shimomura's personal collection of camp artifacts and historical documents. These images are accompanied by scholarly essays by Karen Higa and Roger Daniels, as well as Shimomura's biographical information.

The exhibition is sponsored in part by the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Kansas.

Roger Shimomura Official Website

Fresh Start.  Works in Progress.

January 28 – March 11
Opening reception January 28, 5-9pm. In conjunction with Final Fridays

As the New Year begins with a fresh set of goals and we close the door on a year of triumphs & troubles, artists are often challenged to carry this anticipation into their studio.  This exhibit is a chance for the public to get a glimpse into “what’s coming” from Kansas artists and possibly to learn about each artist’s creative process.  It is also an opportunity for the artists to experience their own unfinished works in a new/different environment.  This exhibit speaks to the passion and drive each artist has to create and will allow the viewer the opportunity to see what’s informing the artist’s studio. This exhibit will include works in progress, sketches, mock-ups, and resource materials. Some of the artists will participate in the Lawrence Arts Center’s Art-in-the-Open project. These artists will periodically work on their pieces during the run of the exhibit.

Participating Artists:

Molly Murphy, Stephen Johnson, Nicolette Ross, David Loewenstein, Karen Matheis, Louis Copt, Kenneth Kupfer, Angie Pickman, Jason Barr, Eric Dobbins, Jack Collins, Leslie Kay, Lisa Grossman, Jeromy Morris. Shannon White, Darin White, Yuri Zupancic, Jennifer Jarnot, Steven Graber, Juniper Tangpuz, and Alicia Kelly

PRINTerpretations: SALLY PILLER

Lower Lobby Exhibit Hall | thru March 11

Paraguay Through Children’s Eyes

A Kansas-Paraguay Partners & Peace Corps Project
January 18 - February 14 2011

This exhibit features 30 photographs taken by rural school children from Paraguay. In a unique and highly successful project, U.S. Peace Corps workers in Paraguay teach basic photography to rural school children who then use borrowed digital cameras to capture scenes from their communities. The best photos are exhibited annually at five venues in the nation’s capital, Asuncion.

Through the Partners of the Americas organization, Kansas and Paraguay have been linked as partners for over 50 years. In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Paraguayan independence, Kansas Paraguay Partners is proud to collaborate with our Peace Corps volunteers in Paraguay to bring you these creative, fascinating scenes of rural life there as seen by children.

Installation and Multiples -
Students exploring techniques and practices of ceramic sculpture

Reception: Friday, January 7, 2011 from 7-9pm in the newly created exhibitions space upstairs next to the Ceramics Studio and also downstairs in the Lower Lobby.

Artists/Students: Andy Bloomer, Linda Bush, Iris Cliff, Willie Jordan, Mona Jurshak

Instructor: Akiko Jackson, Artist in Residence

Rick Mitchell, Susan Grace, and Heather Smith Jones

January 7 – February 5, 2011
Reception: January 7, 7-9pm
Heather Smith Jones book signing: January 7. 7-9pm
INSIGHT Art Talk Series. Rick Mitchell, Susan Grace: January 20. 7pm
All events are free/open to public

INSIGHT Art Talk

Join painter Susan Grace and photographer Rick Mitchell for a live interview conducted by art historian David Cateforis.
7p.m. Thursday January 20, in the gallery of the Lawrence Arts Center
Free and open to the public

NOTE TO SELF: New Images by Rick Mitchell

Rick’s photography is for pure visual investigation and has no commercial purpose that he can identify. His involvement with photographic processes developed through study in design, graphic arts, painting, drawing, and to a certain extent, journalism. Rick says he discovered in himself an affinity for photography and educated himself through immersion in its technological and social history.

Read Artist Statement

I spent two decades as an artist/photographer on the American east coast during which I taught photography in a University. Then, for reasons unnecessary to describe here, I stopped to pursue another direction– one in which daily involvement in the production of art and photography was not possible. Now, I have taken up teaching and art/photography again and find the environment for visual exploration richer than ever.

The photography I do is for pure visual investigation and has no commercial purpose that I can identify. During my hiatus, the tools and techniques of photography were transformed. It took me a while to appreciate digital cameras and printers. I am still deeply infatuated with early processes that involve silver and light, being not-at-all sure that we have made any real improvement in image quality since the 19th-century. Not all photographers loved the darkroom, but I did. The slow alchemy of early processes and individual characteristics of hand-made lenses and other materials have been replaced by precision controls and uniformity of output. Forgive me if I find this less beautiful than leaving some things to chance. If you find in my pictures evidence of aberrations or color out of gamut, know that I am seeking mystery in this new medium, and I am growing to appreciate digital imaging more and more because I am finding little mysteries in it.

My involvement with photographic processes developed through study in design, graphic arts, painting, drawing, and to a certain extent, journalism. I discovered in myself an affinity for photography and educated myself through immersion in its technological and social history. I have worked with virtually every major technique, ranging from Daguerreotypes, cyanotypes, gum bichromate, platinum, albumen and other non-silver techniques as well as silver based plates, flexible film and printing media and in the last decade, digital imagining. I have taught History of Photography to undergraduates and graduate students. I believe a full education in photography must include exposure to the history of the medium, not only the “art history” but also the chemical and optical history starting with the “Locked Treasure Room” invention of Chinese philosopher Mo-Ti, thoughts on pin-hole projection by Aristotle and the Renaissance drawing inventions that led to modern camera technology. Favorite texts of mine, among many along these lines, include former University of Kansas chemistry professor Robert Taft’s 1939 book Photography and the American Scene: A Social History 1839 to 1889 and Josef Maria Eder’s exhaustive classics History of Photography and Ausführliches Handbuch der Photographie (Comprehensive Handbook of Photography.)

