Arts Center News

Lawrence Arts Center "Art in the Open" Project

Our goal is to make the lobby of the Arts Center lively, filling it with evidence of artistic vitality. The lobby itself manifests the sense of creative community that is at the heart of the Arts Center's mission. To this end, the lobby is now a curated space under the direction of Ben Ahlvers, and we offer a portion of the lobby as an actual creative space, a temporary and public studio for an artist.

• Artists are invited to use lobby space to paint, sculpt, print, dance, weave, draw, make jewelry, and etc.
• The Arts Center will provide, if the artist wishes, a "velvet rope" barrier in the dimensions requested by the artist, if possible.
• The Arts Center will provide easels, tables, a chair, as requested by the artist.
• It is our hope that artists will have fun with this but not feel required to interact with observers.
• The artist may choose how long she wishes to stay with this project (days, weeks). The artist might not really know how enjoyable such an undertaking will or will not be until getting started; therefore, he is under no obligation to continue.
• The goal of the project is to have artists at work in the Arts Center lobby much of the time, including at night when the building is closed, and including when people are coming and going from Arts Center classes and events. Therefore, 2 or 3 artists might share a schedule.
• It might be possible for two artists to work at once.
• If the project does not work out for the artist, it is ok.
• The artist may sell work created in this space at no commission.
• As the project gets underway, we will rotate artists on a regular to-be-determined basis.
• This partnership should be undertaken in good faith and for the purpose of bringing a creative spirit out into the open.

Coming UP...

On Saturday, March 20 at 1pm, Karl Ramberg and Paul Hotvedt will create or perform something in the lobby of the Lawrence Arts Center, 901 New Hampshire in Lawrence, Kansas as part of the Art in the Open program. You can help them decide exactly what to do by taking a moment to fill out a short survey.

Lawrence Arts Center Short Film Festival

Download Entry Form

Download Poster

Public Reading of Memoirs

On Saturday, March 13, at 7:00 p.m., a number of local memoirists including Mary Becker, Laurie Comstock, Rebekah Rodriguez, Jacquie VanKeuren, George Leff, and David Leff will be reading short narratives from their works-in-progress. They will be joined by guests Julie Buchsbaum and Roger Martin. The program will last about an hour and a half, and the admission will be free.

Still Enrolling For Spring Classes

We are still enrolling for Spring Classes. Check out these great classes!

Preschool

Integrated Arts for Preschoolers with Ann Johnson and Michael Soto

Coloring Outside the Lines with Linda Reimond

Saturday Coloring Outside the Lines with Linda Reimond

Tuesday Art Club with Jan McElwain (for students currently enrolled in kindergarten through age 7)

Drama Classes

Pre-K+ (ages 4-5)
Join us for these one-week sessions.
Acting Out Songs and Stories  with  Amanda Clark and Elizabeth Sullivan

K-2nd Grade
Wolf Tails with Jennifer Glenn

K-3rd Grade
Sorcerors, Magicians, Witches and Other Magical Folk   with   Amanda Clark

3rd-8th Grade
Film
Make Your Own Movie with Jeff and Christie Dobson
Editing Workshop  with    Jeff and Christie Dobson

6th-9th Grade
FIRST SATURDAY PLAYERS 

7th-12th Grade
SUMMER YOUTH THEATRE: Musical Theatre Audition Prep Class  with    Ric Averill / Shannon Draper-Gard / Ceri Goulter

All ages!
Rumplestiltskin    

Act Now! Acting Lessons
Dramatic Writing Coaching
Performance opportunities
Technical Theatre
Technical Theatre Practicum: Oliver!  with Danny Rogovein
Technical Theatre Practicum: Rumplestiltskin      Danny Rogovein

School's Out
1st-6th grade
School's Out, Camera's On  with    Jeff and Christie Dobson

Spring Break
K-3rd grade
Puppet Camp  with    Spencer Lott

3rd-9th grade
Broadway Bound! Musical Camp  with    Shannon Draper-Gard / Ryan McCall

