Exhibition Past Shows

From the 60's to Sixty Something:
A Journey of Art and Friendship

June 5 - July 17, 2009
Works by Jim Brothers and Louis Copt

Lawrence artists Louis Copt (left) and Jim Brothers camping in Munich, Germany in 1969. They have been friends for over forty years.

Imagination & Place Exhibition: Photographs by Tim Forcade
October 17 – November 25, 2008

Tim Forcade has over 40 years experience as an artist, painter, photographer and designer with much of that time devoted to the study and application of art and technology. Since the 1960's he has combined his fine arts education with directed research in electronics and computer graphics resulting in numerous exhibitions, published articles, images, books and interactive works.

By the late 1960's Tim applied aesthetics to electronic circuit design resulting in numerous kinetic artworks, photographs, videos, performances and exhibits. His Light Machine series consisted of programmable semiconductor chaos devices designed to transform live and recorded sound into colored light compositions and video. He later used the same devices to guide his music composition.

Since the 60's Tim has also worked as a professional photographer shooting a range of subjects-essentially anything his clients could throw at him-from ice cream & designer fashions to product photography, photo illustration, aerials and architectural subjects. Tim's experience in commercial media began as an offset lithographic plate maker and has expanded to design, production and art direction for an international client base. He has created numerous magazine ads, brochures, catalogs, and posters.

Tim's work in computer graphics began when keyboards were optional, and cutting-edge computer graphics were frequently created using arrays of alphanumeric characters. In 1977 he founded Forcade Associates, a photography, design and production company. By the mid 1980's he had integrated computer graphics into Forcade Associates’ practice as well as into his own experimental artworks. Since then he has designed and produced computer graphic imagery and animation for print, CD-ROM interactive, broadcast and DVD.

Tim participated in the emergence and evolution of 2D and 3D computer graphics as an artist, beta tester, author, and software development team member. This has enabled him to work with computer media and to affect the media itself by interacting directly with CG programmers and developers. For example, he helped develop the user interface and program functions for a human motion animation program used to create realistic character animation for feature films.

He has been a contributing editor to various computer graphics publications including Computer Graphics World and Computer Artist as well as a frequent speaker at user's group meetings and conventions. He has taught both students and professionals in seminars and courses at Baker University, the University of Kansas, the University of Washington and Alberta College of Art. His books demonstrating animation and visual effect techniques have been distributed worldwide.

You can view more of Tim's work at www.forcadeimages.com.

Bottles: Ceramics Curated by Ben Ahlvers

The bottle has been a cherished form by potters for many years. The bottle as an icon is recognizable by people of almost any age. It is an object that has the ability to conjure thoughts of nostalgia, celebration, comfort and conflict among others. The potential for interpretation is unlimited. Clay is accessible to people of all ages and has the ability to mimic other materials.

Artists invited to participate in this exhibit utilize a variety of construction techniques and firing methods ranging from traditional wheel thrown, wood fired pots to slip-cast mixed media forms. The exhibition entitled, Bottles, will represent nearly 50 potters from around the country showcasing to the Lawrence community the unique interpretation each artist has to the bottle form.

Click Here to view this show online.

John Gaunt Sr. and John Gaunt Jr.

John Gaunt Sr. is an architect and artist who currently serves as Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Kansas. His son, John Gaunt Jr. is an artist on the faculty of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

John C. Gaunt Sr.

“My personal work represented in this exhibition involves a series of mixed media (ink, graphite, prismalcolor) drawings executed in Havana, Cuba in 2006, the purpose of which was to capture the spirit of place in Havana's extraordinary urban environment - including the grittiness of the neglected, once-beautiful city.

The sculptural portion of my work, assemblages composed from found/discarded metal parts grew somewhat accidentally out of observations/discovery - various parts "speaking" to me of their potential in expressing philosophical interests. For example, my first "mask", which I identify as "Dulce Et Decorum Est" in honor of World War I poet Wilfred Owen involved much experimentation in achieving the reproachful stare of a warrior of "the war to end all war" of nearly a century ago - the stare itself my goal, the piece left unfinished.”

