Hong Chun Zhang Exhibition Catalogs
are on sale now at the front desk at the Lawrence Arts Center. These beautifully crafted books were design by Callahan Creek, and feature the works currently on exhibit in the Arts Center galleries.
Baron Wolman Signed Prints
Baron Wolman was the original Chief Photographer for Rolling Stone magazine during rock music’s heyday in the 1960s. The Lawrence Arts Center has signed, unframed prints from this one of a kind exhibit available for purchase. Click for print selection.
For more information, contact Ben Ahlvers: 785.843.2787 or ben@lawrenceartscenter.org
Current Exhibitions
January 27 thru March 8, 2012
Opening Reception Final Friday, January 27 | 5 to 9 p.m. | Remarks at 7:30 p.m.
Jennifer Crupi
THE ARTICULATE BODY: Solo Exhibition
The artwork in this exhibition addresses the ways we communicate with each other visually, through body language. Hand crafted of aluminum or sterling silver, these interactive objects become instruments for gestural behavior. Studies show that 85% of our communication is non-verbal. With the increasing use of e-mail, Internet social networks, and text messaging, true one-on-one interpersonal communication is fading and our more honest and authentic feelings are being overlooked. All of my pieces point out various gestures or postures and their associated meanings in the hope viewers will realize the importance of how our bodies speak for us. An old proverb rightfully claims, “actions speak louder than words”. Although our body movements may be mute to the ears, they are inevitably far more revealing than the spoken word which often disguises.
Hong Chun Zhang ( 张 春 红 )
HAY WIRE: Solo Exhibition
INSIGHT Art Talk Wednesday, February 8 | 7 p.m.
“Hay Wire” is a site specific project made for the Lawrence Arts Center. This body of new work includes one large charcoal drawing, two oil paintings and three Chinese ink paintings as well as one installation piece. The idea for this series comes from my life experiences both in urban China and rural Kansas. I mix my Chinese heritage, aesthetics, and identity with my new home in the mid-west and in middle kingdom.
The horizontal charcoal drawing “Prairie Waves” is attached with two rolled out hay bales at the ends that are similar to the wooden dowels and the format of a traditional Chinese scroll painting. This piece (3f x 20f) is hung on one side of the wall in the bigger gallery and the image of hair looks like the waves of prairie grass from a distance. The three Chinese ink paintings “Flint Hairs” are hung side by side on the opposite wall in the same gallery. Each painting is 2ft x 6ft with a horizontal composition. From a distance, the images looks like Kansas Flint Hills, once you get closer, you will see the landscape covered with fine details of hair. Each piece is little different from the other. They can stand alone as three individual pieces and can be viewed as one group. This series is the mixture of Kansas concept and the beauty of Chinese fine style ink painting medium. There are two oil paintings “Hair” and “Hay” (5f x 5f each) hanging in the back of the same gallery. I want to show the difference and the similarity between the two paintings in terms of composition, color and imagery. The bigger gallery (my Kansas room) represents the open space and the flow of the Kansas landscape.
The installation piece in the smaller gallery (my China room), however, reveals the sometimes claustrophobic and chaotic aspects of Chinese urbanization. The massive electric wires are placed sporadically on the wall and connected to the telephone poles at the corners. Two charcoal drawings of vanishing electric poles are painted directly on the ends of the opposite walls. Therefore, the viewers feel like they can walk into the work itself as the pole lined road continues. The cluttered and massive amount of commercial advertizing and posters are found on most bill boards, available wall spaces as well as power and telephone poles. These are very real aspects of Chinese city life. I attempt to replicate this part of urban development by putting up Chinese posters and advertisements on the electric poles and scatted on the gallery floor. I want the viewers to experience this overwhelmed and semi-controlled Chinese urban environment in the smaller gallery space.
View current exhibition at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
Rex Hausmann. Dannon Art Project
Lawrence Arts Center
January 23 – March 3
This project will be housed on the north end of the second floor of the Arts Center.
Rex Hausmann will be creating a painting on the second floor at the Lawrence Arts Center January 23 – 27. At the completion of his painting, this temporary studio will handed over to a series of artists who will create new works, each leaving their works on display. Hausmann invited artists to work in this space in different mediums to create a community response to his painting.
Audiences are encouraged to visit the space beginning January 23 .
Rex Hausmann lives and works as a full-time artist in San Antonio and New York City. Hausmann earned a BFA in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design. He has worked on projects both nationally and internationally and has shown and lectured globally. His work and large projects often revolve around identities found in communal and domestic contexts, tracing their connections to religion and history.
Directed Visions
Works From 1st and 2nd Year Graduate Students
in the main lobby and lower Hallmark Exhibition hall thru March 14
"Directed Visions" represents a rich variety of fresh talent, innovative artistic practices, and conceptual approaches from the University of Kansas Department of Visual Art Graduate Students.
The graduate studio experience encourages authentic artistic exploration. Ideas, forms, and materials are explored as part of the student's creative process. The works in this exhibition are responses to directed investigations.
The Department of Visual Arts Graduate Studio Arts program is a comprehensive three-year program that gives students the opportunity to experiment with media, materials, and diverse artistic practices that support the development of artistic excellence.