Click Here for complete Drama Class listings

Children's Creative Classes

1st-2nd grade

Drawing and Painting  with     Donika Wiley
Mudpie Madness  with     Jenny Jenks
Imagination Station  with     Sarah Wertzberger
3D Mania   with     Jason Barr

3rd-5th grade

Clay Creations   with     Jenny Jenks
Drawing and Painting    with    Donika Wiley
Printmaking    with    Alison Filley
Imagination Station  with     Sarah Wertzberger
Comic Book Art  with     Lori Hanson

6th-9th grade

Drawing and Painting  with     Jason Barr
Studio Artist Series  with     Sarah Wertzberger
Photography   with     Ann Dean
Beginning Metals and Jewelry-making  with     Juliet Cline
Pottery Camp with Jessica Conner
Printmaking with Alison Filley

Day Off Opportunities

1st-6th grade
School's Out, Camera's On with Jeff and Christie Dobson

Spring Break Opportunities

K-3rd grade
Puppet Camp with Spencer Lott

3rd-9th grade

Broadway Bound! Musical Camp with Shannon Draper-Gard / Ryan McCall
School's Off, Spring Break Camp's On! with The Lawrence Discovery Team!

Click Here for complete Children's Creative Class listings

Family Classes

The following child/adult classes offer special opportunities for family members to create together! Enroll and come to class with you child or children. Great for Big Brother Big Sisters!

Child/Adult Movement and Music
Coloring Outside the Lines
Saturday Coloring Outside the Lines

Click Here for complete Family Classes

Youth Dance Classes

Child/Adult Movement and Music
Ages 3-5
Dancing Animal Adventures
Wiggly Worms

Girls Ages 8-18
Dads and Daughters Ballroom

Click Here for complete Youth Dance Classes

Happy Preschool 25th Anniversary

The 2010-2011 school year will be the 25th Anniversary for the preschool and we are planning additional events and activities throughout the year. We're planning to make it great!!

The preschool is announcing the "Preschool Plus" class which will allow children to participate in activities at the Lawrence Arts Center following their afternoon preschool class until 5:00 p.m.

Public enrollment begins on Saturday.

• Download Preschool 2010-2011 Enrollment Form
• Download Preschool Enrollment Letter
• Download "Why Art?"

Why Art?

A very good question. Think of “ the arts ” as art, music, dance, and drama. Not only is art fun, art is a perfect way to learn. Learning through the arts is a smart and fun way to enhance brain development, support individual learning, and help people prepare for success in school and in life. Arts-based learning is great for kids of all ages, but especially helpful for young children for reasons such as these listed here.

Physical Development

Large and small muscle development and coordination are important aspects of every art activity. Different muscles are exercised in different art activities. As the muscles are exercised, they grow stronger and the child gains better control over them.

Coordination of eye and hand movements follow as a child tries to control the crayon, brush, or marker in his hand to make marks that are meaningful to him. In dance and creative movement one learns control and coordination of the body is space. In these art forms, she learns to use her hands, eyes, feet, and body at the same time. She develops control over eye muscles, an important first step in learning to read. “Free drawing” rather than coloring in the lines of a coloring book, will develop the skills needed for making letters and numbers.

Mental Development

Children learn by doing. Learning concepts, language and skills are a foundation for reading, math and science. If it goes through the hands, feet, body, it goes through the brain.

Language and Literacy

Children learn through direct experience what the word “texture” means as they handle cloth with different surfaces, thick/thin while using paint.

As children talk about their art work, they are “reading” their picture. Writing a story is “written down talk”.

Dramatic play and acting-out stories make stories, actually, come alive.

Thinking Skills

Art provides opportunities for making decisions and problem solving no matter how many times a child has worked with the same medium.

Creative Development

Creativity is the ability to see, make, or perform in a new way. Making something new, being creative means taking a risk to do that “something new or different.” Making mistakes is a part of this process. Scientific thinking and creativity are difficult to separate. Maya Angelou states, “You cannot use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

Aesthetic Development

Aesthetic awareness involves helping children see, hear, and enjoy the beauty in their world. It improves the quality of learning and helps the creative process.

