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University Daily Kansan
Thursday Features
Thursday, Nov. 14, 1985
Reward from art projects comes after they're stolen
By Susie Bishop Of the Kansan staff
Disappearing posters evidence the existence of one of the most valued and least recognized wheels of a KU fine arts production — The Arts.
e from design to production, members of The Arts, a group of upper-level fine arts students, take care of all advertising and promotional designs for theater, dance, music and the Concert and Chamber Music series at the University of Kansas.
These students receive academic credit, but little or no recognition for the consistently high-quality work they do for each production. Ron Willis, chairman of theatre and media arts, said recently.
"They do a lot of work and see none of the glory." Willis said.
The disappearance of posters from campus walls is no surprise to Charla Jenkins, director of public relations of fine arts.
"People steal the posters like crazy," Jenkins said.
The tape, glue and industrial-
strength staples don't help deter the
hunters from bagging their game,
she said. People interested in owning
a poster produced by The Arts can
purchase one in the Murphy Hall box
office for $2.
"We can't afford to overprint so people can have them." Jenkins said
She said sometimes the vanishing posters provided the only means of praise that a designer received.
Taking posters compliments the designer, but hinders ticket sales. Jenkins said, because she doesn't always have enough posters to replace the missing ones.
The Arts 11 designers have completed more than 40 projects this semester and have about 35 more to take care of before they finish, Jenkins said.
She said each project could have six parts: programs, posters, advertisements, school fliers and window displays.
The Arts team tries to conquer the difficult task of creating programs, posters and advertisements that complement and blend with the theme and atmosphere of the production.
"It's sort of overlooked and taken for granted." Jenkins said.
During the typical week, most of the designers spend 50 to 60 hours at the drawing table working on projects, she said. Designers spend from four to six weeks working on each project from beginning to end.
The long weeks the designers put in are exchanged for six hours of credit. Because students spend so much
time working at their drawing tables, their other schoolwork tends to suffer. Jenkins said.
Karl Hirschmann, Wichita senior and student coordinator for the group, said he could attest to Jenkins's statement.
"When you have a deadline, you have to meet it." Hirschmann said. "They're not going to postpone the production just for you."
These deadlines take precedence over any other classwork, he said. Everything else becomes secondary. But he said he thought most people didn't understand the amount of work that must be done to get the posters finished on time.
"Outside of the art department nobody knows about The Arts," Hirschmann said. "The professors just think you're lazy."
just thanked him. He stressed the experience gained from working on The Arts was quite an education in itself.
Above, Cheryl Smith, Ottawa senior, recently worked on promotional material for the fine arts department in the Art and Design building. At right, Steve Schader, Chesterfield, Mo., senior, began work on a new project after putting the final touches on a poster he had completed.
"It is a preview for the real world," Hirschmann said.
Hirschmann combines being a designer and coordinating the efforts of 10 other team members.
He said as student coordinator he took care of project assignments and made sure everyone had enough to do, but didn't overlap projects.
Chad DeShazo/KANSA
The Arts requires each of the designers to present two completely different ideas to each Murphy Hall client. The client then selects or rejects those ideas.
"It's like a jigsaw puzzle," Hirschmann said. "There are a million different answers, but only one is right."
"If they don't like it, you go back to the drawing board." Hirschmann said. "You've got to make them happy, but still maintain design integrity. You don't produce trash even if that's what the client wants."
This spring The Arts will celebrate its sixth anniversary.
"It's been interesting for me to see how the team evolved from a conversational idea to the birth of the concept," Jenkins said.
He said most of the time the client and the designer came to a compromise by meshing the two presented ideas.
The creation of the group satisfied the need for unity between the performing arts in Murphy Hall, she said.
Before The Arts, the programs and posters for the fine arts departments were taken care of by one student hired for the semester.
Each department relied on their
own budget for production of the promotional materials. One department would have large, color productions and another would depend on the Xerox machine.
The posters and literature produced by The Arts have a distinctly professional air about them, Jenkins said
"It's a whole lot better than the stuff I'm getting from professional agencies in New York," she said.
Each semester The Arts renews its personnel. Hirschmann said that Jerry Moore, associate dean of fine
arts, judged the portfolios of upper- level fine arts students and then decided on the new members of the team.
Jenkins said once on the team, students usually worked with The Arts for two or three semesters.
United colors hit Lawrence
Special to the Kansan
By Abbie Jones
The united colors of Italy have hit Lawrence.
Benedett, the international chain of clothing stores which originated in Delluno, Italy, in 1968, opened a store in Lawrence last Saturday.
Employees decket in vivid sweaters meticulously folded each bit of merchandise the night before and stocked at 922 Massachusetts St.
Owners Doug Compton and Deric Stewart strolled around their new store finishing last-minute construction and paperwork.
Mary Van Keppel, Kansas City, Kan., senior, set up a display of shirts in preparation for the ribbon-cutting ceremony today at the Benetton store, 928 Massachusetts St.
Bryan Graves/KANSAN
"I knew it was a good idea. It's time for Lawrence to get something like this," Compton said.
"Everybody has their own taste, but how many stores have been like this? You have to go to Kansas City to get this."
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be at 11:30 a.m. today to kick off the official grand opening, he said.
Benetton is known for its bright, multicolored sweaters, shirts, skirts and pants, and such accessories as belts, bags, hats and coats. Its united colors motto and advertisements depict kids and adults of every nationality dressed in Benetton clothes, wearing bold makeup on their faces and international flags and trinkets on their clothes.
"It's fun to create. There are so many outfits to mix and match," said Kim Platt, Omaha, Neb., senior who works at the store.