There have been countless subtle influences on me but I have also experienced strong gravitations and sustained orientations that are evident in my creative work. For example, following the completion of my MFA degree at Rutgers I encountered the early work of photographer Emmet Gowin at the Witkin Gallery in New York City. This led to my studying with Gowin at Princeton University, in particular in an advanced seminar held while artist/photographer Frederick Sommer was artist-in-residence there. At the same time I took part in Peter Bunnell’s history of photography classes at Princeton. For many reasons– too many to enumerate here– these experiences expanded and enriched my thinking about photography and art and their relation to every aspect of life. Readings for the Gowin/Sommer seminar included such titles as the monumental The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form by Kenneth Clark, Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle by Charles Darwin, and Tractatus Logico Philosophicus, by Ludwig Wittgenstein. The variety and ambitiousness of this interdisciplinary approach to art and photography impressed and challenged me to think deeper and more broadly about art making, and indeed, all human endeavors. I could mention other major influences such as reading the writings of Johannes Wolfgang von Goethe, particularly his Italian Journey, and Werner Heisenberg’s Physics and Beyond: Encounters and Conversations, as examples of seemingly dissimilar but in fact very conversant formative experiences that continue to inform my work. Instruction in observation and the development of “quality of attention span” (Sommer) is a theme of all the writers listed above and a perennial pillar in the training of visual artists.

I dream vividly and regularly. A few months ago, I dreamed about returning to teaching photography after many years. In the dream, I was in demand as a teacher because I was a “memory person.” I walked into the classroom on the first day-- it was in a Modern building—circa 1960– but the classroom itself represented no particular era. The furniture was eclectic and arranged (or not arranged) in a haphazard way. Let’s call it “post-post-modern”. The space resembled a comfortable coffee shop, with worn sofas and easy chairs from various periods, a half-dozen random lamps in varying conditions, two long scarred folding tables, and a variety of Xmas tree light strands hanging from a funky makeshift arbor that surrounded the whole arrangement. The students were very excited to see me arrive because they wanted me to tell them stories. I felt that I was in a new world, different from the one in which I had taught before; one in which individual styles were fully expressed and conventions of any kind were simply unnecessary and uninteresting. One student wore pressed tan slacks and a blue blazer with brass buttons. Others resembled back-packers, gypsy people, or Kurdish Turks—wrapped in layers of loose skirts, vests, shawls, roomy pants, scuffed shoes and boots and mismatched suits from decades ago. My feeling was that such clothing suggested timelessness (but not placelessness) and replaced the cultural homogeneity of corporate fashion to which we have become accustomed. In my dream, conventional thought had been surpassed by the natural diversity that supports survival. The hard borders of thought between peoples and between humans and other forms of life had become porous- thinking of Heisenberg, “sub-atomic.” I imagined there were no cultural industries based on progress or obsolescence. Nature, once out of mind, had been re-found. Two young women sitting at the end of one of the tables wore nothing at all but this seemed normal in the dream– a perfectly natural condition. When I began the class by saying, “I would like to talk with you about the color orange,” everyone leaned attentively forward.

I describe this dream because such dream/thought experiences fuel my imagination. Re-entering the world of art and photography has given me the opportunity to experience the visual world as a familiar yet decidedly richer and more nuanced place than ever before. It is different because my own drawings and photographs are different, my thinking is different, and my susceptibility to capture by economic and cultural convention has been lessened through experience.

- Rick Mitchell

“Water, Color, Paper, Paint”. Paintings by Heather Smith Jones

Heather Smith Jones is a studio artist and instructor at The Lawrence Arts Center in the Arts-Based Preschool Program. She just completed her first book called Water Paper Paint, Exploring Creativity with Watercolor and Mixed Media which is being published by Quarry Books. Unlike the typical watercolor text books, this unique, beautiful volume is a field book of inspiration, creative ideas, how to's, and projects, all from an artist's perspective. Heather will exhibit her original art work January 7 – February 5. Reception and Book Signing January 7, 7-9pm.

Water, Paper, Paint book written by Heather is available at the Lawrence Arts Center. $22.99 plus tax

"Metamorphosis"
New Paintings by Susan Grace

Susan has worked with the figure for many years but is not interested in portraying a particular person or in depicting a straightforward narrative. The figures, which are usually female, are frequently wrapped, preserved, and protected in some fashion, whether it is with flesh, such as hands or layers of fat, or a covering of cloth, or marks on the skin. Evoking a sense of solitude, the figures are absorbed in their own isolation and rarely face the viewer. Susan imagines them as having some kind of eventful life that takes place beyond the boundary of the canvas, and hopes the viewer is drawn in to this world and willing to contemplate its possibilities.

Susan Grace is a professional artist living and working in Lawrence, Kansas.  She has been exhibiting her paintings at galleries and museums throughout the U.S. since 1992. Although she attended art classes in Athens, Greece, her academic background is primarily in literature and theater, and she taught courses in modern and contemporary American and European literature at Northwest Missouri State University and at the American College of Greece in Athens. She held a tenured position as a language specialist at the Applied English Center at the University of Kansas but resigned from her academic career in order to pursue painting full time.

Read Artist Statement