Social-Emotional Development

As children work in the art center, they learn to share the materials, to accept other's ways of doing art, and to enjoy being a part of the group. Creating art affords the opportunity for release-clay, woodworking, fingerpaint, sensory tables, outdoors, and waterplay. Children learn to feel good about themselves as they learn they can do things well.

Children who feel free to make mistakes and to explore and experiment will also feel free to invent, create, and find new ways to do things. Grant the lasting gift of freedom to children - to make mistakes and learning from doing. The side benefit is that fostering creativity is rewarding and fun and gives children a zest for imagining and learning to last a lifetime.

Welcome To Asteroid Head Land... Dude

New works, installation, performance & memorablia by Asteroid Head Art Club

Read Exhibition Essay by Alaska Noyes

Asteroid Head Art Club is at it again. Their upcoming show at the Lawrence Arts Center, Welcome To Asteroid Head Land... Dude, is a tacit invitation to escape everydayness, at least momentarily.

The group has been doling out such invites since they formed in the spring of ‘09. Clad in matching uniforms they have set aside the lone artist in the studio art production model for something a little more tribal, a little more exuberant. Collaboration is at the heart of their work, often a multitasking of painting, sculpture, printmaking, and performance.

This is an outlet with a healthy dose of optimism and no dearth of absurdity. There is potential energy when Asteroid Head gets together, energy greater than the sum of its parts. It is in the interactions, the exchanges, the sharing of information, dreams, anecdotes, theories, and whims. It is in having things to do, not because you have to, but because you want to and you can. Nothing is too silly, too weird, or too ambitious to talk about, laugh about, consider, attempt. Asteroid Head Art Club, for its ragtag members, has become a site for experimentation, trials, tribulations, and camaraderie.

Asteroid Head Land is a physical embodiment of this group spirit. It is an unpredictable installation full of collaborative energy, absurdity, and papier-mâché. Welcome to Asteroid Head Land...Dude.

www.asteroidhead.com

Ashley Davis In Concert

Two Celtic Music performances by Ashley Davis on March 14 at the Lawrence Arts Center.

An Evening of Celtic Music

Join Lawrence native, Ashley Davis, for an evening of drinks, candlelight and Celtic music. Be transported to another time when songs and stories were the cornerstone of every evening. Ashley will be joined by Ireland 's leading harper and native Gaelic speaker, Cormac De Barra. Ashley and Cormac will be playing songs from Ashley's new album "Down By the Sea" which they recorded together in Ireland . Click below to hear a song from this album and/or visit her website for a free download! www.daisyrings.com

Celtic Kids!

Bring the family down for an hour of stories, songs and some words in Gaelic for the kids! Ashley Davis and Cormac De Barra will lead the little ones in learning about St. Patrick's Day, some new Irish words, and a song or two to take home with them!

Oliver!

OLIVER!
Directed by Ric Averill

Music, Lyrics, and Book by Lionel Bart
Licensed by Arrangement with Oliver Productions, Ltd.
and Oliver Promotions, Ltd.

Featuring more than 60 actors of all ages, Oliver! is guaranteed to make you 'Consider Yourself At Home'! Come see Sam Hay as Oliver, Eli Börk as the Artful Dodger, Kitty Steffens as Nancy, Dennis Tyner as Fagin, Matt Drahozal as Bill Sikes, Jennifer Glenn as the Widow Corney, Travis Berkley as Mr. Bumble, Jerry Mitchell and Elizabeth Sullivan as Mr. and Mrs. Sowerberry, Jacob Leet as Noah, and Kendra Leet as Bet. The list goes on, the show goes up, and we'll see you there!

Tickets are $15 and $12 for seniors, students, and children. Group rates are available.

Purchase tickets by calling 785.843.ARTS or stop by the front desk!
Buy your tickets TODAY and get the best seats available!

Something new for 2010!
Broadway - our way - at the Lawrence Arts Center!