- John C. Gaunt Sr.

John C. Gaunt Jr.

“My paintings are a result of sustained perceptual and analytical study of the natural environment. Water continues to be an inexhaustible platform for me, where geology, biology and hydrology are in constant flux. The complexity of these systems, and their capacity for change, provide me with a framework to think about form, composition and artistic processes.

Over the past two years I have been developing a kind of "graphic scaffolding" inspired by the shifting architecture of rivers. This scaffolding or intuitive gesture has become a malleable motif for me across artistic processes and has allowed me to generate new combinations of abstract structures, representational spaces and diagrammatic drawing. I would like to think that the accumulation of this practice is beginning to yield a kind of personal topology.

The paintings are layered with intermingling gestures, resulting in compositions that feel at once open and mobile, yet rooted in the momentum of an organizing pattern. The perspective in the paintings is often aerial, positing the viewer downward to contemplate configurations of light, pattern, mark and edge. The paintings offer a familiar condition or vantage point; yet resist an easily identifiable event. This instability is what I am after, where order and chaos coexist in a constant state of becoming.

The work reflects a particular attitude about an intuitive process, where chance and improvisation allow themes to emerge organically throughout the work. This is an intimate relationship of continually relating specific passages to the overall gestalt of the painting and the ability to leave the work before it is fully understood. It is hoped that the work functions more as a verb than a noun and that this action in the work is tough, elegant and above all contemplative.”

John C. Gaunt, Jr.

Satochi Inoue

A one day exhibition and reception at the Lawrence Arts Center
Thursday, March 12, 2009

STRAIGHT FROM THE STUDIO: A Life Drawing Project
In cooperation with Life Drawing I-IV / KU Department of Art
Professor Judith Burns McCrea

Participating Student Artists

• Bowersox, Tristan
• Inoue, Satoshi
• Masenthin, Chelsie
• McPherson, Scott
• Stenzel, Maryann
• Bray, Thayer
• Cunningham, Marley
• Intravartolo, Amanda
• Lindstrom, Marissa
• McKenzie, Marie
• Robertson, Lucy
• Tseng, Yi-Hung
• Chervonik, Olena

Olena Chervonik

This Project

These large charcoal drawings are an experiment that extends the use of traditional life drawing toward development of individual ideas related to the body and/or the human condition. At mid-term, after developing the necessary skill level, each student worked directly from the model on a periodic basis along with other sources as needed. As they explored ideas, students were encouraged to analyze the relationship between form and content while emphasizing the vocabulary of drawing. Art history was an important resource, including the late 20th Century work of Ivan Albright, Francesco Clemente, Glen Brown, Jenny Saville, John Curin, Nicole Eisenman, Odd Nerdrum, Eric Fishl, etc.

As always, the students and I are indebted to the outstanding commitment and vitality of our life drawing models.

This project created a different type of life drawing classroom:

• Students learned to manage the use of photography as one of several sources for their work, including when to ignore the photograph, when it is a valuable reference, and comparisons of the photographed image with actual form and lighting.
• Students gain valuable experience in helping to develop specific poses and vantage points that use the body to carry or “embody” content for each particular project.
• Students learn how to control lighting appropriate to the type of form development needed.
• Students learn to cooperate with each other in a far more interactive classroom, becoming a “team of individuals”.
• The participating models and their skills are far more integral to the completion of each individual student's final artwork creating a true sense of participation.
• Because individual ideas are of paramount importance, each student must find solutions that meld their idea to process, drawing vocabulary, and form development.
• Because direct access to the model and a specific pose is periodic, students must rely on other resources that are sometimes ignored such as the skeleton in the room and images from art history for ideas (about poses, form development, and the use of light), as well as sketches and photography.
• Because direct access to one specific model and pose is limited to a rotational basis, some students become more androgynous in their basic approach to the body when necessary, in favor of viewing the dynamics of basic human anatomy and adding gender references later as necessary.
• Students have the time and resources to produce work on a larger scale that encourages attention to form and space and a different kind of visual impact.

