4A NEWS RED DOOR (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2009
exhibit the work at the Red Door Art Gallery.
Since its opening in August, the gallery has held seven exhibitions featuring artwork from KU students, faculty and alumni.
The "Salty Dogs" title for this month's show came from Andrew Burkitt of Lawrence, who graduated in December and took Krueger's class. Burkitt said that the title came from a 1930s blues song that connected with the show's artwork.
"A lot of drawings in the show have a little saltier way to looking at things than typical fine art." Burkitt said.
Burkitt said some of the "saltier" artwork included a drawing of a girl throwing up in a toilet and a drawing of someone's head with gutters for guts.
Burkitt has four drawings in the show, all of which have an ecological theme and center around the environment. He used colored pencils, watercolor and pen and ink to create one drawing of children in a landfill and another piece of art inspired by the clean coal issue in Kansas.
Images of Teddy Roosevelt and Arnold Schwarzenegger are present in Andrew llikas three drawings in the exhibition.
Jilka. Salina senior and print-making major, used pen and ink and colored pencil to create drawings that deal with hyper-mascu
linity and how it has shaped the way Americans think about life.
"Everybody to an extent can
relate to drawings because at some point everybody has made a drawing, even if you were four years old" he said. "It makes it a little easier to relate to the audience if it's a medium they're familiar with."
"The work displayed is really a mixture of approaches to contemporary drawing."
MICHAEL KRUEGER Associate art professor
Kelly said one of the joys of creating art was seeing where it took
two-dimensional surface.
Kelly's durian drawing is one of four pieces she chose for the show. She said a lot of her artwork featured organic and abstract shapes from nature. She often sees above her pen and ink drawings to create a three dimensional texture on a
her and watching it progress, even if her artwork often feels unfinished.
The "Salty Dogs" exhibition is open
by appointment only. To make an appointment, contact Kristi Arnold at klarnold@ku.edu.
"I think that's how it should be because it's like stair steps," Kelly said. "You're constantly striving for the next step"
Edited by Sam Speer
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Andrew Jilka, Salina senior, poses with a work of his which is hung at the Red Door Art Gallery in Kansas City, Mo. The title of the exhibition is open by appointment only.
FEES
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Center.
In order to make up for those costs without raising fees, McGonigle said, all required campus fees would be closely scrutinized over the next month by a fee review board of student senators. Some fees would have to be cut or reduced in order to provide more funding to those organizations that need an increased budget.
There are several fees that can't be reduced because they fund construction projects that have not yet been paid off. Some
of these include the Student Union building fee and the fee to fund recreational facilities.
McGonigle recommended to the fee review committee that the campus media fee and the campus safety fee be closely scrutinized. If both fees were to be cut it would free up $5.75 from each student's semester total. That money could be redistributed to Watkins and the recreation center.
Brian Hardouin, Topeka graduate student and chairman of the Fee Review Committee, said those fees were being looked at because they did not directly affect people's jobs.
— Edited by Liz Schubauer
STRETCH your dollar across town.
GROUP
Joey Ralph, Hutchinson sophomore and vice president of Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics, cajules with bidders at SOMA's 5th Annual Soul Auction at the Hawks Nest on Thursday night as Nathan Maddox, graduate student from Beem, Brazil, and Clayton Perkins, Overland Park junior, look on. Participants audited off their time for community service and other services, with part of the proceeds benefiting the Douglas County AIDS Project.
Ryan Wanconer/KANSAN
Students auction off souls for charity
BY ALEXANDRA GARRY
agarry@kansan.com
A smiling, outgoing man wearing plastic devil horns jokingly heckles the small audience in front of him. He's trying to get them to part with more of their money — for a good cause, he says.
"Come on, guys," he says, urging them to increase their bids in an auction for the rights to his own soul. "Satan says community service is good."
The man is Joey Ralph, Hutchinson sophomore and vice president of the Society of OpenMinded Atheists and Agnostics. He's hocking his soul — or rather, his commitment to serve 50 hours of community service with the group of the winning bidder's choice — to raise money for the Douglas County AIDS Project.
Ralph organized and served as devilish auctioneer of SOMA's fifth annual "Soul Auction." held
in the Kansas Union last night. Group members selling themselves committed to various services such as tutoring, cooking, cleaning, doing community service, going out on dates and attending church services in exchange for donations, half of which went to SOMA and half to DCAP.
The event, Ralph said, was part of the small but longstanding groups recent and upcoming efforts to bolster its size and increase awareness of its message.
"There's a perception out there that people who don't have religion don't have very good morals," Ralph said. "We're trying to put out a good name out there for atheists and agnostics."
A 2008 study by the Pew Research Center found that 54 percent of Americans questioned said they had "an unfavorable view" of people without religious beliefs. Ralph said his group was small, but growing, and that he felt negative perceptions were slowly
but surely decreasing.
Paul Mirecki, associate professor of religious studies and SOMAs faculty adviser, said the auction was the group's "tongue-in-cheek" effort to poke fun at negative stereotypes of atheists and agnostics as "soulless" people.
"It's a humorous idea to people who don't believe — how can they auction off something that they don't have?" Mirecki said. "It's playing into the idea of the soul as a social conception, but it's not meant to offend."
Mirecki said challenges to the religious majority in America "are not usually appreciated."
"This is unfortunate," he said, "because these kind of institutions should be open to criticism — after all, what would America be without challenging the system?"
Clayton Perkins, Overland Park junior and SOMA president, said one of the group's main aims was to provide a social network and community for students interested
in getting involved in a club but not interested in religion.
The student involvement and Leadership Center has more than 15 registered campus groups relating to religion, many of which are related to Christianity.
Jason Badgett, Paola junior and president of campus Christians, said he didn't support a lack of religious faith, but did support the group and its fundraising efforts
"I don't think anybody should feel rejected or feel like they don't have a place to belong," Badgett said.
Ralph said SOMA had been poorly organized in the past, but that he and Perkins were excited about the group's future and plan to hold bigger and more ambitious events, including hosting religious speakers and more social events.
Ralph's 50 hours of community service went for $30. In total, the group raised $193.
Edited by Liz Schubauer