Ric Averill

The Lawrence Arts Center will present Ric Averill’ s delightful ‘street scene’ staging of Lionel Bart’ s masterpiece Oliver! at the Lawrence Arts Center Theatre, 940 New Hampshire, Lawrence, Kansas. Oliver! is one of the most beloved British musicals, vividly bringing to life Dickens’ timeless characters with its ever-popular story of the boy who asked for more.

Ric Averill, Drama Program Director, playwright and composer in residence at the Center & well known local comedic actor, will direct the play with a combination of professional and community actors from Lawrence, Kansas City, Topeka, and surrounding cities and towns. Auditions will be held at the Center on Sunday, Jan. 31st and Monday, Feb. 1st with callbacks on the 2nd & 3rd of February.

Mary Baker will direct the sensational score, which is full of Lionel Bart’ s irresistible songs including; ‘Food Glorious Food,’ ‘Consider Yourself,’ ‘You’ ve Got to Pick-a-Pocket or Two,’ ‘I’ d Do Anything,’ ‘Oom Pah Pah,’ ‘As Long As He Needs Me’ and many more.

Choreography by Molly Gordon of the Arts Center dance faculty, set design by resident Tech Director, Danny Rogovein, lights by resident Facility Operations Manager, Lee Saylor and costumes by resident Costumer, Jennifer Glenn, will fill every inch of the stage. More than 50 young people and 25 adults will be cast, creating a beautiful and evocative glimpse into the world of Dickens’ London.

Performances will be Friday and Saturday, March 26th & 27th at 7:30 PM, Sunday, March 28th at 2:00 PM and Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 1st, 2nd & 3rd at 7:30 PM. Tickets will be on sale for $15.00 for adults and $12.00 for students and seniors. Group rates are available and reservations will be taken beginning February 8th, 2010. The Arts Center production will be great theatre, but also a laboratory for the education of young actors. In addition to working along side professionals in the production, in the orchestra pit and backstage, students will explore the world of Charles Dickens and Oliver Twist! The Center will bring in experts on Dickens to discuss the world of the play. The entire production will serve as a training ground for young actors looking to improve their craft and look at theatre as a career option as well as an avocation.

The Arts Center’ s Drama Program believes that the best education comes from doing the best possible theatre - production values will be high and the demands on both the student and professional actors rigorous. The result will be a highly entertaining evening of theatre for the entire community AND an excellent educational opportunity for all participants.

For more information, please call 785-843-2787 or email ricaverill@lawrenceartscenter.org

Click Here to View the Cast List

Poet Laureati! A Convergence Of Midwest Poets Laureate

Featuring Mary Swander, poet laureate of Iowa; Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, poet laureate of Kansas; Jim Barnes, poet laureate of Oklahoma; Marilyn L. Taylor, poet laureate of Wisconsin; Kevin Stein, poet laureate of Illinois, Denise Low, former poet laureate of Kansas; Walter Bargen, former poet laureate of Missouri; and more to come.

Poet Laureati: A Reading
Sun., March 14 at 4 p.m. Spencer Museum of Art central court
The collected poets laureate will read from their own works. A reception, courtesy of the Community Mercantile, will follow.

Lunch Laureati: Brown Bag it with the Poets Laureate
Mon., March 15 at 12pm Lawrence Arts Center

Bring your own lunch and discuss the art and the passion of creating poetry with the visiting poets laureate. Ask questions, visit, and share stories in this informal community setting.

Sponsored by the Kansas Arts Commission, Spencer Museum of Art, the Lawrence Arts Center, the Lawrence Public Library, the Raven Bookstore, and the Community Mercantile.

For more information, call the Lawrence Arts Center at 785.843.2787

New Works Concert

New Works Concert
940 Dance Company
April 30th & May 1st, 2010, 7:30 pm

The 940 Dance Company will perform their final concert of the season on Friday, April 30th and Saturday, May 1st at 7:30 pm at the Lawrence Arts Center Theater, 940 New Hampshire.

The concert will be a collection of choreography from Artistic Director Susan Rieger; guest artists E.E. Balcos and Cathy Patterson and company members Bobbi Foudree, Jennifer Flynn and Eric Tedder.