Sizes for the clothes are numbered about 10 sizes larger than the average in Europe, said Platt, one of the store's 15 employees.
The idea to open a Benetton in Lawrence emerged after Stewart returned from vacationing in Europe, where Benetton stores got their start. He suggested to Compton that the two start a business, and after they discussed ideas such as opening a fast-food franchise, they decided on a Benetton store.
Compton said they received about 300 applications from people who wanted to work at the store.
After Stewart approached Compton in August, the two contacted midwestern representatives for Benetton and began working on negotiations and construction.
Stewart said that they had talked to the owners of the four Kansas City stores and were told about things to expect in the business. They had warned Stewart and Compton about the high duty cost of shipping the clothes from Europe to the United States, Stewart said, which is one reason the prices are higher than at other stores.
"We worked on a lot of things." Compton said, "We didn't just jump right in; we researched it. We talked in other store owners."
"We've looked at a bunch of different investments over the last three years," Stewart said. "I thought about Benton in July."
Bargains found in catalogs
By Theresa Scott Of the Kansan staff
While some KU students receive boxes of goodies from home, others get packages of merchandise from all over the United States — for a price.
Glow in-the-dark star stickers, stripper ice cubes, personalized pencils and penguin thermometers are some of the items that fill boxes delivered to Greg Nelson's mailbox.
Nelson, Lenexa junior, said he ordered things such as these from mail-order catalogs for several reasons.
"I order cheapo, stupid gifts because they're neat and they're under $3," he said recently. "I'm never disappointed, but I'm always surprised."
Nelson said that he either used the things he ordered or gave them to friends as gifts.
"You wouldn't put some of the stuff in your house, but you know someone else who just has to have it in theirs," he said.
Nelson said he and his roommate purposely set out to buy "trash" items about once a month.
Many other KU students order clothes and high-quality merchandise from mail-order catalogs. KU students can also experience, sale and bargains.
Katie Hughes, Omaha, Neb., junior, said she ordered clothes from Talbot's catalogs, based in Hingham, Mass., about six or eight times a year.
"You can get stuff you can't get here," she said. "It's easy and they offer a good selection."
She said that once she was on Talbot's mailing list, she began receiving about 50 different catalogs, especially around Christmas.
Scott Rutledge, Leawood freshman, said he ordered a pair of shoes from an L.L. Bean catalog because of his large shoe size. L.L. Bean is based in Freeport, Maine.
"I got a deal," he said. "I wear a really big shoe size so I can't always find the size I need in stores. If you order them through a catalog, sometimes it clamsper that ordering them through the door."
Steve Mueller, Overland Park sophomore, said he liked clothes from Land's End catalogs, based
'I order cheapo, stupid gifts because they're neat and they're under $3. I'm never disappointed, but I'm always surprised.'
— Greg Nelson
Lenexa junior
in Dodgeville, Wis., because he liked the quality, price, looks and variety of the merchandise offered.
"As a boy, I'm not much of a shopper," he said. "My parents order stuff from it because it is convenient. Both my parents work and are really busy, so they order almost all their stuff from there."
Mueller said his parents had been ordering clothes for him from the catalogs for about two years. He said his mother liked ordering from catalogs because all the charges came from one store on one bill.
Jennifer Silies' family began ordering merchandise from L.L. Bean about 15 years ago when her father started buying hunting equipment from the company, said the Hutchinson junior.
Stiles said that heavy sweaters, jackets and boots were the main items she bought from L.L. Bean because she thought the catalog offered shopping ease and better quality clothing than she found in stores.
"My mom does about 85 to 90 percent of her Christmas shopping from the catalogs because it's more convenient," she said. "And we always get good gifts."
He said he didn't mind waiting for his purchase to arrive in the mail.
"I love to shop, but it's more convenient to buy from a catalog," she said.
"They're nothing I needed right away," he said.
Brian Rodkey, Overland Park freshman, said he recently bought a pair of flannel lounge pants from a mail-order catalog because he had never seen the pants before in a store.
On Tap
Nancy Haney
Peegy Helsel
CONCERTS:
Indulge in home-grown rock 'n' roll with The Fanatix, the fourth concert in the Burge Bandstand; series, at 9 p.m. tomorrow at the Burge Union. The free concert is sponsored by Student Union Activities and KLZR-FM.
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English rocker Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit, with special guest Valentine and the Very Wealthy, will play at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Uptown Theatre in Kansas City, Mo. Tickets are $12.50 and can be purchased at all Capitol Ticket outlets, including Omni Electronics, 540 Fireside Ct.
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PLAYS:
**PLAYS**
"Twelfth Night." a comedy by Henry Shakespeare, will be performed at 8 p.m. today, tomorrow and Saturday in Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall. Tickets for the play are $2, $5 and $3. KU students, senior citizens and other students can receive a discount. Tickets can be purchased at the Murphy Hall box office.
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SUA FILMS:
"Zarke" will be shown at 7:30 p.m. today in Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union Tickets are $1.50 and can be purchased at the Student Union Activities box office in the Union "The Killing Fields" will be shown at 3:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday at Woodruff Auditorium. Tickets are $1.50 SUA will sponsor an All-Night Movie Night beginning at midnight tomorrow. "Urgh: A Music War." "The Decline of Western Civilization" and "'D.O.A.' all will be shown for $3 at Woodruff Auditorium. The midnight movie Saturday at Woodruff Auditorium will be "Bedazed." Tickets are $2. "The Times of Harvey Milk" will be shown at 2 p.m. Sunday and at 7:30 p.m. Monday in Woodruff Auditorium Tickets are $2.