University Daily Kansan, December 4, 1981
Spare time
Community encourages development of local artists, actors, musicians
By DIANE MAKOVSKY Staff Reporter
In the past decade, many artists have found outlets for their talents in the Lawrence community. The University is no longer the only stronghold for performing groups in Lawrence, nor is it the only place for artists to display their work.
Ten years ago a gallery, Seventh East Seventh, opened. Today it is the Kellas Gallery, the address is the same as that of the original gallery.
Judd Kella, owner, said that she became cownier of the gallery about six months after it first opened. She became sole owner about three years ago after having a few partners over the years.
"I didn't know anything about business, but I cared," Kellas said of the burgeoning gallery.
THE KELLAS GALLERY is a ousine
"It's not a charity." Kellas said
Kellas' goals for the gallery are to show the highest quality work from area artists, keep the gallery as a resource for the community and a showcase for artists, and to make a profit.
About the same time Kellas was developing her gallery, the Lawrence Community Nursery School was developing a concert series for children.
What began as a fund raiser for a low cost cooperative nursery school has grown into Concerts For Young People, said Marquis, the organizer of the group and now a board member.
THE GROUP offers three programs a year for grade school children during the winter months,
Concerts For Young People usually uses a dance, an instrumental and a vocal, or opera, performance.
"We don't do any straight plays. Our emphasis is primarily music and primarily classical."
This year the group will resurrect an opera which it commissioned six years ago. "Malaoney and the Fear Monster," was created by John Pozdro, who wrote the music, and John Clifford, who wrote the libretto. Both are Lawrence residents.
Other classical music groups that emerged in Lawrence in the last decade were the Lawrence Choir and the Riverside Symphony Orchestra.
FIVE YEARS AGO, local thesians formed the Lawrence Community Theatre, which performs four shows a year at the Lawrence Arts Center. Ninth and Vermont streets.
Actually, 10 years ago there wasn't even a
Ann Evans, director of the arts center, said that she thought one reason that the arts had flourished in Lawrence was the very concrete realism because that there was an arts building.
Lawrence Arts Center. And if the town did not let used for fire, there might not be one today.
The building has become the home for the Community and the Seem-To-Bee community to another local site.
And with that time people are pursuing artistic avocations.
Another reason Evans gave for the growth of
their school was that "people have a little more time
than ours."
BUT SOME ARTISTS do not consider art an avocation and feel frustrated that their art does not provide an income to pay for anything more than their art.
This feeling was espoused by Pam Carvallo, one of the seven members of the Hand & I (EVE) gallery, a cooperative in the Casbah building, 803 Massachusetts St.
The Hand & ( EYE) has been in existence for eight years.
"Some of the frustration has been that we are not totally self-supporting." Carvalho said.
The gallery includes two potters, a weaver,
print maker and a water-collorist. Some of the
artists featured are:
A younger gallery, Gallery The Marketplace, which has been at 745 New Hampshire St. for five years, may not be so enduring. This gallery, a year and a half longer, is closing shortly after the new year, members said.
"I're really sad that the gallery has to close," member Laurie Culling Bohlander said.
Bohlander said it was closing because of the economic recession, the need for more walk-in gyms and a new campus.
SHE SAID THAT many customers who had been shopping in the store or for years said they were very thankful.
The local cooperative galleries have memberships that require members to spend time, usually one day a week, keeping the gallery open for visitors. The galleries are also a family's income. Others are not so lucky.
"A lot of times artists have to find other work." Bohlander said.
THERE ARE many reasons why there are so many artists in Lawrence, perhaps as many reasons as there are artistic groups and galleries.
Most local artists at some point in their conversation mention the University.
Some have graduated from KU and remain because they like the town.
Others, like Kellas, mention a faculty-wife syndrome.
A couple moves to Lawrence because one, usually the husband, is employed by the University. The University and the town are not large enough to support the other spouse's career, so often there is time to develop one's creativity and sometimes a new career, they say.
Another reason for community activities is that many university performances are for students only. Many University employees, have to find new arenas to perform in.
Many, like Kristin Benjamin, artistic director of the three-year-old Kaw Valley Dance Theater, find that there is community support for the type of that are offered. Audiences are growing.
EVANS, KELLAS and others said that they thought the development of the arts in Lawrence was caused by a national revival in art education and awareness.
Many Lawrence performing groups and some individual artists have received money from the Kansas Arts Commission, which is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
With Reagan administration cuts in those federal grants, some financial concern is mentioned by local artists, but many think that the groups are strong enough to endure.
Private businesses and foundations have been funding the arts more than they have in the past, Evans said. Before, most donations went to health- and welfare-related causes.
ONE THEME that is unifying the performing arts groups in Lawrence is their desire to have a permanent home. Recently, a feasibility report published by Opera House Opera House was finished and published.
