Windmills to Workshops: Lawrence and the Visual Arts

Exhibition

Exhibition Overview

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Windmills to Workshops: Lawrence and the Visual Arts
Kate Meyer, curator
Kress Gallery and South Balcony, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

One hundred fifty years ago, members of the New England Emigrant Aid Company traveled from Massachusetts to territorial Kansas, where they founded the city of Lawrence. Besides hoping to profit from the lucrative business of land speculation, the company wanted to create "a city on a hill" that would be a beacon for religious freedom and educational excellence in the fledgling territory. Windmills to Workshops: Lawrence and the Visual Arts is divided into four thematic sections:
* Art that documents the city and citizens of Lawrence Work by faculty associated with the KU Departments of Fine Art and Design Work by artists who have attended the University
* Work by artists and workshops operating in this city
Featured artists include Albert Bloch, Roger Shimomura, Earl Iversen, Cynthia Schira, Larry Schwarm, Ward Lockwood, Keith Jacobshagen, William S. Burroughs and Virginia Randles. As part of the exhibition's emphasis on local workshops, the work of Orval Hixon's Main Street Studio, a portrait photography studio that operated in Lawrence for over 40 years, will be on view in the South Balcony Gallery. Selections of the museum's archive of prints from Mike Sims' Lawrence Lithography Workshop, incidentally celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, are exhibited in the final room of the Kress Gallery.

One hundred fifty years ago, members of the New England Emigrant Aid Company traveled from Massachusetts to territorial Kansas, where they founded the city of Lawrence. Besides hoping to profit from the lucrative business of land speculation, the company wanted to create "a city on a hill" that would be a beacon for religious freedom and educational excellence in the fledgling territory. In conjunction with the Lawrence Sesquicentennial Celebration, the Spencer celebrates the artistic freedom and excellence of Lawrence in Windmills to Workshops: Lawrence and the Visual Arts, an exhibition composed solely from the museum's permanent collection. Kate Meyer, curatorial assistant in the department of prints and drawings, organized the exhibition, assisted by curatorial interns Tera Lee Hedrick, Sean Barker, Emily Stamey, and Michelle Moseley Christian, and student assistants Jennifer Green and Sara Williamson.

Windmills to Workshops: Lawrence and the Visual Arts is divided into four thematic sections:
• Art that documents the city and citizens of Lawrence
• Work by faculty associated with the KU Departments of Fine Art and Design
• Work by artists who have attended the University
• Work by artists and workshops operating in this city
Featured artists include Albert Bloch, Roger Shimomura, Earl Iversen, Cynthia Schira, Larry Schwarm, Ward Lockwood, Keith Jacobshagen, William S. Burroughs and Virginia Randles. As part of the exhibition's emphasis on local workshops, the work of Orval Hixon's Main Street Studio, a portrait photography studio that operated in Lawrence for over 40 years, will be on view in the South Balcony Gallery. Selections of the museum's archive of prints from Mike Sims' Lawrence Lithography Workshop, incidentally celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, are exhibited in the final room of the Kress Gallery.

Exhibition images

Works of art

Robert Julius Brawley
Bernard Emerson Frazier
Robert W. Ebendorf
Colored Smoke Machine, 1974–1975
Sally Frerichs Piller
Larry Schwarm
untitled, 1981
Dan R. Kirchhefer (born 1947)
Dan R. Kirchhefer (born 1947)
Keith Jacobshagen
Tal Streeter
William Phelps Cunningham
untitled, mid 1900s
Ward Lockwood
The Possessors, circa 1960
Virginia Randles; Bertha Mast
Fences quilt, 1979
Mary A. Kretsinger
Chaco Canyon, 1981
Mary A. Kretsinger
Phoenix, 1981
Nick Dante Vaccaro
To a Trap XV, date unknown
Colette Stuebe Bangert
Charles Jeffries Bangert; Colette Stuebe Bangert
Dennis K. Helm
Gerald E. Lubensky
Belen, 2001
Roger Shimomura
John Talleur (1925–2001)
Mark Schmidt
Jamie Pawlus
In Check, 2000
Duane Stahl
Family, 2000
Michael Krueger
Martin Fan Cheng
Five Fish Diptych, 1995–2000
William S. Burroughs
Luis Alfonso Jimenez
Roger Shimomura; Michael Sims; Lawrence Lithography Workshop; Jorge Perales
Edward Henderson
Cotton, 2000
Edward Henderson
Robert Stackhouse
William T. Wiley
Nick Bubash
Magician, 1998
Clarina Irene Howard Nichols
Mary M. Roberts
Mary M. Roberts
John T. Moore
Karl Mattern
U.S. 40, 1931
Ethel Magafan
Ethel Magafan
Margaret Evelyn Whittemore
Margaret Evelyn Whittemore
James Lyle Enyeart (born 1943)
William Alexander Griffith
Daisy Field, [west KU campus], circa 1908–1910
Rosemary Ketcham
Robert Berkeley Green
Profile #3, 1966
Jon Blumb
F. O. Marvin
F. O. Marvin
Cynthia Schira
Winter Dream, 1986
Robert N. Sudlow
Frozen Farm, 1978
Luke Jordan (born 1957)
untitled, 1985
Richard Gillespie
untitled, date unknown
Michael E. Ott
Champions, 1988
Albert Bloch
Peter G. Thompson
untitled, 1973
Marie Levering Benson
vase, circa 1910
Paul Teeter
vase, 1906–1910
James Sheldon Carey
James Sheldon Carey
vase, 1973
Gesine Janzen
Orval Hixon
Self-portrait, circa 1920
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Singer Midgets, circa 1925
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Nan Halperin, 1923
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Rita Gould, circa 1920
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Ole Olson, 1921
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
The Duncan Sisters, circa 1920
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Pearl Magley, 1920
Orval Hixon
Orval Hixon
Al Jolson, 1920

Events

July 18, 2004
Activity
1:00–3:00PM
July 22, 2004
Talk
7:00–8:00PM
Gallery 407
July 24, 2004
Workshop
10:30AM–12:30PM
Gallery 317 Central Court
July 24, 2004
Workshop
10:30AM–12:30PM
Gallery 317 Central Court
July 29, 2004
Talk
7:00–8:00PM
Gallery 407
August 5, 2004
Talk
7:00–8:00PM
Gallery 407
August 12, 2004
Talk
7:00–8:00PM
Gallery 407
August 19, 2004
Screening
7:00–9:00PM
309 Auditorium
September 9, 2004
Social
6:00–9:00PM
Gallery 317 Central Court

Resources

Documents