Rieger will present Interior Landscapes, a collaboration with artist Andrea Fuhrman. Fuhrman’s digital images of train graffiti will be projected onto the dance floor and appear as richly textured worlds which the five dancers traverse. Rieger will also present an as yet untitled work inspired by the company’s work with wind and wind energy and funded by the Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund. And the program will include Disability Romp (2005), a darkly humorous look at mental health, with a witty script by Frankie Krainz and sound design by Seth Golan.

E.E. Balcos, an accomplished choreographer from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, will present his duet Fast Forward/Rewind. Cathy Patterson’s emotional solo, The Widow’s Chair, will be performed by Ashley Trullinger. The choreography by company members is in progress and details will be announced at the beginning of April.

940dancecompany.org

940 Dance Company Receives Two Prestigious Grants

Lawrence, KS -- January 4, 2010 -- Lawrence Arts Center announces that 940 Dance Company has received grants from both the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation and the Francis Family Foundation in support of the company’ s 2009-2010 season.

The Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation, located in Kansas City, Missouri, has awarded grants to 940 Dance Company for the past three seasons. 940 received $7,500 this year.

The Company’ s proposal to the Francis Family Foundation was one of 87 applications and just 47 grants were awarded. While the Francis Family Foundation has funded the Arts Center previously, this is the first time it has supported the 940 Dance Company, with a $5,000 grant.

Susan Rieger

“These two foundations generously support operating costs of the company, which increases the quality and strength of our programming. The grants are a wonderful match to our earned income, which comes from out-of-town bookings and both out-of-town and local ticket sales.” said Susan Rieger, Artistic Director of the 940 Dance Company.

940 Dance Company is one of northeast Kansas’ few professional modern dance companies. For over 21 years, the Company has taken dance and educational programs to communities in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska. Their next performance will be Transformations, January 26th, 7pm at the Lawrence Arts Center. Tickets are $5.00 for all ages.

The Lawrence Arts Center, located at 940 New Hampshire, is supported in part by the Kansas Arts Commission, a state agency, the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, which believes that a great nation deserves great art and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Drama Ed Classes

HOW ABOUT A CLASSY PRESENT FOR THE HOLIDAY?

Drama Ed classes in acting, puppetry, scriptwriting, tech theatre, film and musical theatre begin the week of January 11th!!!

Why take theatre classes?

Hey - it’ s a Stage I’ m going through!!!

STUDENTS often ask “How can I get cast more often?” or “How can I get a bigger part?”

There are two ways to do this.

One – patience and persistence. Audition over and over again, pay your dues with smaller roles and eventually the right role will be yours at the right time ...

BUT there’ s also a lot to be said for theatre training – this is an art form we can teach!

Two – TAKE A CLASS.

In a classroom setting EVERYONE is an arts practitioner. Everyone writes, acts, creates and learns the basic of acting from sensory awareness to characterization, from story structure to improvisation.

We have new four week classes in acting for K-2nd graders. We have a class for 3rd – 5th graders to put on a production of Tall Tales – EVERYONE gets a role and we perform in May. We have First Saturday Players for all actors 6th grade and up – performing plays for younger children about Dragons and the Three Billy Goats Gruff! These are ‘all plays’ where students learn by doing –as opposed to auditioned shows.

We also have classes in Film, Movie Editing, Scriptwriting, Technical Theatre and, brand new for this Winter, puppetry.

There are classes when school’ s out and Musical Theatre and Puppetry Camps during Spring Break.

So take some time to get to know our Director/Teachers Jennifer Glenn, Amanda Clark, Shannon Draper-Gard, Ric Averill, Jeff & Christie Dobson and you’ ll increase your theatre skills and be ready for that next big role – and learn and have fun along the way!

“Hey, it’ s a stage we ALL have to go through.”

Ric Averill, Drama Program Director

LAC Welcomes Susan Tate

The Lawrence Arts Center today expands its creative leadership with the hire of Susan Tate as Executive Director.