Judith Burns McCrea, Instructor

16th Annual Lawrence Indian Arts Show

Juried Exhibition
Lawrence Arts Center
September 11, through October 9, 2004

Juried exhibition of Native American arts and crafts At the Lawrence Arts Center plus many other events and exhibitions in various Lawrence locations.

This year marks the 16th anniversary of the Lawrence Indian Arts Show. As in previous years, the Lawrence Indian Arts Show will present a juried competition and show at the Lawrence Arts Center and a two-day outdoor Indian art market at Haskell Indian Nations University on the opening weekend. There will be art exhibits at the Haskell Indian Nations University, Spencer Museum of Art at Kansas University and the Lawrence Public Library. The benefit opening reception at the Lawrence Arts Center will include an awards ceremony, silent auction, and an opportunity for art collectors to preview and purchase works in the show before it opens to the public.

The goals of the Lawrence Indian Arts Show remain strong. The show provides an opportunity for the general public of this region to learn about, gain an appreciation for, and enjoy art and craft productions by American Indians; to provide encouragement and financial support (through prizes and opportunities for sales) for American Indian artists; and to enhance cross-cultural understanding.

Now in its 16th year, the Lawrence Indian Arts Show is considered to be one of the top ten Native American arts shows in the country. This year, in addition to the traditional visual arts displays, there will be a Native American flute performance by award-winning Cherokee recording artist TerryLee Whetstone.

Del Christensen Paintings

Exhibition: July 21 through August 27, 2004
Reception: July 23, 7 – 9p.m.

Del Christensen, currently of Lawrence/Lecompton, has lived and worked in a variety of places ranging from Berkeley, California and Bozeman, Montana, to Madison, Wisconsin and Santa Fe, New Mexico. As an artist, he has worked in painting and sculpture and had exhibitions in those and other places and taught art at the University of Montana, the University of Wisconsin and San Diego State University.

Christensen's paintings, which will be featured in his exhibition at the Lawrence Arts Center, are large in scale and executed in black and white alkyd enamel paints. They are inspired by landscapes and imaginary landscapes, but dwell on the edge of abstraction in that "place" the eye loves—fields of high contrast dream imagery with surfaces rich in texture.

Christensen was born in Western Kansas and was influenced early by, he says, "big night skies, dramatic weather," and "sitting on a tractor watching the land, grasses and erosion." He spent four years in the U.S. Navy as a photographer where he "fell in love with black and white images." Once out of the Navy he went to art school where he worked with earth/land based conceptual pieces, which he documented photographically, sculpture that explored landforms, watercourse paths and erosion and gallery installations on the same themes.

After earning MA and MFA degrees, Christensen took a teaching position in Bozeman, Montana where he was impressed with the rugged terrain and high mountain waterfalls, and where he witnessed and was deeply impressed by his first full solar eclipse—the image of which reoccurs in his current work.

At times during the 80's and 90's Christensen served as artist-in-residence in Roswell, New Mexico, and spent time in Oakland and Berleley, California, where he showed his work in warehouse art spaces. During the last decade, up until about 2 1/2 years ago, he spent his time working on house remodeling and building hot rod cars, a longstanding passion that he still engages in. Now living in Lecompton, he is painting again and has created a body of new work that reflects his experiences of the land over the years.

Out on a Limb: Furniture Makers Rick Stein and Will Orvedal

Rick Stein and Will Orvedal are area furniture makers whose original designs and exquisite craftsmanship are uniformly appreciated by those who both admire and make quality wooden crafts, sculpture and furniture. Among their projects over the years are the wooden benches in the Lawrence Arts Center galleries.