The Opera House has been up for sale for over a year and many interested parties, including Evans and Wright, would like it to go before the community in a bond issue.
The groups desire the building, but the group remains as to who is going to pay for it. Piyamae.
The non-performing artists are also a strong part of this community.
the struggles and the funding are more private than public, but the creative desire is the
There also seems to be a desire among local artists to teach the public about art. The galleries shy away from commercial items.
As Kellas said, "I know we could sell bulldiggers on velvet. But I'm not interested in them."
The School of Fine Arts music department will welcome the holiday season with its 57th annual Vespers program at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Hoech Aultiumr
Holiday concert a 57-year-old KU tradition
A vesper is a bell used to summon people to the door. Emergency services held in the late afternoon or evening.
Albert Gerken, University carillonneur, will play the bells of the Memorial Campanile for a half hour before each service, according to the KU division of information.
About 500 people are involved in the actual service in Hoeh, said Charila Jenkins, public
relations director for the theatre. Performing
Baldon Choir and the University Symphony Orchestra
"There used to be a definite Christmas emphasis," Jenkins said.
However, in an attempt to make the program more appealing to all religions in Lawrence, this year Vespers will have fewer Christian hymns.
Also, the program used to be called Christmas Vespers; now it is just called Vespers.
She also said that the auditorium, which seats 3,000 people, is often filled to capacity. Doors open at 10:30 a.m.
There is no admission for the program.
However, a collection will be taken to support Vespers scholarships. Four students currently hold Vespes scholarships, Jenkins said.
"We want to make it more of a community-wide program." Jenkins said.
"It's very well attended by students," Jenkins said.
But then she added that it was also very well attended by the community, especially the elderly, some of whom have attended Vespers for all previous 56 performances.
Charles Eldredge
Smithsonian art fellowship led to new job for Eldredge
By CYNTHIA HRENCHIR Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
A fellowship given by the Smithsonian enabled Eldredge to study American art and symbolist aesthetics, that resulted in a major show and symposium at KU the next year.
Charles Eldridge, director of the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas, studied at the National Museum of American Art, a division of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, during a sabbatical leave in the spring of 1979.
Apparently someone noticed his work then because earlier this year Eldredge was asked to apply for the position of director of the museum. From a large pool of candidates, six were interviewed before Eldredge was selected.
ELDREDGE HAS planned to assume his duties at the Smithsonian Institution July 1, having requested a leave without pay for 1982-83 from KU. His position at the National museum begins exactly 12 years and one year before the time he started at the University.
"I went about three times during October and November for interviews," Eldridge said. "The interviews were pleasant. It was a good opportunity to learn more about the administration of the museum than I had from a fellow's point of view."
"I came to the University June 1, 1970." "I expressed interest in collections and did this for one year."
"Then I was named acting director because my predecessor, Bet Wetter, left, and then I
In the decade he has served as director,
Eldreduce has seen many changes.
In 1971, the art museum was still in Spooner
branch. He liked to tell like a bunch of
grandpa, "Eldridge said."
Then through a grant from the Kenneth A. and Helen F. Spencer Foundation, a new $4.60
By 1977, the staff and the art objects had moved into the building, and the Spencer Museum was rebuilt.
"It doesn't feel like we've been here for four
years," Eildredge said. "It's changed a bit. I feel pleased with the changes that happened. "This is a splendid facility and a splendid
"This is a splendid facility and a splendid staff. It will feel like leaving home."
Eldredge explained that the National Museum served as a primary source for study of American history and said he foresaw no changes in the immediate future.
BUT EDLREDGE is excited about his new responsibilities in Washington.
"I like the serious approach and research done there for a decade or so," he said.
Eldredge originally came to the University, he said, because he had enjoyed the Midwest college.
"I did my undergraduate studies at Amherst College, in Amherst,Mass." he
After graduating in 1966, Eldredge went West and completed his doctorate in art history with emphasis on American art and modern art at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis. His first position was at KU, and it contributed it because of the opportunity to teach.
ALTHOUGH ELDREDOGE realizes there will be no formal teaching at the Smithsonian, he hopes to continue on a more informal level, to graduate students and others on fellowships.
"I'm not looking forward to adjusting to a commuting marriage, but I'm sure we'll work together."
His new directorship in Washington has caused a few problems. Edmund adduced it.
His wife, State Senator Jane Eldredge, has announced her plans to remain in Lawton to maintain her law practice and fulfill her legislative duties, which will be completed in
"I wish I'd invested in TWA," he said.
Jane Eldredge also thought they would be able to work things out.
"We'll work something out with the kids, work something out commuting," she said. "We were able to work out the economic situation."
JANE DLREDGE said they had tried this
when her husband had been on the
following day.
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the university of kansas school of fine arts presents
the 57th annual vespers university choirs brass ensemble university symphony orchestra
sunday, december 6, 1981
3:30 and 7:30 pm
hoch auditorium
--admission free