Photo by Mike Yoder

Lawrence, Kansas - November 18 2009:

We are very pleased to announce that Lawrence resident Susan Tate has been appointed as the new Executive Director of the Lawrence Arts Center. Susan has been active in various Lawrence Arts Center programs through the years and served on the LAC 2001 Capital Campaign Steering Committee. A 2002 graduate of Leadership Lawrence, Susan Tate brings experience in community engagement, concept, direction and execution to her new role. She is a Director on the Board of Directors for the Spencer Museum of Art and has previously served as Board President and Chair of the Major Gifts Committee. She is a current member of the Trinity Episcopal Church Vestry, a past Board Director with the Lawrence Public Library, and a past Board member of Van Go Mobile Arts, where she also Chaired the capital campaign.

Susan has been a Humanities and English teacher at Lawrence High School since 1989 and has chaired and served on North Central Accreditation committees.

"With her strong experience in humanities education, her experience and ability to lead an engaging vision, and her passionate advocacy for the arts, Susan will be a strong leader for the Lawrence Arts Center," said LAC Board President Bill Carswell.

"I am proud to join the Lawrence Arts Center staff, the Board, our artist partners, and our sponsors in serving the community with arts programming for individuals of all ages, interests, and backgrounds," said Ms. Tate. "I share the vision of the Lawrence Arts Center, and I am very enthusiastic about this tremendous opportunity to work with an organization so vital to Lawrence."

Susan Tate has a Masters Degree in English and Bachelors Degree in Secondary Education from the University of Kansas. She will begin her new position on Dec 1 2009.

Read More in

Photo by Mike Yoder

Preschool Garden News

Kids learn gardening basics

Lindsey Slater and the 6 News crew visit the Lawrence Arts Center preschoolers and chat with Pre-School Program Director Linda Reimond about an exciting new project. Thanks to a grant from the rotary club, the Lawrence Arts Center can teach kids the ins and outs of gardening.

In The Galleries

"Kansas City" by John Ferry

This group exhibition is designed to explore many medium & approaches to art making, all under the umbrella of a theme, place. Such a broad theme provides for engaging, enriching and challenging responses by these artists.

Place - an area set aside for a particular purpose.
Place - an abstract mental location.
Place - home, landscape, standing, situation, mapping, reservation, location, inhabit, territory, space, room, zone, position.

View the show online

"Listening for a Murmer" by Norman Akers

Past, present or future sense on the idea of place as it relates to you personally or our local/global community might feed into your conceptualization of place. Various styles, doctrines, ideas, in both process and concept will culminate for a powerful experience for viewers.

Participating Artists:

• Norman Akers
• Dylan Beck
• Daniel Coburn
• Rick Dunn
• John Ferry
• Heather Smith Jones
• Ke-Sook Lee
• Chris Mateer
• Armin Mühsam
• Matt Needham
• Laura Nugent
• Mike Sinclair
• Celia Smith
• David Vertacnik
• Yuri Zupancic

This organization is supported in part by the Kansas Arts Commission, a state agency, the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, which believes that a great nation deserves great art and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

2009-10 Artists-in-Residence

LAC students this year will have the opportunity to learn from our two newest Artists-in-Residence. Learn more about them below.

Sarah Gross

Sarah Gross, 2009-10 Ceramics Artist-in-Residence teaches Handbuilding and Sculpture, sarahFirst Time Potter, and Advanced Ceramics. She received a BA in Studio Art from Carleton College and an MFA in Ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design. Sarah has exhibited nationally and has taught classes and workshops throughout New England. She makes functional pottery as well as ceramic sculpture.

Alison Filley

Alison Filley, Printmaking Artist-in-Residence is originally from Edmond, Oklahoma and after graduating from high school attended Washington University in St. Louis where she received a BFA in Printmaking. A year after graduation she headed north to the University of Iowa where she received her MFA in Printmaking with a minor in drawing. Her works of art explore the ubiquity of celebrity culture in our contemporary society. She works in a variety of traditional and contemporary print mediums and incorporates various elements from DIY craft culture including glitter and flocking. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally. Visit her website at www.alisonfilley.com

Arts Ed Key to 21st Century Skills

Diane E. Franken, executive director of the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education writes about the importance of arts education in the Des Moines Register.