Rick Stein

Rick Stein

“I've been building furniture in Lawrence Kansas since 1994. I spent most of my working life in the bicycle business. In 1994, two things happened. I traded a treadmill for a table saw, and I sold the store.

I took furniture making classes in 1995, 1996, and 1999 at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockland, Maine, where I studied with Peter Korn, James Krenov, John Reed Fox, and Michael Puryear. These teachers and local furniture builder Will Orvedal have had a strong influence on the way I work.

From the beginning of the design phase to the final delivery of a piece, the process of building furniture is challenging and almost always rewarding. I work quietly and methodically. Each step requires full concentration— developing a design, selecting the best wood, cutting the joinery, preparing the surfaces (frequently hand planed), applying the finish. Each stage requires me to work to my fullest potential.

In a world driven by instant gratification, honest craft stands out as a counterpoint to the frenzy rampant in our culture. Whether it’s furniture making, painting, jewelry making, or any other tangible craft or art, the process inherently requires patience, attention to detail, and a willingness to demand the best, most consistent effort from the creator.

Furniture making demands my best effort, my most skilled and practiced work, and all of my concentration. I can’t rush, work casually, or accept less than my best. As in all craft, some of my pieces are better than others, but the effort remains the same. I hope that my work reflects the effort.”

– Rick Stein

Will Orvedal

Will Orvedal

“ I was educated as a scientist. After finishing graduate work in chemistry and teaching college for several years, although intellectually interesting, my life seemed to be lacking something important. I 1973 I moved from Maryland to Kansas to try a new life as a woodworker.

While I have no formal training in design or woodworking, since childhood I have always been a maker. From nailing chunks of wood together in pre-school to basic carpentry, carving birds, model boats, mobiles, a kayak, a canoe, a sailboat, eventually some simple furniture—making things has always been my ultimate joy and refuge. I have been fortunate to find a way to spend most of my time making furniture. The process of taking an idea and making it real is endlessly fascinating.

Basic to my personal philosophy is the notion that the miracle of existence is expressed in the smallest and most ordinary things. I think modern life tends to desensitize us to this with a cacophony of razzle-dazzle and hype. Living in Kansas, specifically living in the country, allows me to live fairly close to nature. I feel the quality of the land and sky here are such that the subtle beauty is not overshadowed by the spectacular. I encourages us to look more closely. I seem to get that ‘wow’ experience looking at the form of a branch or the grain in a board. I try to express this feeling in my work. I take wood, this ordinary material familiar to everyone, and attempt to fashion it in such a way that nature’s wonderful design may be called to the attention of the user. I make objects (furniture) which one may relate to as a part of everyday activity. I hope the things I make may serve as a reminder of our relationship to nature.”

– Will Orvedal

Elizabeth Layton Exhibitions
Refocus on her Contributions to Art and Society

June 1–July 20, 2007, Reception: Friday, June 1, 7-9pm

Elizabeth "Grandma" Layton, the well-known Wellsville, Kan. artist, made her first drawing, "Two Pitchers Pouring," in 1977 at the age of 68 after enrolling in her first, and only, drawing class at Ottawa University under teacher Pal Wright. She was introduced to the blind contour method that requires the student to look continuously at the object being drawn rather than at the drawing itself. Students started by drawing simple objects and later began making self-portraits while looking into mirrors.

So prepared, Layton spent the next six months drawing self portraits 12 hours a day, stimulating a period of self-examination and introspection during which she literally faced herself — her aging body, her debilitating depression, and her feelings regarding many personal and social issues including women’s rights, racism, poverty, homelessness, AIDS and terminal illness. Energized by the newly found ability to express her innermost feelings, Layton completed approximately 1,500 drawings before her death in 1993. Her work was exhibited in libraries, art centers and museums in more than 200 communities, including Honolulu, Phoenix, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Omaha, Washington, D.C., and Paris. She was interviewed by reporters from People, Life and Parade magazines; NPR radio; and NBC, ABC and CBS television networks.

In late 1977, Don Lambert, then a reporter with the Ottawa Herald, saw several of Layton’s drawings in a freshman art show. Lambert requested an interview with Layton and borrowed eight of her drawings with the intention of showing them to art professionals in the region. He eventually garnered a spot for them in the 1980 "Traveling Visual Arts" tour organized by the Kansas Arts Commission. Layton’s works visited nearly two dozen Kansas towns — the first being Iola, and the second, Lawrence, where a lasting friendship developed with the Lawrence Arts Center that led to the donation of 50 original drawings to the Center by the Elizabeth Layton Foundation after Layton’s death. In the spring of 1980, Layton was awarded first place in the "Kansas City Mid-Four Annual Juried Exhibit," winning over 600 other participants. During this period, two traveling exhibitions were organized by ExhibitsUSA: "Through the Looking Glass" and "Drawing on Life." They traveled to numerous visual arts venues across the country over a period of several years. By 1990, Layton’s work had gained considerable national attention leading to an offer from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Art to exhibit her work for three months starting in April 1992.

An important underlying theme of Layton’s work is her own recovery from depression, a condition that plagued most of her adult life. She underwent numerous psychiatric treatments including ECT, sometimes referred to as "electric shock therapy," and prescription drugs. She married Glenn Layton in 1957, and they enjoyed a loving and supportive marriage, but depression overwhelmed her when her son died in 1976 from liver disease caused by alcoholism. Layton blamed herself, feeling that he had inherited his mental problems from her. The creative outlet of drawing slowly helped to lift her depression. She understood her drawing to be self-cathartic and continued it as self-prescribed therapy with no intention of exhibiting or selling her work.

Layton passed away at age 83 of complications from a stroke on March 15, 1993. Her legacy includes nine children and step-children, 25 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren — and 1,500 drawings including nearly 1,200 self-portraits. It is estimated that more than half a million people viewed Layton’s art before her death and many more have seen it since. Through donations of her drawings to charities, she helped to raise more than $500,000 for the arts, women’s organizations, civil liberties, mental health, medical ethics issues, the visually impaired and the Wellsville Public Library. Most of her drawings were given away — she never accepted money for them. She was steadfast in this view, saying, "You don’t sell a miracle."

In addition to the exhibition in the Lawrence Arts Center Gallery this summer, a collection of archival prints generated from Layton’s original drawings will be shown in venues throughout Kansas. The traveling exhibition, titled "Elizabeth ‘Grandma’ Layton: On Health and Aging" is produced by the Lawrence Arts Center with support from the Kansas Health Foundation.

"Rules and Regulations"
Sculpture and Photographs by Marc Berghaus

Exhibition: October 18 – November 30, 2004
Reception: October 22, 7 – 9 p.m.

Marc Berghaus was born in Meade, Kansas, in 1966, the son of Dean and Kay Berghaus who farm and ranch there. In 1985 he came to Lawrence to study at the University of Kansas, a course that was interrupted from time to time by changes in major, a bicycling trip through Europe and time off to work. In 1991, he completed a degree in East Asian History.

In 1992, Berghaus began creating sculpture, a way it seems, to integrate his facility with materials, his active imagination and his searching curiosity. "These sculptures", he says, "are the by-product of prolonged spiritual questioning." Since that time, Berghaus has developed a large body of complex kinetic sculpture that has been shown regionally in Kansas, Missouri, Colorado and New Mexico. The exhibition at the Lawrence Arts Center will be his first solo exhibition in Lawrence.

About the work Berghaus says, "The first thing to be said about these pieces is that almost all of them appear in my mind, at random, and I just build them. The ideas pop into my head at odd times, usually in completed form, although nearly every piece goes through some form of change before its completion. My job, then, is to make what I have seen into an actual object. This consists of realizing the dimensions into wood and metal, and, if light or movement is involved, figuring out and building the necessary electronics and mechanics. I almost hesitate to call these ideas "mine" because I don’t know exactly where they come from, and there is very little conscious design in the original ideas."

Ben Ahlvers Ceramics Exhibition

October 19-November 28, 2007
Reception: Friday, October 26, 7-9pm

Ceramist Ben Ahlvers’ work will be featured in an exhibition that accompanies the national ceramics show. Ahlvers is the organizer of the national event and is, himself, an accomplished artist as well as being the assistant director of the Education Program at the Lawrence Arts Center. He writes:

“At the foundation of my work is the idea of identity and how it’s developed... The end result is always a little tongue-in-cheek and expresses a certain level of alter-ego, but the work usually begins from something real. Adding elements of iconic imagery and characteristics of the human form takes the work beyond narrative.”

John Talleur

John Joseph James Talleur, died on Nov. 27, 2001, at age 76. He was a retired professor (emeritus) of printmaking at The University of Kansas where he had taught for 40 years. He earned a bachelor's degree from the Institute of Art in Chicago and a master's degree from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. Before his death he arranged to give his printmaking equipment, including his personal presses, to the Lawrence Arts Center that was, at the time, constructing its new building at 940 New Hampshire St. in Lawrence. The Printmaking studio in the Arts Center is named in his honor.

“For forty years at the University of Kansas, John Talleur lovingly devised the road map by which hundreds of students began their life's journey. In 1967, I was a terrified freshman in his introductory drawing class. Mr. Talleur stormed into the classroom, cigarette fixed in his jaw, wearing a filthy apron and sandals with socks. He laid waste to our precious notions of how to draw. He chided and challenged us to see our subject in a new way. I was appalled, but soon seduced by this appealing maniac. At the first opportunity, I bolted from painting to printmaking... Talleur's exotic domain of strange smells and odd contraptions, where students with blackened fingers scurried about clutching metal plates and scary tools.

The next three years were magic. Mr. Talleur tirelessly encouraged us to think creatively in our search for visual solutions. If need be, he would literally dance on the table to get our attention. We did everything the hard way, including grinding ink from scratch with dry pigments and oil (you do get better ink). Above all, our drawing had to be convincing, not as in any sort of realistic sense, but rather convincing from the standpoint of acute observation. Pulling an edition was not so important as making sure the damn thing was worth printing in the first place. Advanced students were often invited to his home where the refrigerator was full of beer and the walls were full of art. He gave us a rare opportunity to sharpen our eyes on the real thing. We learned passion and connoisseurship. We learned that one's life can be a work of art.”

- Tom McCormick, from the catalog "John Talleur: Selections from 45 Years of Work" 1997 in association with the exhibition at Tom McCormick Works of Art, Chicago

Robert Zerwekh

Robert Zerwekh

"I have been oil painting since the early 1970s and I am essentially a self-taught artist. Most of my paintings are done in the highly-realistic "tromp l'oeil" (fool the eye) manner. My artistic direction has been greatly influenced by a variety of 19th and 20th century realist painters, particularly the school of William Michael Harnett. However, beyond simply depicting subjects in a realistic way, I hope that each of my paintings has elements of abstraction, can be enjoyed on different levels of artistic sophistication and occasionally has a touch of humor.

- Robert Zerwekh

New Works by Hak Kyun Kim

May 20 - 29, 2009
Artist’s Reception, May 20th 7PM – 9PM
Hak Kyun Kim is the 2008/2009 Lawrence Arts Center Artist-in-Residence in Ceramics

Tablescape postcards

Unwrapping the Past
A solo exhibition by Lynda Andrus

Artist Statement:

“My pieces are created from vintage fabrics and thrift store finds. The materials express subtle tactile qualities of past experiences and make everyday objects take on a sense of the sacred. Nostalgic sentiments emanate from textures of worn cloth, discarded candy wrappers, dishes, toys, and other found objects from the home. These materials become precious links with those who have handled them.”

Artists website: lyndaandrus.com

LJWorld Story

To and From
A solo exhibition by Shawn Bitters